A Living Homeschool Community

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8

This verse came to me shortly after we landed on calling our homeschool community, The Orchard. For years, God has given me vision and ideas for a homeschool community that is a kingdom expression. A place where children and their parents come to belong and become, receive nourishment from living ideas and stories, are supported and strengthened through the seasons of life, and enjoy the beauty and wonder of the world that points to a creative God who delights in His kids (both young and mature). 

We believe that the choice to homeschool your children is a wonderful, worthy calling but we know that it comes with challenges. We aspire to ease the burden of the homeschooling parent to allow them more freedom, more peace, more capacity to enjoy the very good but difficult work that is home educating. 

The Orchard Homeschool Community has four main components:

Drop Off Day:

The Orchard meets one day a week for a drop off enrichment program. The program will go from 9-3 and cover history, science, math, art, culture, social emotional skills and more. The mission of the drop off day is to connect children to the goodness of God and the richness of life through living books, nature study, the arts, math games, science experiments and plenty of time to play and create. By creating a drop off option that supplements what you are doing at home, we hope to make homeschooling more accessible and less stressful to the modern family.

Nature Group Day:

Joining a Nature Group is a great way to start making connections with other homeschooling families at The Orchard. We find exploring in nature a great way for parents and children to form deep friendships. Our Nature Groups meet throughout the week in different nature locations. This could be a trail, playground, natural area, or a combination of the three. Nature groups will be small groups of about 10 families and serve as your more intimate community within the larger community of The Orchard. We organize these by the age of the oldest child in your family and  your residential location. 

Field Trips:
Many of us dreamed of going on lots of field trips when we decided to homeschool. If you are like me, they have been hard to plan and make time for. We want to take the effort out of planning these fun experiences by giving you a monthly field trip option that you can enjoy with your Orchard community. We believe these experiences bring fun, adventure, and context to learning not to mention the memories made!

Homeschool Support:

We want to give you booklists, podcasts, playlists, blog posts, and all the resources that will keep you inspired in your homeschool journey. So much of homeschooling is having a vision, trying things out, and seeing what works for you and your kids. This will mainly be delivered through our newsletter The Orchard Press and this blog, but it will also take place through organic conversation and connection with families in our community. So you can ask “What are you guys doing for math this year?” and get lots of ideas and feedback on what would be a great fit for you and your kids. 

This is who we are. A wholehearted tribe of parents pressing on towards the goal of educating the hearts, minds, and spirits of the children in our care. Sowing diligently the seeds of goodness, truth, beauty, joy, integrity, and so much more. We know that these seeds will grow into strong trees that will bear fruit in their own time. 

We invite you to join us!

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