Mother of Divine Grace School was founded in 1995 to provide parents with the information, resources, and support
necessary to educate their children according to the classical tradition. Laura Berquist's book, Designing Your
Own Classical Curriculum, had aroused the interest of thousands and she responded to their requests by developing
a distance education program and offering home schooling consulting services. As with her book, the emphasis of the
study program and the consulting services is to help parents to teach their children the tools of learning. Located
in Ojai, CA, Mother of Divine Grace School serves over 4,500 students.
Mother of Divine Grace School offers a Catholic, classical approach to home schooling. It is a program that has been
developed by "trial and error". We understand the challenges that home-schoolers face and thus we offer different
levels of service. We want to meet the needs of each individual family, and we realize that these needs will vary from
family to family. Our consultants, teachers, lesson plans, materials, standardized testing, and assessments can provide
families with clear educational goals, the appropriate level of support, as well as the needed structure and flexibility.
These will lead to academic success.
We have clear educational goals:
Classical Method. Our consultants are all trained in classical methodology and are able to help families recognize, develop and achieve these academic stages of formation.
College Preparation. Our consultants and our staff can help students with college preparation.
We have many levels of support:
Curriculum advice. Our consultants can advise families on the appropriate curriculum for each
child. All our curriculum is either Catholic or in accordance with the Catholic teaching.
Organizational tips. Our consultants have different family sizes and different areas of expertise.
We work to match every family with a consultant who can understand the family's needs and help them with organization
and structure.
Day-by-day lesson plans. Our syllabi and teacher planners provide
clear daily instructions following the classical methodology for all subjects.
Teacher support. We provide varying levels of teacher support to meet each families needs
through our Teacher Review, Teacher Services, Learning Support and Special Services Programs.
Testing to assess progress. We provide assessment tests and standardized testing to enrolled
families each year to help assess progress of academic goals.
Books & Teaching Resources. Our standard recommended materials are available from several suppliers.
These companines know our materials and are dedicated to carrying them. Ordering from them is easy and efficient!
We offer different levels of structure:
Syllabi. Parents can buy our Curriculum and use it "on their
own".
Teacher Review Program. Parents can enroll in our Teacher Review Program.
This service includes a minimum of three consultations per year, record-keeping, consultant
review of selected student work, including yearly assessments for all grades.
Teacher Services. Parents can enroll students in our Teacher Services as a supplement to the Teacher Review Program. This service includes weekly, twice
monthly, or month phone calls between the student and teacher, as well as having the teacher grade papers, quizzes
and tests, and having the teacher help with concepts, goals, schedules, etc.
Learning Support Classes. Parents can enroll school students in our Learning
Support Classes as a supplement to the Teacher Review Program. These are weekly or twice-weekly classes conducted via conference call where students have the opportunity to learn from one of our teachers with other students in a class setting.
Special Services Program. Parents can also enroll special needs students in our Special
Services Program as a supplement to the Teacher Review Program. Our Special Services consultants help parents
find resources and curriculum to fit the needs of the special education student.
We care about flexibility:
Substitute texts. Parents can substitute materials of their choice, provided they are not anti-Catholic
or inappropriate for the student's grade level, in the place of recommended texts.
Personalized goals. Parents are aided by our consultants in setting goals for the materials
whether they are recommended, alternate, or substituted texts.
Individual tailoring. Parents receive personalized guidance in tailoring the program to the
student.
Streamlined curricula. Parents of large home schooling families receive tips for streamlining
the curriculum to fit their family.
Modified Assignments. Parents are aided by our teachers in giving assignments to the student
that will meet the student where he is, incorporate his interests, and help him develop skills appropriate to his
stage.
“Thanks to Mother of Divine Grace and its caring and supportive consultants and teachers, our children are flourishing both academically and spiritually. [My son] has truly become an active learner and an independent thinker. Additionally, though no less important, his faith life has also flourished. He regularly shares what he learns with other teenagers and even occasionally helps in teaching our parish’s religious education program. All of our children are very active in our church and our oldest is often one to take a leading role due to strong communication skills. All those schooling years full of narrations, copious number of books, and challenging papers have led him to become quite a strong analytical thinker who can express himself confidently in almost any situation. Even my husband and I have grown through our years with Mother of Divine Grace School. At one time, we viewed our children’s success in life based primarily upon their academic achievements. Now, we realize there is so much more to that picture. Not only have our children been able to grow academically with this program but they have also become better individuals both in our family and as examples to others. They are clearly growing in their faith life and are learning what it means to truly be a child of God.”