Summary

• The origin and early history of academic education is entirely Christian. Academic schooling started as a work of the medieval Western Church.
• TPS was started in the early days of the U.S. homeschooling movement as part of the larger effort to escape the ruins of modern education and return to the original purpose of the Church in educating the laity.
• The original purpose of academic education was to know God through study of His Creation. The natural world was considered to be “God’s second book” which should be studied alongside His first book (the Bible) to know and serve God.
• U.S. homeschooling was originally an effort to return to the work of the Church in providing our children a thorough faith-based education in Bible, humanities, maths, and sciences (the Two Books).
• In the decades since its grassroots independent beginnings, the U.S. homeschooling movement (and Christian education, in general) has become increasingly influenced by commercial and political interests — much like the ruins it once escaped.
• TPS still provides a thorough faithful education in the Two Books. TPS is one of the few remaining school options where the original Christian purpose, premise, process, and value of education are still the guiding standards.

Christian Education – The Real Origin Story

The Church

• Education of the laity was an entirely Christian project conceived by the late medieval Western Church.
• The original intent of academic education was to instruct and guide the laity in the study of God’s Two Books — the Bible and the “book” of the created world (see below).
• The original goal of education was virtue, not vocation.
  • Purpose: Know and serve God by study of His Word (Bible) and the Creation.
  • Premise: Every person is designed in God’s Image with creativity, talent, and analytical capabilities which should be revealed and developed through study and learning.
  • Process: Faithfully study and analyze sources (ad fontes) of the Two Books – including the Bible, the humanities, the maths, and the sciences – from and toward a biblical worldview.
  • Value: Formation and development of Christian virtue or excellence, including the virtue of being a light in a dark world.

Two Books

• The origin of academic education of the laity begins with the study of the Two Books.
• In the early Middle Ages, scholars focused their studies mostly on the Bible as “God’s Book”. Study of the created world was mostly limited to discerning analogies for spiritual purposes (e.g., as in parables).
• But by the late Middle Ages, the created (“natural”) world had come to be considered as “God’s second book” which should be studied alongside His first book (the Bible) to know God (Ps 19:1) in worship, devotion, moral obedience, and Christian service to the world.
• One of the earliest outcomes of studying the Two Books together was to reconsider the identity, position, and role of Man (humanity and individual humans) as God’s image bearing representative (“head”) to the Creation. (This became the study of the humanities.)
• The Church’s education project fueled and was fueled by a growing desire – especially among the laity – to return to authentic knowledge and faith by study of original sources.
  • This academic interest in learning from the original sources is referred to as ad fontes (“to the sources”).
  • At first, these were written sources (e.g., study the Bible in Greek and Hebrew rather than relying on glossed Latin versions).
  • But as the study of two books flourished, it was eventually considered that the created world itself was a source which must be studied in its own language and context so it may fully reveal God and declare His glory.
• Study of the Two Books (the Bible and the Creation) from a biblical worldview ultimately (over centuries) led to advances and revelations, like:
  • Flourishing of the humanities (“humanism”), including the Renaissance.
  • Emergence of natural science (originally called “natural philosophy”) to its own field of “science”.
  • Discovery of conceptual mathematics as the language of the physical world.
  • Development of the principles of human equality, inherent rights, and freedoms.

Christian Virtue

• As is evident from the preceding brief history, academic education was originally pursued as a Christian virtue, not a vocation or institution.
• The NT Greek for “virtue” literally means “excellence”, and thorough academic education was pursuit of Christian excellence or virtue.

Homeschooling – Rise and Decline

Homeschooling did not originate as a social, commercial, or political movement (those influences came later). The original intent of early homeschoolers was recover the purpose, premise, process, and value of a traditional Christian education.

Traditional Values and Standards

TPS was founded in 1997. Our founders were among the early leaders in the U.S. homeschooling movement. TPS was one of the first online course providers. We pioneered the use of live audio, and we introduced the whiteboard and visual content in the online classroom.

In TPS, our formative and guiding educational values were (and continue to be):

• Academic education is a Christian virtue, not an institution.
• Traditional Christian education is the thorough study of the Two Books.
• Christian education should be pursued in excellence in all subjects.
• The Bible in its original text is authoritative for truth and virtue, and so it is to be studied academically in excellence for the purpose of understanding its intent in its original context and as applied to our current context (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
• Our identity and worth are derived from being created in God’s Image and redeemed by Jesus’s sacrifice, not from grades or scores.
• All labor is a form of worship (Gen 1-3), so all labor (including schoolwork) is to be performed as unto the Lord (Col 3:23).

Debased Educational Values

Over time, the homeschool and church school movement has drifted from its original purpose, core values, and standards:

• The early 2000s brought commercialization, with a large influx of “homeschool” publishers, for-profit course providers (some of whom were those same publishers), and the spectacular “homeschool conventions”. One result of this commercialization has been a retreat from the traditional Christian academic virtues, standards, and outcomes which founded the homeschool movement, as vendors and publishers compete curriculum on the basis of being easier and more fun to do at home rather than on academic effectiveness and outcomes in a thorough study of the Two Books.
• The 2010s brought politicization and polarization, with candidates and political action groups seeking to gain conservative support through politicizing Christian faith and education. One aspect of this politicization has been to reduce Christian education to political ideologies rather than deeper study of the Bible and broader study of the whole of God’s Creation.
• The 2020s have brought immersion in social media for information, communication, entertainment, relationships and virtually every aspect of life (and school), fueled by dependence on online (browser or app) information and summaries (including AI) to bypass reading, research, study, analysis, problem-solving, and writing. Social media, the Internet, and AI are replacing the Two Books.

Declining Academic Standards

Currently, student academic skills are showing significant ongoing declines in:

• Reading comprehension
• Analytical thinking
• Conceptual understanding
• Problem-Solving skills
• Bible comprehension and study skills

TPS has observed these academic trends developing and increasing over time since our founding. Our observations and experiences are consistent with standardized test results, published studies of testing over time, and recent anecdotal reports from colleges.

From a biblical worldview, we believe that these creative and intellectual declines may be correlated with larger cultural and social trends over the same time periods.

These commercial, political, social, and academic currents are pulling education away from its traditional Christian roots, leaving few schooling options which provide an education in the traditions of Christian virtue and academic excellence

TPS – Upholding the Christian Education Tradition

TPS continues in its founding mission to provide an education in keeping with the finest traditions of Christian virtue and academic excellence.

In TPS, we are still provide a thorough study of the Two Books so students may to know God in worship, devotion, moral obedience, and Christian service to the world.

Against the flow of the commercial, political, social, and academic currents which are pulling education away from its traditional Christian roots, TPS is one of the few remaining schooling options – including private, public, local, and online – where the original Christian purpose, premise, process, and value of education are still the guiding standards.

TPS also remains faithfully non-profit, so every dollar paid or donated to TPS goes toward our mission and ministry to provide an affordable Christian education anchored in traditional academic standards and a biblical worldview.