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I believe that Jesus is still teaching and revealing Himself to his disciples—you and me—through parables. There are parables happening in each of our lives and all around us each and everyday, but we often fail to recognize them. As a matter of fact, I nearly missed one yesterday as I was cleaning our classrooms. I was so focused on scrubbing base boards and washing windows until they were streak free that I missed a beautiful illustration of the Gospel. Blessedly, Pat Terry, my cleaning companion, was more alert and aware of the Holy Spirit's voice in our work.
Our little school building at 10 S. Dukes Street was left abandoned and forlorn about five years ago. Over time the paint began to chip, cobwebs formed in the corners, the windows became encrusted with dirt and grime, and flies and spiders lived full lives and then died on the window sills. But, the first day we looked at the property, we fell in love. We knew we could make our home here. We knew that we could repaint, knock down cobwebs, and clean windows. We saw a beautiful potential in the place. So, now, we are on our hands and knees scrubbing base boards, getting dust in our hair and eyes, and sweating through our clothes. Our vision of beauty is becoming reality! We have an old building that is being made new! Pat brought to my attention that our journey and relationship with the property is so very much like Jesus' relationship with us. Jesus also promises to make us new, if we will accept His free and unearned gift. He looks around at our chipping paint, the cobwebs in our hearts and the dirt and grime that that forms over our eyes, and makes us blind to the Light. He looks around and He falls in love with us! He thinks, "I could make my home here." All the work to make us new was done on the cross long ago, but today—everyday—Jesus is sweeping out the cobs webs, scrubbing those dark corners, and making our eyes to see His glory. And in the end, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6) I am not one of those people who love cleaning, but now, each moment that I spend on my hands and knees scrubbing those floors will be an act of worship. It will be a reminder of the good work that Jesus is doing in me and through Harvest Community School. Thank you Jesus for making old things new and speaking your Truth into this world. Please give us eyes to see and ears to hear. With Love and Thanksgiving, Shea Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:10-12
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The three of us (Shea, Angie, and Tammy) are thrilled about the turn-out of our ice cream social. We met with some wonderful families who are planning to enroll their children at Harvest. One might have to wait five years until her little man grows a bit. We gave away all five copies of For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay to thank them for coming.
We were excited to learn that they are committed to being a vital part of our community and are quite willing to help us do the hard work in the next five weeks to make the school a reality. They asked a lot of really great questions, which we will answer here and add to the website!
We will close with a hymn we will sing with our students starting in August. It is quickly becoming an anthem for Harvest Community School--"Great Is Thy Faithfulness". Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided-- Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!  Photo courtesy of The Clarendon Citizen. The adventure begins at Harvest Community School! Last week our website and Facebook page went live, and we announced our intentions to start a school, and the website saw almost 1,500 hits the first day. Congratulations flowed from our friends in Clarendon County and from well-wishers all over the world. While you may have never heard of Charlotte Mason until now, our community of homeschools, private schools, and even a charter school is tight. Friends in Canada and Australia, missionaries in Peru and Uruguay, and family in El Salvador and Guatemala—not to mention folks at the forum at AmblesideOnline—checked out our website. In the past week, we have fielded questions from interested parents by phone, in person, by computer, and on Friday when Shea and I walked with our kids on puddly trails at Santee National Wildlife Refuge. Cathy Gilbert, managing editor at The Clarendon Citizen, broke our story and extended our reach in her fabulous piece about HCS. Sharron Haley at The Item plans to submit her article next week, and we look forward to reading her work as well. Today, we are sending our first bona fide press release (file attached to the bottom of this post). We have already doubled the number of students and have several more families considering us. Aslan is on the move! And, there’s ice cream! Thursday night, we are hosting an ice cream social for parents who would like to learn more about our school and enrollment. We plan to give away five copies of Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s For the Children’s Sake, too. In our last blog post, Shea alluded to the property. Our co-founder Angie Bruner and her husband Jay are under contract to buy a now defunct charter school that has handicap access, separate restroom facilities for boys and girls, sprinklers, and green space for our nature study program. The title check has cleared, and everything should be settled by Monday. We hope to start investing a little sweat equity into the grounds and building before the week ends. Tammy has been training our teachers who are eager to dig into the books and meet our new students. While we have only officially announced our primary class teacher, Jennifer Neelands, we have a pool of teachers preparing to teach the elementary class or substitute for us. We should be introducing you to them within the week. If you have not had a chance to check out our website, it is chock full of information about us. One section gives you an idea of our curriculum design, a brief description of curricula for the primary class and elementary class, an explanation of our motto (“Think clear, feel deep, bear fruit well.” ~ Matthew Arnold), and memories of a student who graduated from a school like ours years ago. Another section describes our distinctives, an academic day, and our values. We have a general FAQ, a FAQ about our unique language arts program, and our biographies. We have information about enrollment and about supporting us. If you have any questions, you can reach us through our contact page. 
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HCSA community called to offer another way to learn for students in Clarendon County Archives
May 2025
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