LAST LESSONS #208 — LAST LESSONS — ASK — 3

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverbs 9:10 

Could you please explain how you were inspired to start a classical school in Central Florida? What is unique about classical schools? Are all the Rafiki schools in Africa classical schools?

What a delight to answer this question!

Before we started a classical school in Florida, we had classical schools going in Africa. Our African schools have always been Christian Classical Schools, and we started schools in our Rafiki Villages in 2002. It has taken us a long time to get all the curriculum written from preschool to twelfth grade, but it is done, and it is good!

It would take a lot of space on this blog to explain what we mean by “classical schools,” so I will ask you to google it to get what you want to know.

How and why we were inspired to start a classical school in Central Florida, I can answer.

When we came to see that the Christian classical schools in our ten countries in Africa were successful, obviously we were thrilled. What we found out was that our students made the highest grades on government tests, our children became little Christians, they loved to learn, and they were happy! We have quite a few graduates that we have sent off to universities. They have done extremely well.

When we realized how sad most public schools in the USA were, we wondered if we shouldn’t build a demonstration school to do two things: 1. To train Rafiki missionaries who would go to Africa to become Rafiki school headmasters and 2. To train teachers in the USA in how to teach classically. Since we already have Christian classical curriculum that we can make available to schools in the USA, all they need is the teachers who can teach it. We believe that certified teachers can be trained to teach classically at Rafiki in about two weeks.

At this time, several schools in the USA have begun to use our curriculum to start schools, even one in Haiti!

I am thrilled that Rafiki decided to do a demonstration school on Rafiki property. I am a teacher, and my desire was to put schools in Africa. However, it is Karen Elliott’s passion to do these Christian classical schools. She (not I) is in charge of these schools, and I just watch her excellent leadership.