The Family Academy Teacher Consultant serves homeschoolers by:
Helping and problem-solving
The Family Academy Teacher Consultant advises, guides, and supports parents and students in home-centered learning. Parents often need help to begin and keep focused on home education. Sometimes roadblocks seem too difficult to work through, but that is what the Teacher Consultant is there for. The FA TC can be an effective 3rd party witness to truth and reality, mediating with an individuating teen and a concerned parent. It is an innovative, yet ancient model. The TC helps parents direct their children’s education, while also integrating their own expertise to mentor and challenge the student to deeper, broader, and higher academic and personal integrity levels.
Providing professional expertise
Teacher Consultants (TCs) are teachers, and most have or have had a state-issued teaching certificate. Some have alternative certification through ASCI (Association of Christian Schools International) or a similarly respected national education organization authorized to issue teaching certificates. All TCs are professional members of FA who contract with an Affiliate School as sole proprietors, corporations or various business entities to serve families who choose The Family Academy Way and enroll in the Affiliate School. The format of services offered to families is up to the TC and varies from one-on-one, to weekly Learning Center instructional gatherings of 5-20 students, to an assortment of weekly classes.
Modeling effective methods
Many of our teachers homeschool or have homeschooled their children. For TCs who have children at home, this program allows them to address their first priority — their children. TCs can build positive peer groups by having their children participate in Learning Center activities. Family life can be enriched as the TC builds a service that blends ministry and business. As a cottage industry, the TC can incorporate historically tried and true values that the family farm used to offer. Accountability to clients forces a structure, and thus discipline, that sometimes teaching only one’s own kids doesn’t offer.
Teaching with Family Academy means I can uphold my Christian beliefs, be autonomous to meet student needs, and be supported by the network that exists between teachers. It is like no other. – Patti Deal, Teacher Consultant
I am able to form relationships with parents, and our team effort results in a well-educated child. With Family Academy’s support, I truly have the perfect teaching environment. – Debbie Griffith, Teacher Consultant
Spiritual Considerations
All FA teachers must be Christians who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their Lord and Savior. The initial application requires a pastoral recommendation submitted on church letterhead. We also ask each TC to submit a personal statement of faith explaining what is their irreducible core of beliefs. In addition, all teachers must agree to our “Mission Statement” and our “Statement of Philosophy” included with the “Teacher Application” (pdf). All instruction to enrolled families is to come from a biblical worldview. Many teachers have benefited greatly from attending the Worldview Academy weekend Culture Conference and / or Worldview Academy Leadership Camp to enhance their understanding in this arena. (See www.worldview.org)
If you think you may be interested in becoming a Teacher Consultant, click here.