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Local church, homeschool academy share with community

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizen.com

The four families that belong to what is known as New Generation Academy, a homeschool co-op made up of families from Fayette, Clayton and Henry counties, have been blessed with kindness from Vineyard Community Church in Fayetteville. The group has just begun its second school year at the location on Johnson Avenue in Fayetteville and owes a debt of gratitude to the church and its pastor, Sam Calleiro.

Last year, two weeks before they were scheduled to begin their school year, the facility they were planning on using fell through. The four mothers who serve as teachers for the group began to call community centers and churches in their counties looking for assistance. According to Barbara Johnson of Fayetteville, the cost of using the community centers was too high and the people they spoke with representing the local churches were less than receptive to the idea of allowing a group of strangers to use any of their rooms.

Johnson kept plugging away and eventually reached Perimeter South Community Church in the phone book. She made the call, not expecting any great results, and instead got a wonderful surprise. Calleiro answered the phone and heard Johnson out. Nothing financial came up during their discussion, just matters of philosophy and background. It turned out that Calleiro had been praying about being able to bless a homeschool group. He had previously homeschooled his children, as had his assistant Pastor Ray, and Calleiro’s sister, who resides in Alabama, homeschools her children. Everyone involved felt that this arrangement was destined to be.

When Johnson finally met Calleiro in person, he exclaimed, “Mi casa es su casa,” which means “my home is your home.” The families involved claim that it has been that way ever since.

One week before classes were due to start for the group, the church gave them a key to the building. It was the former site of PACE Christian Academy, so it was ready to go for the four teachers and the 16 children, ages 4-15, who study there. The classes meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. and studying on the side occurs on the other days of the week at their families’ homes.

Johnson, mother of Jessica, 4, Nick, 9, Frankie, 10, and Noelle, 15, teaches high school geometry and chemistry, chemistry for the younger kids and SAT preparation. The students use the kitchen at the church as their lab. Last year, when she taught biology, several students performed dissections as well.

Jonesboro resident Leslie Robinson, mother of Saxton, 8, Addyson, 10, and Kolbi, 12, teaches critical thinking, high school logic, junior literature and art. Hampton resident Marcie Storey, mother of Sydney, 8, Taylor, 11, Danyelle, and Jeida, 15, teaches language arts for grades 4-6, third-grade math and kindergarten. McDonough resident Beverly Williams, mother of Ashley, 15, Paul, 14, Carmen, 11, Troy, 6 and Rachel, 7, teaches elementary math and language arts, drama and speech.

The homeschoolers also learn Spanish from and high school literature from several instructors who volunteer their time and also teach classes at the Fayette County Public Library.

The school is allowed to operate in the building unsupervised and there are no obligations that they operate under. It was a gift and now the New Generation Academy wants to give a gift to other home schoolers in the area.

They have recently received their Georgia Accrediting Commission accreditation, which means that they are able to provide formal transcripts for homeschooled students and to act as a liaison with students applying to colleges anywhere in the country.

The four women have been involved with homeschooling their families for years and their reasons range from struggling to pay tuition to private Christian schools to seeing the character of other homeschooled students and wanting their children grow into people like that as well. All admit that they have had to make sacrifices to homeschool their children, particularly living as single-income families, but they also agree that they would sacrifice anything for their children and their decision has worked very well for them.