HFHA

When we originally decided to homeschool, we did so for completely secular reasons.  Until this year I just referred to our “school” as Cobb Family Homeschool.  It took a lot of creativity to come up with that name.  (insert eye roll.)

But the Catholic faith has always had a presence in our homeschool to some degree, especially since my husband became Catholic at Easter 2009.  I’ve included Biblical and Church history as part of history lessons.  We’ve had “religion” class in some form every year.  There are also just the aspects of the liturgical year, with Holy Days of Obligation and the decorations and regulations for each season.

This summer, though, I felt compelled to start looking at our little homeschool as a Catholic school.  If our home is a domestic church and the kids go to school at home, then they are attending a church school.  I started idly thinking about a saint to formally name our school after.  I could steal the name of our local parish school, but that didn’t feel quite right.  In fact, I couldn’t think of a saint that did feel right, and I certainly didn’t have time to research every saint to find one that did.

The week before school started, as I sat in Mass, I realized that the perfect name for our Catholic school was right in front of me.  Next to the altar there are statues of Mary holding a broom, Joseph holding his carpentry tools, and the child Jesus (between 6 and 10 years old) standing between them.    Every Sunday at the end of Mass we say a prayer for vocations.  The version we are currently using begins:  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, model for every human family…”

So, I “officially” changed the name of our school to Holy Family Homeschool Academy.  In my spare time (ha!ha!ha!) I put together this school seal.

I listed HFHA on my oldest daughter’s homemade transcript when we abruptly enrolled her in our local parish school.  And I’m sure if you asked her, she would tell you that she no longer attends HFHA.  But one reason I chose the Holy Family as our patrons is because I see school as more than academics.  Everything in our lives should be about conforming to Christ, and I think we all have many lessons to learn from Mary and Joseph about being parents and spouses, as well as faithful, obedient children of God.

Explore posts in the same categories: Catholic Faith, Homeschooling/Education, Religion