The Family Schools Program (FSP) is a ministry of Covenant Life School that provides support and oversight to home schooling families who are members of Covenant Life Church. FSP is recognized by the Maryland State Department of Education as an institution responsible to review home schooling students enrolled in its program. We help prepare students for life by articulating a vision of academic excellence, establishing systems of mutual accountability, coordinating group activities, facilitating entrance into higher education and the workplace, and urging students and parents alike to live for the glory of God. In a given school year approximately 200 families are enrolled in the program.
The Family Schools Program is designed to…
1. Provide the opportunity to home school under the legally recognized covering of Covenant Life School
2. Support and encourage parents as educators
3. Foster fellowship among home school families
4. Offer supplemental opportunities for students
5. Offer a pool of resources and services
6. Motivate with accountability
Contact Information
Rita Hoover, FSP Administrator
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
240-683-5178
Becky Ferleman, FSP Administrative Assistant
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
240-683-5178
For more information about the Family Schools Program, visit familyschoolsprogram.wordpress.com.
Mission and Philosophy
God has given parents the command to bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4, Deuteronomy 6:4-7). Along with diligent character training and the teaching of theology, parents must give careful consideration to the academic environment in which they place their children. We don’t believe that home schooling is God’s will for every family, but rather that parents have the prerogative and responsibility to choose the educational method they think best suits the needs of their children and their goals in exercising the parental responsibility to train their children.
The home school movement is here to stay, and has been largely if not fully embraced by the Christian community as a viable, and often preferable, educational choice. Although we caution families not to have unrealistic expectations of what home schooling will do for their child or their relationship with their child, there are specific training and academic advantages in a good home schooling situation. Many families have found, with the hard work necessary, home schooling to be the ideal situation for them to have a tightly-knit family centered around a biblically-based education.
However, it is not uncommon for some parents to find themselves facing the option of home schooling not because of a conviction that home schooling is the best way to educate a child or build their family identity, but because it is the most viable option they have in a particular year or for a particular child. Provided that certain factors and conditions exist, home schooling can be and often is the best educational alternative for a child with particular needs. Sometimes parents’ long-held plans to send their children to the “ideal” school are halted due to space limitations in that school or due to financial constraints.
Based on God’s covenant faithfulness to equip parents to fulfill their responsibilities, and on our experience in the Family Schools Program of Covenant Life School with hundreds of families, we believe that most parents are very capable of successfully home schooling their children. We like to encourage these folks to trust God for this season of their lives, and we have seen some families begin home schooling with some uncertainty or reluctance, only to see them fall in love with the opportunity God has given them with their children.
The pastors of Covenant Life Church have made it a priority to assist parents as they embrace their God-given responsibility to educate their children. The Family Schools Program is provided as a service to those families in Covenant Life Church who, for whatever reason or season, choose to educate their children at home.