Why CHOOSE Branches & Vine Cottage School

1. Children flourish by partaking of "the feast"
  • Children engage with a wide and high quality curriculum of living ideas, living books, and living things.
  • We intentionally teach "habits" (Miss Mason called them "disciplines") of thought and life ... we desire to see children developing as humble, wise, and resilient persons engaging in a beautiful and knowledgeable life of meaningful relationships with God, others, and the world around us.

2. Every child treasured and thriving
  • Small teacher-student ratios.
  • A gentle and flexible learning atmosphere.
  • Instead of falling through the cracks, children at Branches & Vine Cottage School are uniquely shepherded, loved, and equipped.

3. Historic Christian truths and values
  • Parents can trust their children are receiving a solid foundation in historic Christian values as reflected through unchanging biblical truth.

4. Affordable resource fees and rates for private and proven education
  • Weekly fees that are cheaper than childcare rates ... or the cost of a restaurant meal for the average family ($12 a day for fulltime students).
  • Degreed and specialized Charlotte Mason teachers who are highly invested and experienced.
  • The benefits of a high quality and varied education, inspired and influenced by beautiful Charlotte Mason educational principles and methods.

​5. Daily wonder & delight in a tranquil learning location
  • We are blessed with a 5-acre campus featuring a chicken coop, children's gardens, guinea pigs, bunnies, a resident reptile, aquariums, open green space, and bird feeders.
  • Easily accessible school facility ... just four minutes off I-75 and close to many amenities.
  • Intentional outdoor play and nature study.
  • Settled hearts and minds so children are free to truly learn and grow.

Why NOT to choose Branches & Vine Cottage School

1. If you are looking for a full 5-day on-site "public school-style" program
  • We are not a later 20th century school model with modernist/progressive theories, "DEI," and teaching methods.
  • We do not prep students for standardized tests or use "common core."
  • We are intentionally avoiding an institutional learning environment dominated by large class sizes, sterile and artificial class spaces, screens, progressive educational emphases, testing culture, letter grades, monetized performance and rankings, and utilitarian ideals. (Read Dumbing Us Down, by John Taylor Gatto free pdf version or paperback version for what we intentionally avoid at B&V).


What we are ...
  • We are a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Hybrid Model that combines days of dynamic learning in a warm, relational setting.
  • We will always prioritize whole-hearted learning shaped by Philippians 4:8 … in step with the student's own personal needs, progress, and growth. (The EIGHT: true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praise-worthy)
  • B&V parents are required to simply notify their school districts regarding homeschooling excusal for the year.
  • We provide families with a term syllabus to help them partner with us in their children's academic year while at B&V.


2. If you're looking for the benefits of homeschooling without responsibility or commitment ...
  • We are not a drop-off homeschool program where you will seldom see us or hear from us.


What we are ...
  • We operate from a well-defined and applied educational model (Charlotte Mason), and we ask parents to learn and grow with us in that.
  • Parents are expected to be regularly reading with their child(ren) and prioritizing a rich "atmosphere, discipline, and life" in their homes and families.
  • Homeschool Fridays are expected to be honored.


3. If you're looking for an enrichment homeschool co-op ...
  • We are not a "homeschool co-op" wherein parents divide teaching among themselves based upon subject matters of personal interest and a varied demonstration of competing educational philosophies.
  • We are not a co-op wherein you choose which days and times you want to show up every week.
  • We are not a place where parents or co-op instructors make the primary learning and curriculum decisions for us at B&V.


What we are ...
  • A Charlotte Mason "Homeschool Hybrid" where we instruct according to a unified Charlotte Mason approach.
  • We adhere to an orderly scope and framework reflective of both yesteryear (PNEU) and today (mainly AmblesideOnline and select Memoria Press materials).


4. If you're looking for child-centered Montessori and/or "wild + free" learning atmosphere ...
  • Charlotte Mason educators seem to span a large spectrum. This causes misunderstandings.
  • We are not "unschoolers" wherein academics and schedules are generally child-led.
  • Although we are experienced with many wonderful Montessori-style techniques and resources, and we desire for children to have "space" to think and grow, we do not adhere to the secular humanistic underpinnings. Charlotte Mason education is unapologetically grounded in three-fold knowledge of: Triune God, humanity, and the universe.


What we are ...
  • A CM Cottage School that combines well-ordered content and learning days that are shaped by wonder and delight!
  • We are neither child-centered nor teacher-driven. We are "living ideas-centered" and that's when we see children most flourishing and joyful.

​5. If you're looking for a "neo-classical" learning environment ...
  • We are intentionally shaped by CM principles, methods, and priorities.
  • We encourage those interested in "classical education" to first read Consider This: Charlotte Mason and the Classical Tradition by Karen Glass, and possibly Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education, by David Hicks.
  • We do not conform to mainstream "neo-classical" curriculum and approaches (Well-Trained Mind, Classical Conversations, Circe Institute, Classical Academic Press, for example).
  • We humbly believe most neo-classical programs are primarily modernist educational methods repackaged with good and (Great) books ... largely inspired by one essay (Sayers) that has been somewhat wrenched out of context.
  • We are not striving (nor are we even able) to mold students who will achieve above and beyond their peers in order to "save western civilization." We believe children are best served ... and serving ... when they are not "shaped," but rather "shepherded" (to the Great Shepherd - the author and designer of truth, goodness, and beauty).


What we are ...
  • We believe that Charlotte Mason's classically-based principles are the closest to "classical" education as the authentic classicists defined it (see Norms and Nobility by David Hicks).
  • We endeavor to spread an abundant feast every day for our students - this includes carving out time for math and science, working towards well-crafted essays, and tackling the Great Books ... but it ALSO includes reading widely among many "living books," narrating thoughts and ideas, pausing to sketch clouds during nature study, singing hymns and songs together, laughing through weekly folk dancing, crocheting scarves, reciting Scripture and poetry, praying and studying the Word together, decorating notebooks and journals, pulling up a chair to poetry tea times, acting out scenes from Shakespeare plays, playing chess over cups of hot chocolate, cheering raucously during weekly "House Competitions," listening to awe-inspiring classical music, arriving home with muddy shoes (sometimes), reflecting with reverence and delight on the good, the true, the beautiful!
  • We are a good academic option for parents who are looking to spread "the feast" for their children and who are willing to see a different way forward outside of modern educational systems of assessment, comparisons, and draining academic achievement.


6. If you're looking for secular or "worldview neutral" education ...
  • Our statement of faith is the historic Apostles' Creed ...
    • WE BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (universal) Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

  • ​While not every text and book we use will have been written by men and women who share all of these convictions, every book will be approached in the light of worldview that is consistent with these beliefs.

  • ​We do not require that parents or students sign a specific statement of faith. We DO intend to be deeply respectful of the differences that may exist among our students and we have no desire to undermine parental authority. We embrace secondary areas of doctrinal and liturgical differences as rich and wonderful for our learning community.

  • However, parents should be aware (and agreeable with the fact that) we will teach from an explicit, unequivocal, and unapologetic historical Christian worldview informed by unchanging biblical truth as revealed in a historical-grammatical approach to the Word of God (Genesis to Revelation).

Do you long to be part of a nurturing learning community that offers encouragement & support ​to your whole family?

CULTIVATING A LIFE-GIVING ATMOSPHERE
SHEPHERDING GOOD HABITS OF THOUGHT & LIFE
SPREADING A WIDE AND GENEROUS FEAST OF LIVING IDEAS