Frequently Asked Questions

Nope, we are secular. We do not teach religion and we are not affiliated with any church or denomination.

That does not mean we are anti-religious. Families of every faith background are welcome here, and we have students from a mix of religious and non-religious homes. We just keep belief content out of the curriculum so the program works for any family, whatever your beliefs.

Depends which program you are asking about. Roots is a parent-child co-op, where parents stay with their kids. Seedlings, Saplings, and Branches are drop-off programs. You drop your kids off in the morning and pick them up at 2.

The difference matters because co-ops usually ask parents to teach or volunteer. We do not. Our teachers are paid professionals trained in Charlotte Mason and attachment-based practice. You are paying for instruction, not trading volunteer hours.

Right now, 0 through 12, across three programs:

Roots for ages 0 to 5 (parent-child co-op)
Seedlings for ages 5 to 9 (two-day drop-off)
Saplings for ages 9 to 12 (two-day drop-off)

Branches, our teen guild for ages 13 to 18, is in development. If you have a teen, head over to the Branches page and add your family to the interest list. We will let you know when it launches.

Charlotte Mason was a British educator from the late 1800s who had a few unusually clear ideas about how kids learn. She believed children should be offered a wide feast of living ideas through great literature, nature study, art, music, and short focused lessons across many subjects in one day.

She also believed children are born persons who deserve the same respect we would give any thinking adult. That conviction shapes how we run the classroom more than anything else. Our Philosophy page goes deeper into how this plays out.

The short version: kids learn best when they feel safe, seen, and connected to the adults around them.

That is not just a feel-good idea. Modern developmental psychology, especially the work of Dr. Gordon Neufeld, shows that attention, curiosity, emotional regulation, and academic capacity all grow out of secure attachment. Pressure and rewards do not grow them. Relationship does.

In practice that means our teachers prioritize relationship before content. A child who feels welcomed and known is a child who can engage with hard ideas. Our Attachment Practices page walks through how this looks day-to-day.

Nope. No sticker charts, no color systems, no time-outs, no external rewards. Those tools can get short-term compliance, but they undermine the relational foundation we are trying to build.

When a kid has a hard moment, our teachers stay close, help them name what is happening, and give them space to move through it. Big feelings are part of growing up. We treat them that way.

6503 Hixson Pike, Suite 105-C, Hixson, TN 37343. We share the space with Jungle Fun Center.

Most of our families live in Hixson, Chattanooga, Soddy-Daisy, and Red Bank. We also have families who drive up from Ringgold, GA twice a week.

Drop-off is at 9:00 AM (arrival starts at 8:50). Pick-up is at 2:00 PM, with a 10-minute window through 2:10.

In between, kids move through short lessons in literature, nature study, art, history, music, Spanish, and handicrafts, with breaks for snack, lunch, free play, and a quiet reset. Charlotte Mason called this a feast of subjects, and that is what it feels like in person. The Seedlings page has a more detailed schedule.

A packed lunch, a water bottle, and a small bag for the day. Outdoor weather gear when it is cold or wet, since we go outside in most conditions. Indoor shoes if your kid prefers them.

We send a full list once you enroll, so do not worry about getting every detail right before you sign up.

That is pretty common, and we know how to help. Our teachers are trained to support kids through the separation from parents and into the classroom community. For some kids it takes one morning. For others it takes a few weeks. Either way, we stay close, stay calm, and keep you in the loop on how it is going.

If your child is anxious about drop-off, schedule a tour first. Letting them meet the teachers and see the space before their first day takes a lot of the unknown out of it.

Tuition is monthly, billed automatically through our subscription system.

Roots: 130 dollars per month per family
Seedlings and Saplings: 215 dollars per month per child, with a 10 percent sibling discount

There is a 50 dollar deposit at registration that gets applied to your first month tuition. Head over to Pay Regular Tuition to see all the options.

Two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, for Seedlings and Saplings. That is roughly 72 instructional days over the school year, which Tennessee homeschool families can count toward the state 180-day requirement.

The other three school days, you handle reading, writing, math, and anything else your family wants to cover at home. Roots meets one morning per week.

Two things, mostly.

We are secular, and we are built around attachment-based, Charlotte Mason instruction. Most homeschool programs in this area are faith-based, which is a great fit for a lot of families and not the right fit for others. We exist for families who want Charlotte Mason rigor without religious content.

The attachment piece is harder to spot from the outside, but it is the part that shapes the day. We are not running a behavior-management classroom. We are running a relational classroom where teachers are trained to care for kids the way developmental science actually says kids grow.

Because we believe parents are still the central educators in their kids lives. Not us.

Two days a week of enrichment is the sweet spot. It gives kids the things that are hard to do alone at home (group discussion, broad subject exposure, social-academic learning) while leaving room for the parent-led work that matters most. Programs that run more days lean toward replacing homeschool. We are trying to support it.

Sometimes. It depends on the program, the cohort, and where your child is developmentally. Reach out and we will have a conversation about whether it is a good time to join.