So what do you do if you want to maintain parental involvement, be influential in molding character, AND ensure academic quality?

The answer is a new educational alternative referred to as "parent-based" or "parent-managed" education. Many home schooling parents are beginning to realize that they don’t need to actually teach all classes to maintain control over the content and quality of their children’s education. With parent-based education, parents gradually move from being the teacher to being the "manager" of their children’s education. All across the country, organizations are springing up to meet the needs of older home-educated children by providing professional instruction within a home-based context. Parent-based education draws from the best aspects of home schools and private schools and molds them into a new educational model.

Westminster Academy, located in Richmond’s West End, was designed from its inception four years ago to meet the growing academic needs of older homeschoolers while maintaining a high degree of parental involvement. Founded on Christian principles, the Academy adheres to a parent-based philosophy that ensures parents remain in control of their children’s education while striving to provide the highest possible level of academic quality. These three principles – Christ-centered focus, parental-management, and academic quality – form the foundation of Westminster Academy.

An important characteristic of a parent-based environment is the limited frequency of classes, which minimizes time away from home. Westminster’s class schedule is based on a college model, with classes meeting 2 to 3 times per week. Classes are augmented by substantial at-home assignments – both homework and tasks involving parents. This format is very similar to a university setting where professors lecture 2 to 3 times per week and then rely on outside work to cover additional material. Students in this environment develop excellent independent study skills, which helps prepare them for college.

Parent-based academic institutions allow students to take one class or many classes, providing a high degree of parental influence over educational content. As managers of their children’s education, Westminster parents have numerous options available to them -- taking one or many classes at the Academy; teaching one or more classes at home; or contracting with one of many outside providers. Parents can tailor a unique educational strategy for each child. For example, a student could start out taking one or two enrichment classes in elementary school and slowly increase to a full load as he nears graduation.

Westminster is a Christian Academic institution with all teachers and families ascribing to a common, interdenominational statement of faith. Classes are taught from a Christian worldview and teachers and administrators encourage students to be developing virtuous character qualities. By ensuring that teachers and parents are in general agreement regarding developmental objectives, children can develop a consistent worldview. In many institutional school settings, Christian children must constantly struggle with conflicting values – those learned at home and church, those taught by the school, and those taught by a diverse subculture of peers.

Westminster is committed to developing a strong, mature parent-based educational alternative to serve Richmond area families. With 95 families and 145 students this year, Westminster is clearly serving a growing community, but there are many improvements we envision for the future. Here are a few:

[About the author: Gregory Williams has served as president of Westminster Academy for the past four years. Prior to that he was the chairman of the RRHE Board for five years.]