About Thelma

   Hi! My name is Thelma English. I've been teaching my children at home since 1986. My husband and I have two sons, born in 1980 and 1986. We finished our great home education adventure in the spring of 2004 with the graduation of our youngest son. I have pursued part-time seminary studies at Western Seminary in Portland for four years. In 2003 I began writing curriculum for an online Bible college and seminary. I hope you will see the fruits of my labors within the pages of this site and be blessed by them. My favorite study is literature, primarily the Bible, but also theology, classical studies, Church History, English and American literature studies, and Shakespeare. I love the way literature allows us to experience other times and other places vicariously - through the eyes of others who were there!
  Since 1993 I have taught literature to other home-educated Christian high school students also. It began as a way to fill a need for my own home-taught student: it ended with the establishment of an important ministry to Christian teens. My own grandchildren are now using my curriculum!
  As we approached high school education with much fear and trepidation, we realized that once we embarked on this great adventure there was no turning back. A home-educated student who enters a public high school mid-way through his education is at the mercy of the local school district. The district may choose whether or not to 'validate' any or all credits learned at home. Thus, a student may be forced to begin high school from the beginning again. Although we began with every intention of finishing at home, we felt compelled by conscience to provide the best education possible, with documentation of work and progress, in case the need ever arose to 'validate' our son's education to an outsider (no college or university has denied credit for any of my classes as of 2022).
  With careful consideration, and after much prayer, a course of study for a four-year plan was drawn. Utilizing resources ranging from textbooks to the large co-op home educators group in our area we were able to cover all difficult academic subjects with confidence except higher math, Spanish, and advanced literature. Parents with diverse skills and talents could assist in all subjects we could not complete at home except these. Well-written curriculum and the local community college could provide higher math and Spanish, but I was unconvinced of their ability to teach literature in a manner consistent with our worldview. Even literature textbooks from Christian publishers seemed to be no more than secular texts with Bible verses inserted. Since I maintained a high interest in literature I took it upon myself to teach it from my own perspective, my own Christian worldview. This undertaking has turned out to be the greatest adventure of our home school experience.
  The purpose of this site is to encourage, to inform, and to share. I want to encourage you to teach your children, or yourself, from the wonderful books I would like to introduce you to. Make friends with them. Take them to school with you. Take them to bed with you. Get to know them for the first, or second, or third time. I also hope to inform you - to provide you with a starting place for your own studies. Learn, so that you may teach others.