The CDC has proposed a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Method, and MDE is now offering it as a “youth driven” grant opportunity. You will notice the “Whole Child Method” on the lips of many of today’s progressive educators, including an incumbent running for SoWashCo School Board. It is a common theme that has peaked my interest. These government institutions don’t just want one part of my child. They say it out loud, they want my whole child. What is the whole child if not part spirit? THIS IS THE LANGUAGE OF WAR. We need not fear it though because God equips us with the LANGUAGE OF PEACE. In my last two articles I covered the United Center and the Abstract Fringe. I have since discovered that wholeness, as it relates to peace, requires a third element – the Timeless Seed. The United Nations seems to think of this seed as “sustainability,” but they conveniently forget that REAL sustainability comes to us by way of the spirit, not by the way of a man-made world peace organization. Peace requires wholeness. For a child to be made whole, the body, soul and spirit must be in alignment under the Meek Cross of Christ.
"Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."
My prayer is For You
to be made whole
IN JESUS
As you head back to school this week, I pray for you, teachers. I pray for you, parents. I pray for you, children. I think of the Language of Peace like the way of Wisdom in Proverbs 9:1-12. She has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars, she has mixed her wine and she has set her table all so that you may turn in and “live and walk in the way of insight.” I think of the Language of War like the woman of folly in Proverbs 9:13-18. She is loud, she knows nothing, she is lazy, and she takes her seat at the highest places. I pray the God of peace will speak into your life this school year and give you wisdom to discern the difference.
Love, Jaime
QUESTION:
What does it mean to be made whole?
WHOLENESS REQUIRES THREE ELEMENTS:
A boundary that defines the edge – a top, a bottom and sides (body)
An inner core that all pieces of the whole unite around, gravitate toward and point to. (soul)
A timeless seed that connects the beginning of its story to the ending of its story. (spirit)
The world
designed in layers
Just Like Stories
I developed all the concept sketches in this article over the summer after watching a seven minute video on “The Bible Is Art” YouTube channel that seemed to make sense out of all the (seemingly) disconnected ideas rolling around in my brain. In World In Layers, John B. Higgins explores the world’s visual layers to the story’s audible layers. (This channel is worth every minute you spend here.)
The Bible Is Art “explores the artistic and literary beauty of the Bible.”
After watching World in Layers a few times, I began to wonder how the audible layers of a story might translate into concentric circles … almost as if they were a metaphor of the world in its tangible form.
World to Word Connection
The entire design of this article follows a pattern of CONNECTION between the WORLD of God and the WORD of God.
Think of the cross section of “story” like that of “earth.” In this illustration, sound sits on the outer edge like the outer crust of the earth. Then notice how the layers of the story (earth) move from auditory senses (crust) to visual senses (core). Letters and word sounds existed in oral language long before their visual representations in the written language.
I lingered on this idea for long time – the story as a whole – and I wrote over 15 pages of research and insight into the origins of language. I even taught myself how to speak the first three letters in the Hebrew alphabet while focusing on the senses that must be engaged for a person to speak letters out loud. The tongue in my mouth pushes the breath in my lungs out through the lips on my face and into your ear. I loved this study, and I hope to write more about it in another article for another time.
"Whole Word" Method
I want to turn our attention to the Whole Word method (look-say), its origins within the deaf community of the 1830’s, and how the ciphering of language shifted away from sounding out individual letters toward seeing whole words. Though Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet’s invention was a good one for teaching deaf children how to read, it was not so good for teaching American public school children how to master the Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric of reading.
Trio, Triad, Trinity
We recognize many triads of wholeness in the field of education. The Greek Trivium includes grammar (knowledge), logic (understanding) and rhetoric (persuasion). The Apostle Paul blesses the three parts of a person’s whole as body, soul, and spirit. The Holy Bible describes the Trinity of three in one as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Just as a person is not whole who lacks the Holy Spirit, so too is a person not literate who lacks the rhetoric to communicate what is known.
We hear many skeptics of public school education cite low MDE proficiency rates and plummeting MCA and ACT test scores as the reason for their concern, but according to the founder of Classical Education, Leigh Bortins, the U.S. proficient literacy rate is far worse than the measurement by which these tests are designed to reveal.
“Someone who is proficiently literate can read multiple resources, hold their ideas, and, once they’ve finished reading all of them, synthesize and analyze it. That’s someone who is proficiently literate. Only 9% of our population can do that now. But 90% used to do it when the only three resources they had in their home was the Bible, Shakespeare, and the local newspaper.” (Bortins, Minute 47)
The Progressive approach to Whole Language teaching/learning has given birth to a wave of learning disabilities and dyslexia since the 19th century when Horrace Mann adopted it into his humanist version of Socialized education. Despite the evidence that these “Whole” methods do not work, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Center within the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is still pushing the “Whole” method philosophy on all schools, children and communities.
Storytelling is a Sensory Experience
We engage in the Story through our body’s senses – Taste, Touch, Sight, Sound and Smell.
Most people when I ask them if a “word” is seen or heard, tell me it is seen. But this is actually false. It is the sense of sound that forms the foundation of every story, not the sense of sight. I believe this imbalance of our visual dependency is partly due to the Look-Say public school method that 90% of us in America have learned.
Whole Language is hyper-focused on sight to interpret stories. This is a false practice of teaching. I will say that the READ ACT has the “look” of a more authentic phonetic process, as does SoWashCo’s new ARC reading curriculum, but there is something about both of these that still sounds like the Language of War. More on this later though.
Through the process of writing this article, I began to pay attention to how scripture in the Psalms frames the senses. I began to listen to the voice of God and hear the words of his mouth. I discovered the reason for my own personal learning disabilities as a child. All too often, I rely on my eyes to tell me the truth, but my eyes deceive me, and this explains my inability to interpret the Bible as a youth.
Jaime's Story
Moreland Elementary School – Rosemount Middle School – Rosemount High School
Disabled by
Disconnection
I grew up thinking there must be something wrong with me. As hard as I would try to pay attention in class to every word the teacher said, my mind wandered off in a million different directions so that when called upon to give the answer, I could not.
This made things all the more challenging in the evening when I would spend countless hours slaving away at the kitchen table every single night doing homework and studying for tests I never could ace. No matter the time I put in or the motivation I possessed to perform well, my letter grade rarely climbed above a B/B+. The only exceptions were Art, Phy Ed and oddly enough Accounting.
For me, every subject of study looked like a hovering island in the sky disconnected from the air above, the ground beneath or the water beside.
Disconnected ISLANDS of learning
Multiplication was an island. All stories were disconnected islands. Every single word on the page was an island. History, treaties, wars, revolutions, dates, ages, laws, government … Forget it. They meant nothing to me because I could not connect all the subjects of education to any unified center.
All historical events were fragmented stories to me, like islands that each had their own rise and fall, start and stop, here today and gone tomorrow. Each came to its natural end at the edge of the water, and each simultaneously fell flat into nothingness … until miraculously each showed up somewhere else. Every subject was completely random, completely irrelevant, completely “Who cares?” There was no underlying structure that held all the separate subjects together as one cohesive whole – or at least none that I could see with my eye.
Enabled by
connection
Like I said, I grew up thinking something must be wrong with me, and the feeling followed me into my adult years. I wasn’t even looking for the solution because I honestly did not think there was one. Nature or nurture, this was just the way God made me, right? … Wrong.
In January of 2021, I did something I had never done before. I spent $120 on one book, and for the next 42 months I drank up every single word as if it were water – living water. From that moment on, the connections in my brain began firing. I was 44 years old. The world vibrated with texture and meaning that I cannot describe to this day, but all I know is that the world around me made sense for the first time ever. I thought, if I can discover my connection to the whole by stepping out in faith to read one book (Genesis), then I can continue reading the next four books (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). With each Book I read, the more confidence I gained to ACT on whatever God was putting in front of me at the time.
From the moment I discovered MY connection to the whole, I discovered that every subject of learning is connected to the whole which I am a part of. It’s like the lights turned on in every nook and cranny of my life!
Do you realize what was happening? These stories I was reading in the Bible – these ancient stories from 2, 3, 5000 years ago – they would show up every day in every thing and every where I stepped. The Bible story was present, not just in church, but in all facets of secular society – storefronts, businesses, grocery stores … billboards, advertisements, social media … news stations, concerts, movies … The story of the Bible even showed up in my child’s public school classroom during distance and hybrid learning.
Connected ISLANDS of Learning
I can actually tell you what Book I was reading in the Bible every time I ACTED in faith. My first act was to enroll my children in Christian Private Schools (Exodus). My second act was to run for school board (Joshua). My third act was to start this Blog (2 Kings). My fourth act was to run for school board again (Mark). My fifth act was to begin efforts to bring awareness of bible education’s importance to public school children (Acts). The more I read, the more I act in faith. What began as a single step turned into a steady walk, then into a run and then into a sprint.
Where, at one time, I felt weighed down and defeated by the world, now I felt awakened and alive by this new found connection to humanity I never knew existed before reading the Bible.
It will be the same way for you too – as if a light were turned on for the first time in a house you never realized was dark. You will notice vibrant detail and color in objects that once appeared dull and bleak. You will immediately feel connected to the entire expanse of human civilization and those generations who lived in the past present and future.
Why?
Because in finding your center through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you will find an eternity of people who came before you and an eternity of people who will come after you … people who live and die by the same light you now have and who possess the same center you now possess.
This is the Holy Spirit.
The BIBLE sTORY
connects all stories
Consider how The Holy Bible shows up in every single story of our day
the blessings and curses in childhood fairy tales (Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast)
the names of fast food restaurants (Raising Canes)
the logo of medical practice (snake on a pole)
everyday speech (babel, love, peace, war, justice, Word, Father, etc)
The Holy Bible has been translated into more than 2,400 languages (in whole or in part). The Guinness Book of World Records lists the Bible as “The Best Selling Book” in 2021 (Link to source HERE.)
With over 6 billion copies in circulation today, the Holy Bible remains the most widely published book since the invention of the printing press when the Gutenberg Bible was printed in 1455-56. No other book comes close to The Bible in sheer quantity of sales. It has sold six times the amount of its closest runner up, ‘Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung’.
Consider how Uncle Tom’s Cabin impacted slavery, the abolitionist movement, and the American Civil War.
This was the best-selling novel of the nineteenth century and has since been translated into over 70 languages. It is one of the most influential pieces of literature in American history. We live in a nation that has been shaped by the words of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was in turn shaped by the words of the Bible.
Have you ever experienced that “Aha!” moment when, after reading a book or watching a movie, you begin to recognize the language of that story coming to life in your social circles? One little word you may have previously skimmed over suddenly becomes the connection that binds you in connection to your fellow man. When you become literate to the language of a story, you become knowledgeable with understanding and wisdom.
Some stories have the power to instantly unite millions of people.
Consider this story that shaped American culture in the 70’s and 80’s.
I don’t even need to tell you the name of it in order for you to know the story I am referring to. If you never took the time to learn this story though, would you be able to have an honest discussion or an emotional connection to this world?
Please consider that when living in a western world … we were shaped by the history, divinity, literature and artistry of the Bible.
Next consider that most people who talk about the Bible have never actually read it cover-to-cover. Please help change that.
connect with the Body.
connect with the Soul.
connect with the Spirit.
All this that has been described is the third and final element of the whole …
The Timeless Seed
The Holy Spirit
While in the Spirit, the past becomes present,
the Middle East feels right next door,
and Israel’s future touches you to the core
because Israel’s story is your story.
OXYMORON OF
the Whole Child Method
Aside from the fact that the Whole Child method in a public institution is a contradiction of speech – to lay claim over the whole but neutrality over the spirit – this oxymoron is one we all must recognize in ourself. Teaching wholeness to a child is not possible without spiritual guidance. Spiritual neutrality and Whole Child teaching are not symbiotic. For one to be true the other must be false.
SoWashCo school board member, Louize Hinz, was recently endorsed by United Teachers of South Washington County and says in her bio that she “sees district commitment to the education of the whole child as a strength.” (See UTSWC Endorsement Letter HERE)
This, I believe, is true of the school district. I believe SoWashCo is committed to educating the whole child, including their spiritual development. I also believe that the unholy spirit of DEI is the unspoken official state-run religion of Minnesota. The state does not say this directly, but rather counts on you to fill in those blanks.
The impossibility of
Spiritual Neutrality
In the case of MDE’s Whole Child Method, I believe the maker of this optical illusion is counting on the looker to gaze endlessly into his own reflection long enough not to notice the doom of his own demise. Many who rely on the “experts” to teach their children, optimistically believe their child’s learning is connected to the whole. When a governor like Tim Walz speaks in generalities, I believe he knows that we the people will fill in the missing pieces by way of our sacred core. I believe he knows the conclusions drawn by the masses will vary wide and far apart, thus making his job as governor appear spiritually neutral. I believe he knows that by keeping you focused only on what the eye can see will conveniently keep you blind and in the dark.
An Optical Illusion
Does the eye reveal the whole truth? Can the eye alone be trusted as a tool of inquiry for learning REAL knowledge? When looking at an island, how can one be sure it is connected to the earth below? It might really be a bog floating on the surface, disconnected from the earth.
the World to Word Connection
MDE’s Whole Child, Whole Language, Whole Word approach is hyper focused on outcomes (ACTS) which are only seen with the eye. Turning language into a simple visual experience has the appearance of spiritual neutrality. On the surface we see two children who use the same words, like “love” and “peace” and “good”.
Below the surface we hear the difference. One child’s definition is connected to the whole (LIFE) while the other child’s definition is disconnected from the foundation (DEATH). The Whole Word method is absent of auditory sound and syllable recognition thus revealing an imminent death that awaits the unaware child.
I believe this is why many of our public school learners are disconnected, disinterested, dyslexic, dysfunctional and disillusioned. The system they think was designed to help them is actually killing them at the core.
This emphasis on “literacy” is a farce. He who lacks the timeless seed of WHOLENESS is not whole. You may claim the Mighty Fist of Mann as your sacred CENTER. You may claim the BOUNDARY of your body as your choice, but it is the Holy Spirit who grows another human’s bones in your womb, and without that seed, you die … are fractured … are chopped into pieces and fragmented.
To use the language of the United Nations, I believe that while the Whole Child method IS sustainable for progressive political leaders who push the UN’s “peaceful” agenda on a global scale, the Whole Child method is NOT sustainable for the small child in any life-giving way.
"As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything."
The divided child
cannot be made whole by the mighty fist of Mann
SoWashCo Strategic Plan:
CONNECTION
“Building meaningful relationships through empathy, kindness, patience, and respect that lead to trust and understanding” (See the district’s Strategic Plan HERE).
These words are defined by an institution that has severed itself from the life-giving timeless seed of connection that only the Holy Spirit can provide. The image that accompanies SoWashCo’s government speech, All Are Welcome Here, makes it very clear that the unholy spirit of death makes up their core, and through him is “connection” defined.
When I ran for school board in 2021 and again in 2023, I made the mistake of thinking public education had the ability to be spiritually neutral. I thought if we were able to cut the unholy spirit out of public school board policy and procedure we’d be able to help make SoWashCo Schools into an acceptable option for Christian families. I thought the solution was to stick to the basics of education in this district – reading, writing, math – and leave the spiritual guidance to the family and church.
I was wrong. This is not a biblical way of thinking. The Bible tells us there is no such thing as spiritual neutrality (Matthew 12:22-28). Of God’s four governing bodies – self, family, church and civil – not one of them functions without a spirit. You have one of two options – the Holy Spirit or the unholy spirit.
At one time, the Holy Spirit filled the American public school system, but the Bible was systematically removed from the public school day by Horace Mann and the Supreme Court, respectively, a little under 200 years ago. So if the unholy spirit has taken up residence within these schools, then to simply remove it will not work. The Meek Cross of Christ must enter the buildings in Speech, in Word, and in Act by every believer who steps foot in that space.
I am no longer in that space. I removed my children four years ago, but I have not given up hope on Minnesota and her public school system because, though I may not understand why or when or how, I do believe God has BIG plans for it. I have faith that someday, somehow these children will come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior through the public school system … and during school hours. The Holy Spirit has instructed my feet in this direction for a reason.
In Conclusion
I believe children should be able to bring their whole self to school. I believe “education” is only legitimate in a space where the whole child can participate – body, soul and spirit. It is only a wicked organization that requires children to leave the Holy Spirit at home in the name of the unholy spirit of inclusion (DEI).
As the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Center within the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) leans in against Trumps executive orders to shut down the practice of DEI in federally funded educational institutions, we must know that this language is the LANGUAGE OF WAR and that the only way to counter it is with the LANGUAGE OF PEACE. We can trust that the Alpha and the Omega is good and that he will do what the Scriptures tell us he will do as the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, of this world he made for a purpose.
Up Next
The Language of War
This article has introduces my new series titled, The LANGUAGE OF WAR. Ironically, I discovered this language in our school district at a time when I was trying to find peace there. In November of 2024 I wanted to write uplifting articles that inspired faith-filled conversations and solved problems in a positive light. But the more I searched for the language of peace, the more I discovered the language of war.
The language of war I am witnessing in government is not the sort that can be fought with the armor of man. The weapon it deploys is the spirit of sin (aka the unholy spirit). This does not alarm me but rather validates the entire biblical logos – blessings, curses, peace, war, armies, armor, wholeness. Despite the dark subject matter, I hope to illustrate through this series how “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), and why we need not hold onto the spirit of fearing man.
Works Cited (in addition to links in-line): “The Whole Word” was inspired by
CDC. Whole School, Whole Community, Whole child (WSCC) Model Framework for education. June 26, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/whole-school-community-child/about/index.html
Bortins, Leigh and Robert. Why Parents Are Ditching The Public Schools For Homeschooling. Shawn Ryan Show, Episode #188. Aired and Accessed April 3, 2025. https://youtu.be/YDSwwB5Scr8?si=VbyJ3JwriSkvTjRo
Higgins, John B. The World Is Designed In Layers, Just Like Stories. The Bible Is Art. Mar 28, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixalkBZlWOc
Minnesota Department of Education. Youth Voice Health and Wellbeing Grant. https://education.mn.gov/MDE/DSE/Grants/MDE086846
United Teachers of South Washington County. Letter of School Board Candidate Endorsement. August 2025. https://utswc.org/
Webster, Noah. “Whole”. American Dictionary of The English Language. Foundation for American Christian Education. 1828.
This Little SCHOOL+HOUSE
In 2020, the Governor’s Education Roundtable put together A Roadmap for Transformational Change in Minnesota Education that says, “We need to mobilize all of us – not just teachers and students – to nurture assets and DISMANTLE BARRIERS so every student and their family has all Minnesotans supporting their academic and personal growth.”
On the other hand, Kelly Smith, Founder of Prenda, says his micro-schools are “BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS that will make it easier for people to start their own schools.” Meanwhile, One Stone, a school with no teachers, no tests and no grades, says they are “BREAKING DOWN the one-size-fits-all nature of a conventional classroom.”
As you can see, there are a lot of proverbial BARRIERS BEING BROKEN DOWN these days, and they appear to be at war with one another. G.K. Chesterton said, “Whenever you remove any fence, always pause long enough to ask why it was put there in the first place.” Wise advice from a wise man.
My question is, which SCHOOL+HOUSE is able to BUILD UP? Anyone can break down in a world ruled by the laws of gravity. Whether good or evil , real or fake – anyone can destroy – but only REAL things grow while under this sun … only REAL is granted authority to build upward … only REAL has the soft heart needed for love … only REAL is able to truly hear His story (history) spoken … and only REAL is able to truly see the Word written into the fabric of creation.
This Little School+House will pair with the “Borders and Boundaries” series of 2025 in exploring the question, “What is education, actually?”
This Little SCHOOL+HOUSE
February 5, 2025
Pit Of Fake SUCCESS
March 31, 2025
The Abstract Fringe
April 30, 2025
The United Center
June 3, 2025
Language Of War On Death
September 30, 2025
To Whom The Votes Fall
November 4, 2025
Language of War on Life
December 31, 2025
Make Straight Paths
February 5, 2026