Dr. Emily Williams said she has always had a calling to help children with disabilities. After many years teaching special education in the public school system, she felt God leading her to start a school for children considered “at risk educationally” due to various issues.

The name “Micah’s Mission” came to her, inspired by Micah 6:8, which reads, in part: “. . . Act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”

Micah’s Mission works with children who are at risk of falling behind in school, whether it’s due to a learning disorder, such as dyslexia or autism, absenteeism due to chronic illness, a behavioral disorder or trauma of some sort.

“It’s not that (the children) have a learning disability; they have a ‘different ability,'” Williams said.

Micah’s Mission is not a traditional school.

“We are a homeschool ‘micro-school,'” Williams said. “Micro-schools are more on the lines of groupings of smaller sets of students. We don’t have many groups of kids bigger than eight kids. It’s more than a co-op (a group of homeschools), but smaller than a school.”

Faith is at the core of Micah’s Mission, Williams said. The students begin each day with a devotion and journaling. Older students work with younger students and help them with projects such as coloring pages.

“One year, I didn’t make sure the devotions were consistently done,” Williams said. “The behaviors, anxieties, not just negative behaviors like fighting and things like that, but anxiety and collaborations and cooperation. All of those things went down. The children were less able to find their center, to find a space to respond and recover better, in a more positive way. Everything had more of a negative mindset.

“Being centered in your faith allows for, when the hard stuff comes up, to not give up. You have a different confidence when you know that God’s got you. When the storm comes, God’s always going to be there. It’s vital to be able to have a space and a foundation of being centered in your faith for whatever challenge comes up.”

Williams, also an ordained Methodist minister, added a weekly chapel service this year.

“We have pastors and directors (from different churches) come in and do music. The goal is to eventually have student-led worship,” she said.

Williams added that another goal is to have a parents’ time for Bible study while the children are at chapel.

Micah’s Mission embraces an approach that extends beyond academics, she said.

“We’re bringing in yoga, and our girls are having a book club. They’re also making a podcast.”

Williams said students also prepare breakfast each morning, learning how to follow a recipe and practice kitchen safety. Hands-on building projects and field trips help prepare students for life after school.

Williams doesn’t shy away from troubled students, she said.

“We are working on a trauma-informed mindset with pastoral care. Whether it’s from divorce, a loss of a job, financial instability . . . it’s not just the big things like abuse or death. It’s everyday walks that lead to trauma that we try to brush off but might really need to work through and learn how to breathe through.”

Williams also uses Bible scriptures to teach children how to adapt and to identify their circle of control.

“We can only control our mindset, our responses, how we act and adapt,” she said. “We can be better today than we were yesterday to love God and love people.”

When students are feeling frustrated and discouraged, she cites the story of Jonah and the whale from the Bible as an example of pushing through hardships and enduring troubling times.

“Jonah didn’t think he could do it, he went the other way. He didn’t want to listen. He didn’t want to do it, because it was going to be hard.”

Williams said she believes a strong foundation of faith in God is vital, especially for children.

“I want them to understand that God loves us and we were made in His image. They understand that Jesus belongs in our hearts, as Christians, and we listen to what the Holy Spirit tells us in our responses – that we’re in control of us. It all comes down to who you are and whose you are.”

Of Micah’s Mission, Williams said, “We’re a safe haven, for children and families to come as they are. There is no judgement. It’s left at the door. Come as you are and come be a part of our family.”