People sometimes wonder if we are a Christian school because we have the word "community" in our name. We are a Christian school with a heart devoted to serving others. From the early on, we have sought ways to be a part of the local community and last year we launched our Lake Marion Nursing Home service project. Since we did not want our friends to feel abandoned over the summer, Ms. Angie, Maci (our service puppy), and a small group of kids continued to visit every week. We have also participated in the egg incubator project run by our local Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service office. After Mary Margaret McCaskill, the 4-H agent, got to know our school, she realized that Harvest and 4-H are a perfect match. This organization will come alongside Harvest and offer our students even more opportunities to serve the community!

If you are interested in becoming a Certified 4-H Volunteer, please let us know!

For more information, contact:

Mary Margaret McCaskill
(803) 435-8429

We just finished our first week of school at Harvest, easing the classes back into daily and weekly rhythms and good habits. Every year we choose one life of Plutarch and one Shakespeare play. This year, the elementary class and high schoolers are studying Alexander the Great and Macbeth. Every term we choose an artist, a composer, and a handwork. Yesterday we kick-started the Friday Feast by watching Fantasia 2000's take on George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, reading our first bit of Plutarch's Alexander the Great, getting a peek at the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit that our curriculum coordinator visited over the summer, and building some of the geometrical designs that da Vinci drew for a friend's book. After Labor Day, we will kick-off Shakespeare.

When they weren't setting up their notebooks and practicing the habits they had by the end of last year, the elementary class did team building activities like the paper chain challenge and building and testing a beam bridge. They started reading books including their at home book.

High school got into the routine of home room and 45-minute classes with different teachers in different rooms and a different mix of friends for each. They started reading and narrating several books including the Bible, began their second language lessons (German or Spanish), worked on math lessons, and launched several threads in chemistry (took an inventory of supplies, made periodic table study cards, and learned about lab safety and notebooks).

Our Harvesters also had time to build community at recess, on nature walks, for a birthday celebration (with a special visit from one of our alumna), a visit to Lake Marion Nursing Home with our therapy puppy Maci, and lessons in dry brush.

We know that our Harvesters were excited this week and experienced moments of joy, wonder, and delight. We are very thankful that God has seen fit to bring in new friends and new families so that we can learn more about Him, the world, and the people who live in it.

Our 2016-2017 school calendar is up in case you have not seen it yet. We have some upcoming events to kick off our fourth school year:

• A volunteer meeting on Monday August 15 at 6 pm to plan a cleanup day on Saturday August 20.
• An ice cream social on Monday August 22 at 6 pm to let teachers and families to meet and talk before the school year begins.
• The first day of school on Wednesday August 24 at 830 am -- we can't wait!

Stay tuned.

​In a few days, we will be posting the yearly snapshots on what each class will be studying this year. We will also be announcing our first term composer, artist, and handwork. We will let you in on a little secret. This year we will be reading through Shakespeare's Macbeth and Plutarch's "Alexander the Great."