CAJ Insights: School Support Services’ 35th Year
In the 1980’s, as homeschooling was just starting to gain momentum in the US, CAJ’s headmaster Claude Meyers asked me (a young single teacher at that time) to do something to help families in the outlying areas of Japan with their children’s education.
I started with a seminar gathering homeschool families to find out what the needs were. School Support Services (or SSS as we call it) was born and by God’s grace has grown considerably over the years. We are now in our 35th year of operation serving missionaries, other expatriate families, and bilingual families. SSS is one of the ways CAJ clearly equips students to serve Japan and the world for Christ.
At first I typed up SSS newsletters on a typewriter, mimeographed them and mailed them out in hand-addressed envelopes with real postage stamps. I communicated with families in the outlying areas of Japan by hand writing personal letters. We started collecting books to form a lending library since few English books were available to our clientele.
In 1995 we got our own phone and fax machine. In 2008 we transitioned to communicating weekly with families via our SSSnippets emails. In 2010 we rolled out our School Support Services website. Most of our communication these days is in person or by email, Skype, or telephone.
Year by year events have been added (Spelling bees, Arts & Skills Days, Speech Festivals, Sports Days, Writer’s Workshops, Homeschool Plus, etc.). It seems like every time we add an event it quickly turns into a regular feature of our program.
We are in our sixth office space and at last count SSS is currently serving over 100 families and 5 affiliated schools. About half our SSS families homeschool their children and the other half send their children to local Japanese schools and supplement with English studies at home. Our affiliated schools range in size from about 5 students to 50 students. Though we give no pressure to do so, many students end up coming to CAJ and about 25% of our CAJ student population has come through the SSS program.
Current CAJ staff members who have been on staff in SSS throughout it’s history are Janet Ekstrand, Gina Abraham, Rita Schellenberg, Debbie May, and Alecia May. Without these capable women, SSS would not have grown into the thriving ministry it is today.
Now in 2017 we focus on providing consultancy, resources (like library books & curriculum), and programs (like reading incentives, events, and preschool classes a few times each month) for our SSS families and affiliated schools.
About the Author
Flossie Epley is the founder and director of School Support Services. She first came to CAJ as a student in 1964. She has been a student, teacher, administrator, and parent at CAJ most of the years since then. She still takes great joy in coming to work each day and connecting with families across Japan. Outside of school she enjoys reading, creating new recipes, walking alongside rivers, listening to online seminary lectures with her husband, and Skyping with her grandchildren.
In the 1980’s, as homeschooling was just starting to gain momentum in the US, CAJ’s headmaster Claude Meyers asked me (a young single teacher at that time) to do something to help families in the outlying areas of Japan with their children’s education.
I started with a seminar gathering homeschool families to find out what the needs were. School Support Services (or SSS as we call it) was born and by God’s grace has grown considerably over the years. We are now in our 35th year of operation serving missionaries, other expatriate families, and bilingual families. SSS is one of the ways CAJ clearly equips students to serve Japan and the world for Christ.
At first I typed up SSS newsletters on a typewriter, mimeographed them and mailed them out in hand-addressed envelopes with real postage stamps. I communicated with families in the outlying areas of Japan by hand writing personal letters. We started collecting books to form a lending library since few English books were available to our clientele.
In 1995 we got our own phone and fax machine. In 2008 we transitioned to communicating weekly with families via our SSSnippets emails. In 2010 we rolled out our School Support Services website. Most of our communication these days is in person or by email, Skype, or telephone.
Year by year events have been added (Spelling bees, Arts & Skills Days, Speech Festivals, Sports Days, Writer’s Workshops, Homeschool Plus, etc.). It seems like every time we add an event it quickly turns into a regular feature of our program.
We are in our sixth office space and at last count SSS is currently serving over 100 families and 5 affiliated schools. About half our SSS families homeschool their children and the other half send their children to local Japanese schools and supplement with English studies at home. Our affiliated schools range in size from about 5 students to 50 students. Though we give no pressure to do so, many students end up coming to CAJ and about 25% of our CAJ student population has come through the SSS program.
Current CAJ staff members who have been on staff in SSS throughout it’s history are Janet Ekstrand, Gina Abraham, Rita Schellenberg, Debbie May, and Alecia May. Without these capable women, SSS would not have grown into the thriving ministry it is today.
Now in 2017 we focus on providing consultancy, resources (like library books & curriculum), and programs (like reading incentives, events, and preschool classes a few times each month) for our SSS families and affiliated schools.
About the Author
Flossie Epley is the founder and director of School Support Services. She first came to CAJ as a student in 1964. She has been a student, teacher, administrator, and parent at CAJ most of the years since then. She still takes great joy in coming to work each day and connecting with families across Japan. Outside of school she enjoys reading, creating new recipes, walking alongside rivers, listening to online seminary lectures with her husband, and Skyping with her grandchildren.
