Help Away From Home: Two Lexington Schools Combine Private School With Homeschooling

Homeschooling your children can be a daunting challenge. What curriculum will I use? How will I schedule my day?

And probably the biggest question for parents – how will I teach a subject I haven’t mastered myself?

One option for families in the Bluegrass is to send their children back to school, but not just any school.

There are now two schools in Lexington – Lexington Latin School and Veritas Christian Academy – that offer support for homeschooling families.

The schools offer instruction two to three days a week in many of the subjects that parents struggle with such as math, classical studies and Latin, while families homeschool the other days of the week.

The older and bigger of these schools is Lexington Latin School, now in its eighth year with 100 students and 17 teachers.

Founded by Jeannie Davis, a former teacher and counselor, the classical, Christian school offers instruction in Pre-K through ninth grade in classrooms at Ashland Baptist Church on Reynolds Road.

“We choose all the curriculum, teach it while the students are at school, and parents follow our well-directed assignments while at home,” Davis said.

The cornerstone of the Lexington Latin School program is contained in the name itself – Latin.

“People often ask me why we teach Latin,” Davis said. “The real question is, why wouldn’t we teach Latin?  “Latin provides all the groundwork for a good education. Eighty percent of all three-syllable words have a Latin root.”

The school also offers music, choir, art and art history in addition to literature, history, Christian studies and mathematics.

The newest school for home- school families opened this fall in St. Luke Methodist Chuch on Alumni Drive.

Veritas Christian Academy offers a classical, Christian curriculum two days a week for grades Pre-K through eighth.

Veritas follows the University Model of Schools, allowing parents to spend valuable time with their children while still ensuring that they get a high-quality, college-preparatory education.

“We do 90% of the instruction,” said Lynn Wilson, one of the three founders and co-administrators of the school.

“It’s really the best of both worlds, combining the best aspects of private education and homeschooling.”

Wilson, a former public school teacher, also emphasizes the value of Latin. Veritas Christian Academy begins Latin instruction in third grade.

“Our goal is to be a model for classical education, and learning Latin provides a better understanding of the English language,” Wilson said.

Also studies show that Latin students perform higher on standardized testing for college admittance.”

One of the attractive features of these schools is affordability.

And Wilson understands the value of the school personally – she and her co-administrators, Jenna Arvin and Tamela Craig, each has two children enrolled in the school.

For Davis at the Lexington Latin School, she fell in love with the curriculum.

“Our curriculum is so beautiful, perfect and wonderful,” she said, “that I knew I couldn’t sleep at night unless I taught this to Lexington children.”