OUR MISSION and OUR STORY
Our Mission
We make no-nonsense, engaging content, developed by award-winning instructors. We believe in using time-tested, traditional education practices. Our courses have no political agendas and focus completely on student growth and preparation for their future.
We support families who home-educate, by providing courses they can have faith in. We empower parents to teach the courses they are passionate about, without worrying about the rest. We are responsive to your needs, and we constantly look for feedback to make our courses even better and to create the course you need. Being allowed to be a part of your child's education is a privilege and we take that responsibility seriously.
Our Story
Our founder, Dr. Rhett Smith (older child circled in the old family photo here) was the oldest of 10 children and was homeschooled by a mother who did not graduate high school and a father who finished high school but was in and out of factory jobs. Despite the odds, he and two of his brothers became National Merit Scholars and got full-ride scholarships at the University of Toledo, Dartmouth College and Alfred University. After obtaining his Ph.D. and doing his postdoctoral fellowship at MIT, Dr. Smith found that as a tenured professor, he was seeing fewer and fewer students truly prepared for his courses.
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Enter his younger brother, Shane Smithman (the younger child circled in the early family photo), who was an experienced middle school math and social studies teacher. Together, they began building a comprehensive middle school curriculum that combined their traditional education experience with innovations and technologies they had discovered in their own classrooms. Today, they are constantly driven to give other students the same chance at an excellent future through home education that they had themselves.
TEACHER DIRECTORY
Some of the talented teachers and professors who have developed our courses!
Mr. Shane Smithman
Director of K-12 Education
Ms. Larisa Black
Science
Dr. Rhett Smith
Director of Science Education
Mrs. Charlotte Macon
Science
Dr. Anna Lee Travis
Life Sciences
Prof. Henry L. Barth
Social Studies