I write, speak, invest, network, and question to stimulate fruitful conversation. Let's talk about human flourishing! It begins with freedom. Holy leisure is the key to human being, freedom and generativity. Please join me in the adventure of realizing Christ!
The Most Expensive School, Part 2
Did you miss Part 1?
Tuition includes swim lessons, piano and other instrument lessons, various physical training and sport options, art lessons in every media, and several foreign languages. Fundraisers and grants-in-aid pay not only for direct expenses of the school, but for placement of pianos, computers, pottery wheels, woodworking equipment, and more in the homes of the students! Talk about ‘homework’! Sit down, there’s more: travel grants are made to families and small groups for field trips to the seashore (oceanography), Rome (religion, history, art, Italian), Mexico (missions work, Spanish), Civil War battle fields, folk art camps, and a number of other wow destinations.
The Religious Training Team integrates its instruction with the child’s home church – coordinating between priest, religious ed. director, confirmation teachers, parents, sponsors, godparents and youth group leaders to design a coherent program from K-12 for each child that include service projects, vocations exploration, apologetics and liturgical music.
Here’s something I love about their facility: It contains a working, full-size kitchen and students learn culinary skills while taking responsibility for family-style lunch prep every day. Older kids get involved in meal planning, nutrition awareness, sustainable agriculture (a garden on-site actually provides food to keep costs down) and consumer math.
The library is great, the spaces are warm and homey, the lighting is good, and the exterior campus is humming with activity – the garden, messy art projects, some animal and workshop projects, a nature journaling class, and an ecosystem study group. Students bid for a group of workshop spaces on campus – proposing their project and identifying what resources they’ll need to meet their project goals.
Families have to be committed to some pretty huge involvement. They host in-home evenings on a rotating basis to build community and promote conversation. They chaperone field trips, help in the garden, contribute to the compost pile, scavenge for arts & crafts materials, tap friends for more help, and prepare their younger kids to enter this school ready to take full advantage of its programs.
There’s more, but I imagine you’re already jealous of independent home educators! If you’re willing to pay the price, you get the best. See Part 1
You must be logged in to post a comment.