Morning Time
The first hour of each day, conducted together regardless of form. Hymn, Scripture reading, prayer, poem, calendar, weather. The youngest contribute. Everyone learns the week's catechism question and memorized Bible verse.
Beyond the Books
Student
Life
The portion of education that happens outside the lesson plan — which, we have come to believe, is often the larger portion.
The Academic Year
Three terms, by the seasons.
Autumn Term
August · September · October · November
The first term, and the most hopeful. Long mornings, fresh notebooks, the year's reading list still unmarked. A tradition of one full reading aloud of The Wind in the Willows.
Winter Term
January · February · March
The interior term. We turn inward to the harder work — mathematics deepens, Latin acquires verbs, the senior thesis takes shape. Cold-front mornings are real; snow days are not.
Spring Term
April · May · June
The outdoor term. The kitchen door propped open. Class on the porch when possible. The year's final recitations, the Spring Festival, and (weather permitting) a great deal of swimming.
The Lord's Day is observed, and December is given over to Advent and the family.
The Gulf of Mexico, our extended classroom.
A Few of Our Own
Traditions
Traditions are invented daily and consecrated by repetition. A few of ours began as accidents and were too pleasant to abandon.
Tea & Recitation
Fridays at three. Each student presents the week's memorized passage to the assembled — psalm, poem, or hymn. The Head of School pours. Biscuits are produced.
The Reading List Wall
A length of butcher paper down one hallway, on which every book read aloud is recorded in order. The wall is presently very long.
Naturalist Day
Once a fortnight, the morning lessons are suspended and the entire enterprise is removed to a state park or preserve. Field notebooks required. Lunch packed. The works of the Creator examined with attention.
The Spring Festival
An afternoon of recitations, music, and the showing of nature journals. Open to grandparents, friends, the church, and the occasional baffled neighbor.
Graduation
Conducted in the back garden. The graduating senior delivers a thesis defense, recites a Latin oration, and is presented with a diploma calligraphed for the occasion. The headmaster has been known to weep.
Out and About
Beyond the
Classroom
Athletics
Year-round, outdoors, often barefoot.
Swimming, surfing, cycling, the occasional spirited foot race. Florida supplies the climate; we supply the schedule.
Co-op
A loose confederation.
We meet weekly with several other classical Christian homeschool families for shared lessons in art, science, and the inevitable group projects.
Church
The other school the children attend.
Weekly worship, Sunday school, midweek programs. The children sit through real sermons and learn to take notes early.
Field Studies
The Tampa Bay region as classroom.
Honeymoon Island. The MOSI. The Dunedin History Museum. The Salvador Dalí Museum. The Florida Aquarium. A list that keeps growing.
Service
Habits of useful citizenship.
Library volunteering, neighborhood beach cleanups, helping at a local food pantry, the production of soup for the sick of the church.
Music & Art
Drawing daily, hymn-singing always.
Hymn study, piano for those who will, recorder for those who must. Nature journals, observational drawing, watercolor for the older students, an annual Spring still-life competition (judged sternly and lovingly).
A Standing Question
On the question of a mascot
The matter remains unsettled. The student body has, at various times, proposed: the Owls, the Bookworms, the Sand Pipers, the Manatees, the Roman Centurions, and (briefly, fiercely) the Velociraptors.
We expect this question will resolve itself, in its own good time.