Education starts with the interpersonal relation of the Educator and the educated, the Divine and the divine image bearer. When searching for answers concerning any given thing, one must search out its source and cause, as Aquinas notes when considering first principles.^[2] For education, one must return to archetypal wisdom^[3]—the God after whose image humanity is created.

This philosophy of education will expound on four aspects of education: (1) the first principles of education (i.e., the source, the what, and the why), (2) the teacher, (3) the student, and (4) the nature of the learner (i.e., the how). Due to the limitations of this essay, some foundational scriptural truths will be presupposed, while others will be explained via footnotes, and still others will be left out entirely.

The right of parents to choose an education for their children was declared at the United Nations General Assembly in 1948: “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”¹ The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture and direct his or her destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare the child for life. The state may require that all children of proper age attend school, that teachers would be of good moral character and patriotic disposition, that certain studies essential to good citizenship must be taught, and that nothing be taught which is manifestly inimical to the public welfare.²

For parents, homeschooling has been an alternative to Brick-and-Mortar schools for decades, since home education provides parents the opportunity to teach moral and religious principles to their children.¹ The first families to choose to homeschool their children dealt with backlash from numerous groups including family members, educators, politicians, and neighbors who felt they were doing their children an injustice. However, proponents of homeschooling held fast and helped to establish the laws and regulations that recognized that teaching one’s children is a right.² In the 1970’s, only 10,000 children were homeschooled, and by 2010, about 2,000,000 students were part of homeschool options.³  There are more than 3.76 million students in the U.S. who were homeschooled in 2020 and by 2022, there were 4.3 million students who were homeschooled.⁴

E-learning reflects the reality of how people learn in the 21st century. As more and more parents are choosing e-learning for their children, there is a need to respond to the following questions: (1) What is e-learning? (2) What are the benefits of e-learning? (3) What are the challenges of e-learning? (4) How does my child apply his/her personal strengths to e-learning? (5) What is the future of e-learning?

In the current world of education, teaching and learning are moving from brick-and-mortar schools to the virtual world, from 30 students in a class to serving one student at a time. Especially in the last 10 years, online education is on the rise for homeschooling parents.¹ It provides students the flexibility to learn anywhere, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as long as there is Internet availability. Homeschooled online students can take advantage of unique course offerings such as world languages, Dual Enrollment (taking college courses while in high school), Advanced Placement (AP) courses, Honors courses, Gifted courses, and AIMS intervention. Importantly, homeschooled students enrolled at Enlightium Academy can obtain an accredited diploma recognized by colleges and universities around the world.

When I was 13 years old, a big change took place in my life: my family moved. Suddenly I had to adjust to a new home, a new city, and a new school. It soon became clear that the public school I was enrolled in was not a good fit for me. The classes were not at an appropriate level for my abilities, and I had difficulty making friends. So I came up with a plan: have my parents homeschool me for 8th grade. I devoted months to convincing my parents and it worked. At that time, the only option I considered was traditional homeschooling, as cyber school education was still a new development in education.

Interested in switching to a non-traditional environment to earn your high school diploma online? You’re not alone. In the last ten years, the number of students enrolling to earn their high school diploma online has increased tenfold. Four of the top reasons families are making the switch are:

Students taking technical courses online face different challenges in an online learning environment. Parents, teachers and students are familiar with the traditional, ‘brick and mortar’ approaches to education. It’s what we were raised with. In that environment, students are gathered into an assigned space at a specific time where a teacher provides the instruction. The teacher leads in the presentation of the content and then moves to a lab-based activity. This is a linear focused approach that has instructional milestones and sets evaluations (i.e. quizzes or exams) to confirm student understanding and mastery of a set of objectives over a fixed period of time.

What model and approach works for the students today?

Christian Universities Online explains that the history of Christian universities in the United States dates back to 1636, with the opening of Harvard University who had a founding rule stating that all students should know God and Jesus Christ and for Him to lay the foundation for their education. While today, Harvard is more diverse in its acceptance of a student and their religion; many institutions were founded as a Christian university. The history includes universities such as Brown, Yale, and Princeton.

Currently there are 3.4 million students enrolled in private universities. The graduation rate at a private institution is 30% higher than public, but the cost is also more than double.