Branches & Vine Cottage School
  • ABOUT US
    • Welcome From the Director
    • Parents' Required Reading
    • Calvary South Dayton
    • Charlotte Mason Resources >
      • AmblesideOnline
      • The New Mason Jar Podcast
      • CM's 20 Principles
      • Delectable Education
      • The Literary Life Podcast
      • Habit Formation
  • LIVING CURRICULUM
  • COTTAGE SCHOOL LIFE
  • WHY CHOOSE US
  • ADMISSIONS
    • Full Day & Half-Day Options
    • Fees (2025-2026)
    • Enrollment Steps & Interest Form
    • New Student Application Form
  • PARENT PORTAL MAIN
    • Returning Student Form
    • Online Payment
    • Parents' Required Reading
    • 2024-2025 Portal Docs
    • T3: Wk 5 (Apr 14-17)
    • T3: Wk 4 (Apr 7-10)
    • T3: Wk 3 (Mar 31-Apr 3)
    • T3: Wk 2 (Mar 24-27)
    • T3: Wk 1 (Mar 17-20)

 If you desire a vibrant learning atmosphere for your child
WE CAN HELP YOU!



If you're eager for a faith-based, high-quality private education with highly affordable rates for your family
WE CAN HELP YOU!



If you have a morning homeschool curriculum but desire
additional enrichment and meaningful social learning opportunities
WE CAN HELP YOU!



If you're longing to plug in to a loving community that offers genuine encouragement designed for your whole family
WE CAN HELP YOU!

Nurturing the whole person through life-giving atmosphere, habits of wisdom, and a generous feast
​of great & noble ideas.

Our 2021-2022 Academic Year Enrollment is now closed!
If you would like to be placed on our Wait List and contacted as soon as spots are opened, please email us here!
We are joyfully investing in the lives of our students. School interviews and tours will resume after Easter 2022 for new students!

Veterans' Day Art Competition Winners
Form III/IV students pondering the deep questions of life (actually enjoying a coffee outing at Epic Coffee!)
Learning to read music and play piano!
Saint Thomas Aquinas sharing about his Summa Theologica for our All Saints Day Celebration.
Investigating mysterious holes in the back woods!
Sand maps!
Feeding one of our BVCS residents, "King Alfred"
Recitations & Public Speaking

WEEKLY SCHEDULE
In-Class: Mondays-Thursdays
Homeschool Day: Fridays

​FORMS
Woodland Friends - ages 4-6
(
Mon, Tue, Wed mornings)
Form I - ages 6-9 (roughly 1st-3rd)
Form II - ages 9-12 (roughly 4th-6th)
Form III - ages 12-15 (roughly 7th-9th)
Form IV - ages 15-18 (roughly 10th-12th)
​
IN-CLASS HOURS
Cottage Students Full Day:
8:10 am - 3:40 pm

Enrichment Half-Day Students:
11:30 am - 3:40 pm

*11:30 am for students who wish to join us for lunch and outdoor play
*12:20 pm for students joining us for afternoon chapel before afternoon class rotations
We have a 5 acre country-like campus with a chicken coop, gardens, various creatures, climbing trees,
and an open green space that facilitates generous outdoor exploration and play.


​We are easily accessible (just four minutes off I-75) in South Dayton, close to many amenities.
Click here!
Click pic!

""Let us try, however imperfectly, to make education a science of relationships - in other words, try in one subject or another to let the children work upon living ideas. In this field small efforts are honored with great rewards, and we perceive that the education we are giving exceeds all that we intended or imagined."
~ Charlotte Mason (1842 – 1923), Volume 3, p. 163

Winchester Gatherings
(Afternoon Clubs & Electives)

Branches & Vine Approach

At Branches & Vine, we honor the child's dignity as a whole person designed in God's image.

Our educational approach nourishes the whole person with first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through: "living books" in every subject, timeless literature and poetry, treasured handicrafts, Shakespeare plays, inspiring art, beautiful music, biblical worldview conversations, structured maths and sciences, Latin, Greek and classical studies, generous nature exploration, piano and violin study.

We believe life-giving education possesses "depth of relations" through a three-fold framework: "knowledge of God," "knowledge of man," and "knowledge of the universe." We help students build deepening relationships with God and His Word; with people from various eras, places, and cultures; and with nature and 
daily outdoor life, geography, and the sciences.

Chronological history comes alive through well-written books, source documents, captivating biographies, and literature selections which illuminate the era.


Focused attention at short, varied lessons keeps students' minds fresh, leaving free time for exploration of nature, personal interests, and life skills.

English skills develop beautifully through "copywork" (transcribing a portion of quality literature), and "dictation" of familiar passages. Memorization and "recitation" are approached, not as tools for repeating facts, but to give children rich words to ponder for a lifetime.


Instead of dry worksheets, students design and develop cherished "living notebooks" including: Book of Centuries (master timeline), Commonplace Book (literary quotations), Nature Notebook (observational sketches, paintings, and notes), Copybook (Scripture, poetry, and literature selections), Scripture Notebook (Bible readings, lists, and "lessons for life"), Latin Notebook ... among other notebook keep-sakes that take shape through the years.

"Narrating" (retelling) from living books teaches students to reflect upon and digest vital ideas. 

​
Our teachers direct the course of study, but students assume personal responsibility for their own learning.

​We seize every opportunity to experience wonder and delight. Along with intentional "habit formation," students appropriate true knowledge, understanding, and wisdom into a life of meaningfulness.

Branches & Vine Mission

In partnership with families, and guided by the Word of God, we provide a rich and varied feast of living ideas reflective of truth, goodness, and beauty, that equips students to lead lives of true knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to the glory of Christ.

Discover the Difference of Branches & Vine

CULTIVATING A LIFE-GIVING ATMOSPHERE
SHEPHERDING HABITS OF WISDOM & VIRTUE
NOURISHING MINDS WITH A GENEROUS FEAST OF LIVING IDEAS
JOINING THE GREAT CONVERSATION THROUGH
​THE GREAT BOOKS, GREAT THINKERS, AND GREAT WORKS
“We all have need to be trained to see, and to have our eyes opened
before we can take in the joy that is meant for us in this beautiful life.”

"We wish to place before the child open doors to many avenues of instruction and delight,
in each one of which he should find quickening thoughts."
​
​
~ Charlotte Mason (1842 – 1923)
EMAIL US WITH QUESTIONS!
All applicants and BVCS parents are expected to have read: For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay and In Vital Harmony by Karen Glass. Our families must be supportive of classically-based Charlotte Mason principles and methods to ensure that your hopes for your children resonate with our vision and priorities for B&V, and are in keeping with the philosophical distinctives of our work.
ENROLLMENT STEPS
​[email protected]
​(937) 825 1248
​3150 W ALEX BELL, DAYTON, OH 45449
​
PAY FEES ONLINE
INTEREST FORM & ENROLLMENT PROCESS
​NEW STUDENT APPLICATION FORM
RETURNING STUDENT FORM

Picture
Branches & Vine Cottage School is a four-day Charlotte Mason/Classical Cottage School walking alongside families located in Dayton, Ohio.

Abiding in Christ and His Word, aligning with Charlotte Mason’s classically-based principles, and partnering alongside parents ... we spread a rich and varied feast of a life-giving education (truth, goodness, beauty) through three-fold knowledge with deepening relationships (God, humanity, universe). Our three instruments of education are atmosphere, discipline, and life.

This is to be used by the Holy Spirit in transforming students to genuinely love the Lord and others, lead gracious and flourishing lives of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, and bear much fruit for His glory. (Deut 6:4-9, Prov. 24:3-4; John 15:1-11)
“I am the VINE, you are the BRANCHES. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

​​

A 501c3 educational
​ministry initiative of
​Calvary South Dayton​
  • ABOUT US
    • Welcome From the Director
    • Parents' Required Reading
    • Calvary South Dayton
    • Charlotte Mason Resources >
      • AmblesideOnline
      • The New Mason Jar Podcast
      • CM's 20 Principles
      • Delectable Education
      • The Literary Life Podcast
      • Habit Formation
  • LIVING CURRICULUM
  • COTTAGE SCHOOL LIFE
  • WHY CHOOSE US
  • ADMISSIONS
    • Full Day & Half-Day Options
    • Fees (2025-2026)
    • Enrollment Steps & Interest Form
    • New Student Application Form
  • PARENT PORTAL MAIN
    • Returning Student Form
    • Online Payment
    • Parents' Required Reading
    • 2024-2025 Portal Docs
    • T3: Wk 5 (Apr 14-17)
    • T3: Wk 4 (Apr 7-10)
    • T3: Wk 3 (Mar 31-Apr 3)
    • T3: Wk 2 (Mar 24-27)
    • T3: Wk 1 (Mar 17-20)