The foundational mission of The Potter's School is to turn the hearts of kids to their parents, the hearts of parents to their kids, and the hearts of both to the Lord, that families may be strengthened for sacrificial service to God in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Potter's School helps families throughout the world to more effectively disciple their children to serve God in excellence in all labor, including academics, service, and evangelism. Our primary approach to family discipleship and service is to promote integration of faith, family and labor into unified processes rather than competing priorities.

Why contribute to the work of The Potter's School, especially if you're already paying for classes? If you aren't already familiar with us and the various ways we support families in raising their kids to honor their parents and serve God wholeheartedly, then please take some time to look over the rest of the Faith, Family and Service section of our web site. Hopefully you will find that you already philosophically support our efforts. If you do, please allow us to give you some more information about why it is important to support us in other ways as well.

The primary reason for supporting us we would like you to consider is the reason you are homeschooling in the first place. Pursuit of academic excellence is part of why you homeschool, but there cannot be true academic excellence without deep understanding of where truth and knowledge begin. Academics are part of the greater family discipleship process that is variously described as "bringing them up in the way they should go" (Prov 22:6) or "walking with them along the way" (Deut 6:7). Well-intentioned Christian families are drifting away from the biblical model where the family co-labors in service and ministry together and trains the next generation together. As a result we see the hearts of even Christian teenagers turning from their parents and from the Lord. We want to arrest this trend and turn them back. We seek restoration of the current generation of kids that we may have God-fearing families in the next generation. To achieve this we need to first help families put their homeschooling in the greater context of family discipleship for service. To actively promote biblical family discipleship we need your support.

There is essentially no school or similar organization that is not subsidized through private or government funds. By allocating only a small fraction of our revenue to administration and overhead we have over the years built a business plan that sustains us without subsidies, but this is primarily just sustainment of core functions. To provide scholarships to overseas workers and single mothers of limited means, we need your support. To grow and improve our infrastructure so we can offer more classes, more stable technology, and more collaboration features, we need your support. To offer more and better resources that help homeschooling families prepare their kids to serve God in an increasingly networked world, we need your support.

Part of our goal is to build a media-rich global collaboration resource for homeschoolers. Why is this important? Because we are raising our kids to serve God in a globally-connected world that is vastly different from what it was before the growth of an Internet that rides on fiberoptic and even satellite-based communication. We strongly support local homeschool cooperative efforts, but we also recognize the increasing need to connect individuals and local groups with global resources. Homeschoolers should not have to watch from the sidelines while subsidized institutions take advantage of worldwide collaboration. We see homeschooling as part of a greater movement to pursue God's excellence in all areas of service and ministry, and so we believe homeschooling families should be leaders rather than followers in preparing their kids to be effective Kingdom ambassadors in a connected world.

How can training our kids be enhanced by global collaboration? For a start, there are things we already offer, such as live classes with kids and even teachers from different cultures or an opportunity to participate in a student-run ezine with "reporters" from all over the world. Then there are things we are just beginning to explore, like group projects with students from other locations or collaborative preparation for a team service project in a remote location. Finally there are things we are only beginning to consider, like an on-line debate league or other ideas you may have but we haven't heard yet. To help provide these resources and opportunities for your family, we need your support.

Please take time to consider the fundamental values you hold to in raising your family, the role homeschooling plays in instilling those values, and the resources needed to prepare your kids to live out those values and actively promote them in an increasingly connected global collaborative environment. Then consider whether you might contribute on a one-time or recurring basis to providing those resources for your family and the greater homeschooling community as a partner with The Potter's School.