Greetings from Holy Family Academy! We are incredibly grateful to be a part of the St. Francis of Assisi parish community beginning this fall. We will be renting space in the Parish Life Center two days per week (Mondays and Thursdays) as part of our hybrid homeschool program. Our rental agreement ensures that we also cover our portion of the PLC's utility, cleaning, and security bill. We want to take this opportunity to answer a few questions about ourselves...

 

Who are "we"?
Emily Taylor and Ann-Katherine Stukenborg are the co-founders of Holy Family Academy (HFA), a classical, Catholic hybrid homeschool that opened its doors in 2021. A little background on us: Emily grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and is wife to John, a native Memphian and cradle Catholic. She is mom to six children, ages 2 to 10 years. Emily was raised Presbyterian and, after several years of discernment, came into the Catholic Church in 2013. Emily and John met at Wake Forest University, went to graduate school at UT Knoxville, and then moved to Memphis as John began his law career. Ann-Katherine is married to John (yes, another John), and is a mom of four children, ages 2 to 8. Both Ann-Katherine and John are cradle Catholics, born and raised in Memphis, and graduates of St. Benedict at Auburndale (K-12th grade!) and CBHS, respectively. They met through the diocesan Catholic retreat program, SEARCH. Ann-Katherine's grandparents (John and Kay Sentovich) were longtime parishioners at St. Francis, living just across the street, so it is an environment that has already created beautiful memories throughout her faith journey.

 

What is a hybrid homeschool?
Somewhat of a new concept, think of it as a combination of homeschooling and traditional schooling. Each student spends three days a week homeschooling with a parent, while Mondays and Thursdays are spent at HFA participating in what looks like a typical elementary school day. Our students spend time in history, language arts, math, science lab, literature, catechesis, Christian studies, art, music, classical studies, philosophy, and foreign language classes. We provide families with assignments for their homeschool days that build upon material learned at HFA.

 

Why did we start Holy Family Academy?
Neither of us intended to homeschool, but in different ways and for various reasons, the Lord made it clear to us that this was his plan for our families. Even with backgrounds in education and child development, we felt the need for support in this undertaking (and also didn't want our children to miss out on valuable aspects of traditional education in a group setting). We heard about hybrid options opening up across the country and even visited a few in Memphis (the only options at the time being non-Catholic). After much prayer and research, we decided to open Holy Family Academy in 2021. We are thankful to the community at St. Anne Catholic Church on Highland for housing us during our first three years in operation.

 

What is the mission/goal of Holy Family Academy?
The decision to homeschool is a very specific call and lifestyle, and it is a decision predicated on many factors. As our diocesan schools have a goal of partnering with families in the academic and spiritual formation of their children, we, too, aim to support Catholic homeschooling families in this way. We strive to maximize the enjoyment and efficacy of homeschooling, while giving our students meaningful classroom experiences, solid Catholic formation, and the chance to have fun while building lasting friendships. It makes the homeschooling experience less daunting when done in partnership with a community like HFA. We are a non-profit, educational organization, and parent volunteers are integral to our community. Neither of us receives a salary from this endeavor, and we do pay tuition like any other HFA family, which goes directly toward the payment of teachers, our lease, insurance, and learning materials.  All staff members are VIRTUS trained.  

 

Who attends Holy Family Academy?
Next year, HFA will be made up of 18 homeschooling families from all over the Memphis area (representing 7 parishes), with 31 total students in grades K-5th. We are a very small program!

 

Will we see you during the week?
Our days and hours of operation are Mondays and Thursdays, 9:00-3:30. We will occupy several rooms on the west side of the Parish Life Center during these hours, and you may see us in the lobby next to the nursery or outside on the playground around lunchtime if you are at the parish on these days. (We are aware that these spaces are used by the Church at other times during the week, and we understand the importance of respecting that in our treatment of them.) We will also be attending the daily Mass at 12:00 on Thursdays, so please feel free to say, "hello," if you see us! We would love to meet you in person.  

           Again, we are so very grateful to Fr. Hood, the St. Francis parishioners, and all of the wonderful staff here. Your hospitality has already been such a blessing to us, and we truly look forward to our days of learning at your beautiful parish.

Emily Taylor and

Ann-Katherine Stukenborg

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