Oak Hill Academy of Hamilton, Ontario

“So what does it mean when I say life occurs in our classrooms? For one, it means that our students are whole persons. We are not just interacting with our students’ minds. Students are also emotional, social, and spiritual creatures, just like we are. All dimensions of their personhood come into the classroom. All dimensions of their personhood are being trained and cultivated.” - Patrick Egan

Each grade six student was formally “called up” and received a tie. This marks the transition from Lower School (JK-6) into Upper School (7-12).

Each child received a small cross necklace - a tangible reminder that, like Christian, they too are on a journey.

𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲. Good morning, Mrs. Randall!
𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆... “It will be the best in every way!”
𝗪𝗵𝘆? Because greater is He that is in me, than He that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿... Than anything I will face today.
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀: I can do hard things.
𝗚𝗼𝗱’𝘀 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲. I am free from the yoke of slavery. (Romans 8:11–15)
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗱’𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲. So I will surrender and obey. (Romans 12:1; Matthew 6:10)

Education is atmosphere and, in particular, it includes the air a child breathes. Charlotte Mason, in her later writings, encouraged us to consider the metaphors of fresh air and wholesome wind as we think about the environment in which we raise and educate our children.

“The bracing atmosphere of truth and sincerity should be perceived in every school…The common pursuit of knowledge by teacher and class…creates a current for fresh air perceptible even to the chance visitor, who sees the glow of intellectual life and moral health on the faces of teachers and children alike.”

“No compounded [artificial] environment could make up for this fresh air, this wholesome wind blowing now from one point, now from another.”
~Charlotte Mason

deanivanpelt, PhD
Professor of Practice in Charlotte Mason Studies, University of Cumbria

“After all,” Anne had said to Marilla once, “I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”
L.M. Montgomery 🇨🇦

“In merry England in the time of old, when good King Henry the Second ruled the land, there lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham Town, a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood.”
📖 Robin Hood