Our Mission Statement
What is most important in a curriculum?
Why the name "School of Abraham"?
The Abrahamic Covenant--by Russell M. Nelson
School of Abraham Online Library
What is the Return and Report Program?
Some Components of the Return and Report Program
How it all began
Song--School of Abraham

What is most important in a curriculum?

James E. Faust wrote that the greatest challenge in the world is good parenting. His words of wisdom counsel us today:

"In the future, infrequent family scripture study may be inadequate to arm our children with the virtue necessary to withstand the moral decay of the environment in which they will live. Where in the world will the children learn chastity, integrity, honesty, and basic human decency if not at home? These values will, of course, be reinforced at church, but parental teaching is more constant. In my opinion, the teaching, rearing, and training of children requires more intelligence, intuitive understanding, humility, strength, wisdom, spirituality, perseverance, and hard work than any other challenge we might have in life. This is especially so when moral foundations of honor and decency are eroding around us. To have successful homes, values must be taught, and there must be rules, there must be standards, and there must be absolutes...."

(James E. Faust, "The Greatest Challenge In The World- Good Parenting", General Conference, October 1990; see Ensign, Nov 1990, p. 33)

The School of Abraham is an LDS homeschool website which exists to support families in their ongoing efforts to educate their children. The website is still very much under development, as is the program of study.

Several LDS home educators have contributed materials to the website, including scripture study resources for younger and older children, advice, art study, and even our own School Song. Any others who would still like to contribute are welcome to do so.

The School of Abraham does not offer a complete curriculum. Rather, it is a supplement to the program the parent has chosen to use in the home. It provides contact information for various LDS support groups, and LDS vendors of homeschool materials. In addition, helpful articles pertinent to the LDS homeschool lifestyle are posted there for morale building and perspective.

We are continuing to expand the resources of the website. Some of those include the monthly family readings for discussion, as well as the various email support groups. We do have many resources which just haven't made it to the website yet.

The School of Abraham website grows as fast as time and means allow. All resources are free on it.

We hope to continue to expand in the future! We hope that you will be patient with us as we strive to work on the SoA and homeschool our children as well. Stay tuned for further developments.

Why the name "School of Abraham"?

The name School of Abraham enlivens the idea of a patriarchal Father who is vitally concerned about training his children today. Families are eternal--not just nuclear families, but extended patriarchal families are eternal. This concept causes us to broaden our vision and enlarge our understandings of the meaning of the word "family," and to understand that death does not separate us from our fathers and their love and concern.

It is a principle of the gospel that salvation is a family affair, from father to son down through the ages. When will we ever not care about our posterity? We always will, and this is a truth which applies to us as children of Father Abraham. Abraham knows us as his children: "The Lord had shown unto me the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among these there were many of the noble and great ones." (Abr. 3:22). He has seen us all, "down to the present time".

For a detailed essay on this topic, see Abraham would homeschool his children.

The Abrahamic Covenant--by Russell M. Nelson

3 Nephi 20:25

"And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."

In the video "Special Witnesses of Christ", Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bore personal testimony of the Savior's divine mission and the Abrahamic Covenant.

School of Abraham Online Library

We are in the process of creating the School of Abraham library online, which will reflect values in accordance with the scripture to "seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom". The library will be a searchable database from which parents and their children will select specific books, those that we recommend, and any they are personally interested in reading. Our database will have multiple search functions, and will keep track of the books each child reads, by year.

As we identify the LDS books which are appropriate to recommend (including OOP and current books), then we will assign them to a developmental stage or age. The School of Abraham Educational Model, based on spiritual and moral development, is the foundation for our approach.

We plan to create a guided reading program for LDS Great Books and for other classic books of the world as well. The guided reading program will follow the School of Abraham Educational Model, and will generally be geared for four age groups: elementary age, middle school age, high school and adult age readers. These are books that teach doctrine, books that can help the youth with character development, books that are spiritually enlightening, and even books that can be used along with history study. We plan to take the Guided Reading Program a step further and identify certain books as "required reading" for a certification program that School of Abraham will offer-- with individual choice built in, as part of the Return and Report program.

What is the Return and Report Program and why has it been created?

For a more detailed description of the components of the Return and Report program, click here.

The main idea of the "Return and Report" program is to provide the students with a way to learn about accountability for their time and studies and to be rewarded for their accomplishments. It puts the responsibility on the child to answer to someone other than Mom, and there is a "reward" (certificate) waiting at the end of each level. It is also meant to be an organizational tool to keep them on track, as many things will be outlined all in one place for easier reference. We want our children to understand HOW to "return and report", thereby being better prepared to make and keep sacred covenants when they are older.

In the School of Abraham Model of Education, each "Age of" group covers 4 years worth of work. Each of those 4 years will have certain requirements the child will need to fulfill in order to receive a certificate of advancement. Each child or family would be able to decide how quickly/slowly they worked through each level, but the program provides a framework to work within for the entire year and at various depth of studies for each level to accommodate different learning abilities.

Children who complete all the requirements in a given area are awarded a certificate from the School of Abraham, and are encouraged to move on to the next level within that category. When all the requirements for all categories of focus are completed, School of Abraham will issue them a certificate of advancement and officially graduate them up to the next year's level. This will provide a great deal of flexibility for asynchronous learning. There will be required assignments for each level, as well as optional recommendations that the student can pick and choose from. Those who are able to accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time, or require additional reading or in-depth study to accommodate their individual abilities will be able to do so without the program being overwhelming for the average student, who may only be able to complete the required assignments plus a few optional ones.

Accountability is an important eternal concept to understand, and the sooner our children learn it, the better. It's our hope that the Return and Report program will help children along these lines and give them greater and greater responsibilities to carry out as they grow in understanding.

For a more detailed description of the components of the Return and Report program, click here.

How it all began

The School of Abraham grew out of the efforts of a group of home educators who participated in an ad-hoc internet group called the Consilium Project.

Consilium is a Latin word meaning (1) deliberation, consultation; persons in consultation, an assembly, council; as a quality, judgment, understanding. (2) a resolution, plan; (3) advice, suggestion.

We'll share a few of those early dreams with you.