We are pleased and excited to announce that the name of the Umbrella Program and Tutorial has been changed to The Comenius School. The Comenius School is named for Jon Amos Comenius, who is considered the father of home education. 

Few men have born such grief and yet left this world such gain as Jon Amos Comenius. Born into a small village in Moravia in 1592, Comenius was orphaned at a young age. The money left by his father afforded him an education at a local Brethren of the Common Life School, one of the educational blessings of the Reformation. While within this school community, Comenius came to understand that under the Lordship of Christ, every discipline, every subject, becomes a means by which a student can be discipled in the truth. Here Comenius first sensed his calling to restore education.

Within a few years, Comenius had opportunity to put this understanding into practice as he served both as pastor of the church at Fulneck and as superintendent of a new school nearby. He also began to put his thoughts about education on paper, working out his discipleship concepts within the pages of multiple books.

Yet Comenius experienced one set back after another. The religious persecutions of the Hapsburg Empire and the 30 Years War resulted in a mandate that evangelical pastors renounce their faith or leave the country. Comenius chose exile. The war destroyed churches and schools, and Comenius’ own library and manuscripts burned as well. Under threat of death should he ever return to his homeland, Comenius began a long life caring for the Moravian people as they wandered through the snow-capped mountains. Along the way, he suffered the death of his wife and two sons and ultimately bore the grief of losing his best friend and a second wife as well.

Still, Comenius persisted in his calling to restore education. He realized the only hope for healing Church and State, transforming culture, and forging a right path for the future lay in the education of youth, in families and schools dedicated to creating a generation of spiritual and cultural Christian leaders. As a result, at age 64, Comenius once again picked up his pen and began to write. Ultimately he published over 130 titles, a body of work that impacted families and schools on the European continent and abroad, and one that continues to guide classical Christian educators today.

Today, as we announce The Comenius School, an umbrella and tutorial arm of Franklin Classical School, we stand with Comenius in affirming that the purpose of education is to teach students to think clearly and biblically and to then act in accordance with biblical thinking in the most basic details of life. Therefore, the final aim of education isn’t simply knowledge, but virtue, and the end result of a proper education isn't the fitting of a mind, but the fitting of a life.

Because we acknowledge that parents have the biblical responsibility and authority to educate their children, we offer The Comenius School as a service, a help, and a friend to homeschoolers in your commitment to train up your children to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.