Immanuel Community School

09/08/2026

No board. No pieces. No problem.

Two of our students spent recess drawing a grid, shading the squares, and combing the playground for light and dark rocks until they had something worth playing on.

Nobody assigned this. Nobody supervised it. They just wanted to play, so they built the thing that let them.

That instinct to make it yourself, figure it out, and get on with it, is what we're after. It shows up in Latin recitation and it shows up on a picnic table at 3 p.m.

09/05/2026

🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ FIRST ICS CROSS COUNTRY MEET ✅

Around 2,700 athletes lined up at Victor Ash Park this weekend — high school, middle school, elementary.

Five of them wore ICS across the chest. And it was the first meet in school history.

One mile. Full sun. The instruction from Coach Wiggins was simple: start strong, stay steady, sprint to the finish. They did all three, and they did it with attitudes that made the whole school proud.

Our team verse this season is Romans 5:3–5 — the one about suffering producing perseverance, perseverance producing character, and character producing hope. Turns out a mile in the heat is a pretty good classroom for that.

Small school. Real team. First of many. 🏃

Want to see what your child could be part of? Link in bio.

09/04/2026

Two students. Two very different math lessons. Exactly the same idea underneath.

In one classroom, a kindergartner is matching a handful of counting bears to a number card. Three. Four. Five. She isn't reciting — she's discovering that the word "five" and the pile in front of her are the same thing.

In another, an older student is working through 64 multiplication facts against a timer.

It looks like two unrelated activities. It isn't. Both students are doing the same work: building something so solid that they'll never have to think about it again.

That's deliberate. A student who has to pause and reconstruct 7 × 9 every time she meets it has spent all her attention before she reaches the actual problem. Automatic facts free a child's mind for the harder, more interesting thinking waiting a few years down the road. So we go slowly, we go carefully, and we don't move on until it's solid — whether that's a five-year-old with a handful of bears or a sixth-grader with a stopwatch.

Students here are formed, not just informed. Foundations are where that starts.

If you want to see how we teach — and why — start here: https://immanuelschoolknox.com/whyics

And if you'd like to help make this kind of education reachable for more South Knoxville families, message us. We'd love to tell you how.

08/31/2026

Why hand a six-year-old the gospel in picture-book form? Ask Mrs. Perkins.

First grade sits right in the heart of what classical educators call the grammar stage — the years when children take in story, language, and truth with an appetite adults can barely keep up with. It isn’t the season for debating theology. It’s the season for wonder.

So our first grade teacher reaches for The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross by Carl Laferton. Creation, the curtain, the cross, and the way back into God’s presence — the whole story, unwatered-down.

“Sometimes when you think about theology and these big ideas, it can feel so overwhelming. There really is a way to teach these ideas to children so that their hearts and their minds are in awe of who Jesus is.”

Wonder first. Understanding follows. That’s the order we teach in.

08/25/2026

Three weeks in, and the classrooms already sound like home.

New pencils. New friendships. A few first-day nerves that turned into laughter somewhere around lunch on day two.

We keep saying it to each other in the hallway: this is the part we prayed for. Not a building full of students — a small community of kids in South Knoxville learning, together, to love what's true and good and beautiful.

Here's a look at our first few weeks.

To the families who said yes to Immanuel this year: thank you. And if you've been quietly wondering what a school like this is like from the inside, this is a good place to start → https://immanuelschoolknox.com/whyics

We're always glad to answer questions. Message us anytime.

08/13/2026

Last Friday, our ICS families gathered by the river for our Back to School Picnic — and it was everything we hoped it would be.

There was a potluck table that stretched the length of the pavilion. Kids ran the length of the barn floor and lined up to push each other on the rope swing until the sun dropped behind the trees. Families wandered the field and sent their kids home with fistfuls of flowers.

But the part we keep thinking about is the parents standing around talking long after the plates were cleared. New families meeting returning families. Grandparents introducing themselves. Teachers greeting students they'll spend the next nine months with.

That's the heart of Immanuel Community School. We're a small, Christ-centered school in South Knoxville where children are known by name — and where families belong to each other, not just to an institution.

Thank you to every family who brought a dish, packed up the kids, and drove out to be part of it. We are grateful for what God is already doing this year.

💛 Wondering if ICS could be the right fit for your family? Many parents assume private Christian education is out of reach — it may be more possible than you think. Learn more at immanuelschoolknox.com/whyics, or message us and we'll answer your questions personally.

Know a South Knoxville family looking for a school like this? Please share this post with them.

08/06/2026

Our first day of the 2026–27 school year is in the books.

It started outside — balloons tied to the railing, a Back to School banner on the brick, parents kneeling on the pavement to get the picture. Some kids sprinted up those steps. Some held on a little tighter. Every one of them got met at the door by name.

We opened the morning all together, students on the rug, teachers around the edges, clapping and welcoming everybody. Then it was down the hall in a line, into classrooms, and straight into the first day rituals: name tags, all-about-me pages, a bucket of crayons in the middle of the table, and the serious business of picking the right shade of blue.

Our older students settled into their tables with markers and got right to it. Our youngest ones colored honeycombs and hearts and looked up every few seconds to see if their teacher was watching. She was.

To everyone who walked through our doors this morning — the returning families, the brand new ones, the little brothers and sisters who came along for the drop-off — thank you. This is our favorite day of the year.

Here's to the 2026–27 school year at Immanuel Community School. 🤍

08/04/2026

07/29/2026

🔔 One week from today, our halls get loud again.

We pulled some footage from earlier this year, and it's a good reminder of what a normal day actually looks like around here.

A kid leaning into a book. A hand up before the teacher finishes the question. Two students working something out together at a table.

Young children learn by saying it, singing it, and repeating it until it's theirs. It looks a little chaotic from the doorway. It's exactly how it's supposed to sound.

Our teachers are licensed and trained, and in a school this size they know every child by name — usually their siblings too, and usually their parents.

First day is August 5. If your family has been thinking about a different kind of school this year, this is the week to reach out. We can talk through what's open, what up to 90% in tuition assistance could look like for you, and whether we're the right fit.

Message us here or visit immanuelschoolknox.com/opendoors. We'd love to hear from you.

07/25/2026

Meet Mrs. Suzanne McNeil, joining ICS this fall as our Kindergarten teacher!

Suzanne brings more than 25 years in education to our hallways, including nine years as an elementary classroom teacher in Knox County Schools and years of homeschool co-op teaching across grades 1 through 8. She is a Knoxville educator through and through.

What drew her to ICS? Our commitment to Christ-centered classical education and, in her words, the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty.

Our teachers shepherd students made in the image of God. That means knowing each child, challenging each child, and loving each child through the hard parts of learning. Suzanne has spent a career doing exactly that.

Welcome, Mrs. McNeil! We're so glad you're here.