This September, another school option for parents is coming to Osceola - a Christian learning center.
Beginning
Sister-in-laws Jamie Porter and Alena Phillips were both born and raised in Osceola. Both graduated from Clarke schools, and after college returned to the community they had grown up in to raise their families and teach at their alma mater.
Porter taught kindergarten for 11 years at Clarke Elementary, and said the first three years were what she had envisioned education to be. After that, frequent changes that seemed small at first, such as changes in curriculum, soon grew into larger issues.
Phillips echoed similar sentiments. She taught for seven years across first, second and fifth grades, with her final year as the K-5 technology teacher.
Both felt the weight and daily stressors of their jobs, often bringing that energy home with them, finding them unable to be fully present with their own children. They also had others confide in them that they were feeling the same way - unheard and unhelped.
The pair discussed the possibility of homeschooling their children starting with the 2023-34 school year, and began talking about doing it for others who wanted to homeschool but were unable to. Through Phillips’ job at Mosaic she began working with HizKids, a faith-based after school program, and there she met Danny McNeal, pastor at the First Christian Church in Osceola.
" ‘I just wish that there was something that we could do for the families in our community,’ " Phillips said to McNeal, sharing with him Porter’s desire for the same.
McNeal’s response to Phillips?
“He said ‘Let’s keep the motivation going, let’s meet next week!’ " said Phillips.
Learning center
That conversation between Phillips and McNeal was in January and since then, it’s been full-steam ahead, working on the dream of opening a faith-based learning center this September. With weekly meetings held and attended by those with homeschooling experience or other community members, the advice and feedback Phillips, Porter and McNeal have received has been invaluable.
“We had an idea of what we saw as being successful, just hearing other people’s input and ideas…resources are just coming to us through other people - talking gives us another lead somewhere else,” said Porter.
Osceola’s Faith Fellowship is also looking at opening a school and began attending the weekly meetings, working together to brainstorm ideas. With other schools around the area operating similarly to how Phillips and Porter envision the learning center, the resources are plentiful. The two have already visited several, and plan to visit more to see first-hand how everything runs.
Classrooms and curriculum
The learning center, tentatively called HomeGrown Christian Learning Center, plans to start small. For the first year, there will just be two teachers - Phillips and Porter. Both have degrees in early childhood education with reading endorsements. The ages served will be five through 12, with class sizes capped at ten students.
“Smaller class sizes are important, so those kids are getting that connection with their teacher and really have that personal relationship,” said Porter.
Porter will take the younger ages and Phillips will take the older. Phillips likens the classrooms to having a one-room schoolhouse feel, and Porter said that curriculum assessments will help determine where the children are academically. With the smaller class sizes, lessons can be tailored to the individual student’s needs as opposed to having a class twice that size needing to be all on the same learning step.
With consideration given to families who might have older children not eligible to attend the learning center, they plan to loosely follow the Clarke school calendar, with some differences - a later start and earlier finish date and perhaps a longer winter break. Classes will run Monday through Thursday, with Friday focused on community service.
The curriculum that they will be using is called My Father’s World, and is explained on the curriculum’s website:
“My Father’s World Christian homeschool curriculum combines the best of Charlotte Mason’s ideas, Hebraic classical education, and unit studies with a biblical worldview and global focus. We have worked hard to make homeschooling as easy as possible with our God-centric curriculum mirroring the Greco-Roman classical approach of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.”
The curriculum offers many different learning resources from books to videos, and ways to incorporate that in life outside of the classroom.
Phillips and Porter are also utilizing information from the Herzog Foundation, which helps those interested in non-public school education know what steps to take to be successful. For the pair that means not only the curriculum, but also focusing on having a strong team in place to help drive that success. Part of that comes with support from both families and the community.
Support and familial participation
Both My Father’s World and Herzog Foundation offer resources for helping homeschooling, microschools and learning centers get off the ground. Locally, Phillips, Porter and McNeal have reached out to other churches for support, with the hopes that the non-denominational curriculum will bring in pastors of different faiths to lead chapel services or teach Biblical history to the students, for a truly ecumenical effort within the community.
State legislators were instrumental in helping Phillips and Porter find the law firm of Hagenow, Gustoff, & Karas LLP, who are helping with the legalese portion of the learning center, such as the bylaws, code of conduct and creating a 501(c)(3).
“We know the education, we are very confident in that, this other piece–” said Porter.
“-we said from the beginning, we want to do this the right way. We want this to be a sustainable organization, something that’s going to–” said Phillips.
“–keep living throughout everything, that’s why we didn’t rush through this…it’s nice to have some people who have that background to give us that information,” said Porter.
The participation of the entire family in the educational process is something else that is very important to Phillips and Porter.
“Very family, community oriented, that is our heart and our passion…Yes, we’re definitely going to be there teaching the bulk curriculum, but we want it to be engaging with the families; we really want families involved,” said Porter.
The learning center’s mission statement reflects Porter’s statement:
“HomeGrown Christian Learning Center empowers families to develop a love of learning that is rooted in the truth of God’s word.
Our vision is as follows:
- Educate students through the truth of God’s word using a curriculum that is non denominational and biblically-centered.
- Partner with parents to assist them in taking an active role in their child’s education.
- Develop a sense of belonging by collaborating with members of the Osceola community.”
Plans to have a monthly family night or activity are being thought out, and parents will be encouraged to visit the classrooms when they can. With Friday’s community service day, families will be strongly encouraged to give back to their community by way of volunteering.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, community members will be invited into the classrooms to share about their jobs, hobbies, or other interests. Traditional homeschoolers will also be invited for that time, not just to see the guests, but to have social time with the other children.
Investment
On the topic of tuition, Phillips said that the learning center has been a dream of her’s and Porter’s for a long time, well before the recent school voucher system was signed into law. The learning center will not be accredited and as such will not be accepting education savings account payments. The learning center will be a 501(c)(3), and will accept private donations.
While the initial budget requirements are still being worked out, tuition is expected to be about $5,000 a year.
Registration is not yet open, and will be on a first come, first serve basis. Families will sign a statement of faith, stating they believe in what the learning center is doing and that they will stand behind it. A registration fee will also be required.
Community meeting
Phillips, Porter and McNeal will be holding an informational community meeting on Tuesday, April 11 at 6 p.m. at the First Christian Church. They encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about the learning center to join them, as they share their vision, mission, curriculum and talk about how the center will run.
“This is not going to be perfect, but we also know that our bottom line is, there’s a need for this in our community. We’ve felt that very personally…we have hopes of this becoming something bigger,” said Phillips.
Both Phillips and Porter emphasized that opening a learning center is not to take away from the public schools, but to simply offer another option to parents who might not feel like public school is the best fit for their children.
“It started with the simple question, is there a need for something like this in our community, and it’s been a resounding ‘yes’ from just about everybody,” said McNeal.
“It’s not for everybody, [we’re] not trying to make it for everybody,” said Phillips and Porter.
The trio feel blessed for the support and guidance that they have received in such a short span of time, and are hopeful for the future of the learning center.
“God’s got this. For it to come this far so quickly, we just knew that getting networks with the right people and the right resources…the legwork these two gals have done to get everything to happen has just been amazing,” said McNeal.