From Practical Homeschooling, Fall 2026
Scholé Academy is this year’s biggest i-Learn Awards winner, with nine awards, all First Places. Impressive!
Unlike many of this year’s i-Learn Awards winners, Scholé Academy began as an offshoot from a print curriculum. It is a division of Classical Academic Press (CAP)—which we profiled last year when they received 17 Reader Awards for their print curricula.
Since 2001 CAP has been a leader in classical education for homeschoolers, starting with primers on Latin and logic, and following those with curricula in every major subject area except mathematics, which is forthcoming. (Scholé Academy does offer math courses!) Realizing that classical education is often perceived as overly difficult and rigorous, from the beginning CAP challenged that by striving to create materials that are not only academically solid, but also beautiful and easy to use.
By 2014, Classical Academic Press had some notable curricular lines—like the aforementioned Logic and Latin—and families wanted their children to engage in these studies. But they wanted their children to be taught by an experienced teacher, particularly in these less familiar disciplines. So, Scholé Academy was launched that year, as a division of CAP. One of its first instructors was Joelle Hodge, CAP’s current president and the author of CAP’s logic texts The Art of Argument and Everyday Debate.
The original vision for Scholé Academy came from Dr. Christopher Perrin, the founder and CEO of CAP. As he told us last year, “We try to balance a time to be restful and contemplate (Mary) and a time to be active (Martha), to help our customers avoid frenzy and stress.”
The online curriculum began very modestly, with only four students and four classes. Scholé grew gradually at first, then experienced tremendous growth during and immediately after the COVID school shutdowns. During the most recent academic year, Scholé served more than 2,300 unique students from approximately 1,600 families, with about 120 instructors teaching 450 different courses, many with multiple sections.
Why “Scholé”? The Greek word scholé is sometimes translated as “rest,” though it refers more specifically to setting aside time to attend to the things that are most worthwhile. Dr. Perrin believed that an online academy could offer more than academic content delivered through a screen. It could cultivate a contemplative and relational approach to education that was intellectually serious without being driven by hurry, anxiety, or mere performance.
Classical Academic Press’s award-winning print curriculum and books—and their authors—were at the heart of the original Scholé courses. Their core classes still are based on and use CAP’s print curriculum. Since then, however, Scholé has added dozens of online language classes in ASL, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Arabic, along with intriguing, special-interest offerings such as “LEGO and Legends” and “Cultivating Virtue with C.S. Lewis.”
Most classes take place in what Scholé calls their “Great Hall.” This is where you’ll find most of the core CAP-based courses, all united under the Christian tenets expressed in the Nicene creed. Alongside the ecumenical Great Hall, students also may study within one of three Houses—St. Raphael (Orthodox), Aquinas (Catholic), or Canterbury (Anglican)—for instruction according to a particular Christian tradition. Families can include classes from any or all of these.
In 2023, Dr. Joylynn Blake joined Scholé Academy as director. She certainly had the qualifications, having worked in K–12 education for about 25 years. After growing up in her parents’ live-in ministry for homeless families, during which she attended Christian school and a homeschool co-op, she taught in public, private, homeschool, and international settings as a teacher, curriculum director, and head of school. A philosophy major as an undergraduate, her master’s thesis was on “What Is Christian Education?” A question well worth asking and answering!
Dr. Blake, who has been a “homeschool mama” herself, was kind enough to speak with us about Scholé’s unique approach, and the vision for its future.
Dr. Blake says, “Our courses are classical, while being restful. We feel it’s really important that whatever technology is used humanizes the education and connects people, rather than dehumanizes the education and separates people.” Thus, their approach is to offer small, live online classes “where cameras and microphones are on and the chat box is off,” so students are talking with their faces and voices to the entire class, not via asides in text chats that need to be supervised.
She told us that Scholé favors depth and mastery over rapid breadth, with the goal that students and instructors interact in rich discussions and real relationships. Oftentimes, fellow students and/or instructors figure out ways to meet up in person. Some have planned intersections while traveling cross country. As Dr. Blake told us, “One mom grabbed me at a homeschoolers’ conference and said, ‘My son is lobbying to go to Kenya to meet up with the missionary brothers from his Geometry class! They have become his best friends!’”
Building relationships in real life can take less dramatic forms as well. Dr. Blake and her daughter (a Scholé graduate) met another Scholé family at a coffee shop on their way from Florida to Wyoming for summer camp. Some families have organized a field trip together to DC. Some have been invited to each other’s homes.
Another Scholé distinctive: their Center for Learning Differences provides tutors who can support various differences, such as ADHD or dyslexia. They also provide evaluations (as opposed to state-certified diagnoses) and education recommendations.
At present, Scholé has seven special-needs instructors. They do not provide separate sections of courses as much as support for families with particular needs who are taking regular courses, after evaluation to confirm the student will be able to handle the class with assistance. Through the Tutoring Center, any family also can arrange entirely private course instruction, whether to accommodate the family’s own schedule or a child’s special needs.
Scholé’s instructors are all independent contractors who pick their own hours. Some are homeschooling parents. Some are globetrotters working remotely, such as spouses of missionaries. Often they come from the world of CAP education or one of its other subsidiaries, Classical U, which offers professional online development courses for adults. All Scholé instructors have at least a Bachelors degree; many have higher degrees as well.
Most families start by exploring the website. They can also request a free Zoom consultation. This helps them determine if Scholé is right for their child, and if so, what grade level to start and what courses to take. Dr. Blake tells us that after sampling one or two courses, families often decide to add more Scholé courses to their homeschooling plans.
Academy Goal: To support homeschooling families by being a place their child loves to learn with friends, good guides, and rich content.
Academy Motto: Scholé has two! “Love learning” and “Classical. Restful. Personal. Engaging.” (In addition, the Classical Academic Press company motto is “Wonder to Wisdom.”)
Upcoming Projects: Dr. Blake says, “The time zones can be a challenge for some of our families; so, expanding courses beyond Eastern standard time would be a dream. There are families in Europe, Africa, and even China and Australia who keep crazy hours to be in class with us. We’d love to grow even more hospitable to them.”
Source: Practical Homeschooling, Fall 2026, pp. 9–10.
