PARK HILLS – Educating kids is a big decision for any parent. There are so many options: public school versus homeschool versus private school. And homeschooling parents may be concerned about chances for their kids to make friends their age and have a positive classroom experience. For the homeschooling families of Park Hills, Mo., Covenant Christian Academy (CCA) provides all these needs.
In 2021, members of First Baptist Church of Park Hills, including Pastor Josh Wilson and his wife Sarah, started discussing what would be needed to start a cottage school for the homeschooled kids in their congregation. A board was formed, comprised of FBC Park Hills members John Wright, Jamie and Kami Haguewood, Lance and Kate Sechrest, and John and Erica Wigger.
“This ended up being a gathering of minds to produce something that was exactly what we thought would fit the bill for our families in the community,” said Kami Haguewood. “From there, we did a lot of research looking at other programs like what we were thinking about. None of them was exactly what we were going to do, but the nice thing was we were able to pick and choose what worked at this school, what would work for us.”
One of those examples was Southland Academy, a homeschool co-op in Kansas. Bobbie Salzman, the then administrator of Southland, provided the board with tips and shared examples of enrollment documents and a statement of faith.
Once they had gathered enough examples, the board members set up the structure of their school. “We were going to be a la carte,” Haguewood recounted. “We weren’t going to say, ‘If you join, you have to take all the classes.’ You could pick and choose what classes you want, because we found that a lot of parents and families, that’s what they needed.”
Focusing on the families in their community was the main priority for the people in charge of CCA. From giving them autonomy in choosing classes for their students to encouraging them in their homeschooling journey, Haguewood outlined CCA’s core values that strengthened relationships with both students and parents. Three of their most important are education, fellowship, and accountability.
“As with everything, the pendulum can swing one way or the other,” Haguewood said about the many options for homeschool education. “We have some homeschooling families who are just like it’s all about the education … but then you have the other side, where there’s not a lot of education going on, and it’s just learning by practical skills. But what we wanted to do was to offer some accountability to our families that on both ends, kids are having fun but kids are also learning. Kids are having great fellowship, but they’re also taking tests to see if they are learning, if they are getting this. And so we’ve really just tried to hit the middle ground with all of that.”
CCA’s website provides a summary of what they believe classical education is all about:
Traditional classroom instruction means that our classes are tutor-led by skilled and enthusiastic teachers….Respect for authority is a cornerstone of success in the classroom. Productive classroom discussion and interaction is a result of respect: respect towards tutors, between peers, and tutor’s respect for their students…. As a classically learning school, our commitment is to teach our students how to learn as they study.
The first year of CCA’s operation was 2022. The school met one day a week in the education building at First Baptist, Park Hills. Eight teachers in total taught six hours of classes each school day, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 2:30 p.m. Sixty-five students were in attendance during the first half of the year, and several more joined in the second semester to give a grand total of 80 students attending CCA by the end of the 2022-2023 school year. The classes offered started out with a core of Latin, grammar, writing, history, and science.
Haguewood observed how fast growth came, saying, “We found out quickly that all those were enjoyed, and we ended up adding music and art the second year, and those are two of our biggest classes now.” At the end of the 2025-2026 school year, with even more classes available such as classical studies and logic, the total number of classes is 30, 115 students are in attendance, and the school day runs longer with the last class getting out at 5:00 p.m.
CCA is growing fast, according to Pastor Wilson. When asked about potential plans for expansion, Haguewood suggested that some classes could meet in the main building where Sunday School is held. They would need extra security in place to protect the students, if they went ahead with that option. Another possibility she said would be to expand the school schedule and meet two days a week.
Above all else, the teachers and administrators of CCA seek to encourage both the kids and the parents who choose to homeschool. Haguewood communicates with families specifically about their satisfaction: “I tell our parents, ‘If we’re not being a blessing to you, let’s reevaluate. We’ll reevaluate on our end, and we want you to reevaluate on your end.’ That is essentially why we do what we do, to encourage the homeschool families and to let them know that this is doable and they are equipped to do it.”
