Parents Create Christian Home School Association

A group of parents has created an opportunity for homeschooled children to be taught in a traditional instructional environment at Calvary Temple International Assembly.

The church has partnered with parents to form the Calvary Home School Association. The group is composed of parents who will teach elective classes to students once a week. The classes are designed to give students a chance to interact with each other and take subjects that home-schooling parents are ill equipped to teach.

“We have something to offer this group,” said Kim Keinath, wife of the church’s lead pastor Thomas Keinath and the program’s coordinator. “We felt that we could reach out to the home schooling community to use this building.”

The church operates Happy Day Learning Center. The center offers a daycare facility for infants along with a preschool and kindergarten program for 4-year-olds. The church used to be home to Calvary Christian Academy, a kindergarten through eighth-grade institution, but the school was shut down a few years ago when the recession hit.

Children will be taught in classes with their peers on Tuesdays in a traditional school setting. Science, including labs, Spanish, art, and writing classes will be offered. Those are subjects Keinath said parents of home-schooled children often have the most difficult time teaching and assessing. Keinath home schooled her three daughters.

Parents of home-schooled children will teach the courses.

“This gives the parents the chance to enhance what they are teaching their children,” Keinath said. “It is also good for the children to have a deadline given to them by someone other than a parent. It’s good experience for them.”

Parents must pay a $30 fee to attend each class.

The association wants to model the same core values as the church does. Calvary Temple has hundreds of members representing dozens of ethnic backgrounds and offers a variety of culturally diverse events annually. The church offers weekly services in Spanish and Korean.

“We want to welcome people or all different backgrounds,” Keinath said.

The Association is hosting a meet and greet picnic and an orientation on Sept. 22. Classes start Sept. 25. E-mail Keinath for more information at kkeinath@calvarynj.com.

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