I love the above photo of my daughter giving her Key of Liberty mentor, my friend Olivia,  a hug after she got presented her key with ribbons in a shadow box. Key of Liberty is a class for jr. high age homeschooled kids to study the Founding Era of the U.S. My daughter got the key for doing some of the scholar requirements. The look on Olivia’s face is sheer joy. I feel that it perfectly captures how surprised by joy all of us homeschool moms have been at the end of our first year of our newly formed liberal arts based family school. The expression on my daughter’s face below also shows the joy we all feel after finishing a year of this school.

Another name for this kind of school is a “liber family school.” (Liber is pronounced “lie-ber.” We as homeschool families met once a week all day from 9:15 AM to 2:30 PM. All the moms of the kids helped mentor the classes. We had a nursery for the under 3s and then classes for kids from ages 3 to 17  We used the Crowned With Virtue curriculum for the girls 8 -11 and Mastering Knighthood for the boys of the same ages, for afternoon classes. Most of the classes for the kids under 12 were designed just for this year by the moms. Then for 12 and over we used LEMI Scholar Projects. I got to mentor the Quest Scholar Project for the older teens. These photos capture some of the great moments of the year. Sorry these aren’t the best quality of photos, but they are better than nothing.

These photos show our delightful rendition of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the culmination of our the LEMI Scholar Project Shakespeare Conquest. The kids did such a fabulous job! I got to be the backstage mama who helped the kids be in the back wings, ready for their cues to go onstage. So I never did see the whole thing from the “front.” I can’t wait to see the DVD so I can!

The three older kids who still live at home got to be in the play. My oldest still at home got to help mentor the class. He was a big help to the mom who taught the class. Great job, Mr. L!

We also had a Constitution Bowl, a competition of quiz questions between our two Key of Liberty teams and a team from Phoenix. My son spent more time trying on outfits to wear to the competition than practicing the answers to the questions, but his team won anyway.

We had such a great year! I am ready for a break but so excited about  next year!

To learn how to start a homeschool family-based school like this in your area, go to New Commonwealth Schools and click on the button that says, “Get in Touch.”