Overview and Services

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. Based in Ojai, CA, Mother of Divine Grace School serves over 6,300 students worldwide.

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 so 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 provide families with clear educational goals and the appropriate level of support, as well as 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.
  • Detailed Learning Objectives. Our syllabi include detailed daily lesson plans, assessments, grading rubrics, and learning objectives for every subject.
  • College Preparation. Our consultants and our staff help students with college preparation.

We offer help in many areas:

  • Curriculum advice. Our consultants advise families on the appropriate curriculum for each child. All our materials are either Catholic or in accordance with Catholic teaching.
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  • 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 family's 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 companies know our materials and are dedicated to carrying them. Ordering from them is easy and efficient!

We offer different levels of support:

  • 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, and 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, monthly, or twice monthly online meetings between the student and teacher, as well as having the teacher help with grading, concepts, goals, schedules, etc.
  • Learning Support Classes. Parents can enroll 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.

For more information about Mother of Divine Grace School, please review our Curriculum and Programs. We also encourage you to read the Letter from our Founder, Laura Berquist, our Statement of Purpose and Learning Goals. You can also view information about our Students and Graduates.

We took advantage of Mother of Divine Grace’s Teacher Assisted Program and Learning Support Classes. Our children were able to have a teacher objectively evaluate their progress through phone consultations/conferences and written assignments. This accountability required our children to be responsible in meeting deadlines and in some instances, correcting work and sending it back to the teacher. Mastery of the material was the focus.