In the 1600s, our Glebe land was tithed by the King of England to the Anglican churches of the Middle Peninsula. In those days, a Glebehouse would be built on the land as a parsonage for the priest serving multiple parishes (churches.) The land was then farmed to pay his salary! Our Glebehouse was built sometime c. 1724 and the priest who lived in it served the colonial churches of Abingdon, Ware, Christchurch, and Petsworth. Today, the Rector of St. James Anglican Church lives in the Glebehouse and the fields of the Glebe are being sustainably farmed by a local farmer: making it the last functional Glebe in America! It is a piece of living history with national interest and significance.

To learn more:

https://www.stjamesontheglebe.com/history/the-glebe

https://www.stjamesontheglebe.com/history/the-glebehouse

Adapted from a pamphlet by The Glebe School’s Headmaster, Fr. Raymond Davison:

“Do you want your child to know God’s Goodness, Truth, and Beauty? Do you want your child to be able to see these in all of creation, in all areas of study? Do you want your child to have a heart built on the Christian moral imagination?

If you want these things, you want a Classical Christian Education.

If you wish that you had these desires for your children when they were in school, you want to support Classical Christian Education.

If you received this sort of education yourself, you want a better and stronger version of Classical Christian Education for your children, your friend’s children, your church’s children.

The central tenants of Classical Christian Education are:

• Children are given by God to parents, not to the State.

• The method of education matters as much as the material.

• Because we are soul and body together, what we learn with our minds shapes our souls.

• What and how we learn as children makes us who we are and shapes how and what we will learn as adults.

Classical Christian Education begins with parents—parents who want their children to love God more deeply than they themselves do. Parents cannot ordinarily do this on their own because humans are made to live in community with one another, just like we worship together with other families.

Homeschooling families often coordinate with other homeschooling families in order to pursue wisdom and virtue . A school setting takes the homeschooling coordination and formalizes the structure. In a school, a board appoints a headmaster, a headmaster hires teachers at the appropriate times and the whole community moves together towards wisdom and virtue. The school is an extension of the home, not a replacement for the home.

Classical Christian Education is integrated across subjects.

Spelling class becomes an opportunity to discuss the history of language. Latin becomes an opportunity to evaluate Roman culture and our own, or an opportunity to reflect on the development of natural philosophy. And so on through all subjects. This is most obvious in the Grammar School, those classes taught by generalists. Older students taught by specialists in Natural Philosophy or Literature benefit from a small faculty of friends meditating on the gift of creation shared with all mankind.

Classical Christian Education thinks of diligence and virtue which matter in all subjects.

A student must show courage in the face of a difficult mathematic exam as much as the student must learn to recognize courage in historical and literary figures.

What is learned in the classroom is practiced in the recess field and carried into the workshop and homes of the future.

Classical Christian Education teaches students to learn now and or their whole life.

Absorbing information for a test can earn a students high grades in elementary, middle, and high school and a high-paying job as adult. But studying the tools of learning will allow a student to learn any new job, serve in any capacity in his local parish, and contribute as a citizen of any state or commonwealth.

Even after all this, Classical Christian Education forms members of particular families, of particular schools, of particular places, of particular churches. The version of Classical Christian Education enacted in and through the Glebe will have a Glebe shape.

We will have a greater emphasis on Common Arts. Common Arts are those skills and techniques which were once part of every child’s education at home, then made into formal classes like “Home Economics” and “Shop Class,” then removed from education entirely at a time when students could just buy those items which they once knew how to make.

We will have a particular emphasis on the land . The Glebe is a gift to us and to our children over which we are able to be Stewards.

And, alongside other schools in our diocese, we will have a sharp emphasis on prayer, incorporating Mattins, the Mass, and other public prayers into our life of wisdom and virtue.

As Headmaster, I look forward to studying, working, and praying

with you all.

Fr. Raymond J. Davison”

The Glebe School meets Tuesday-Friday from 9:00am to 3:30pm.

Monday is at “at-home” school day with a packet of schoolwork sent home by the Headmaster.

Students may begin to arrive at 8:30am, with all students at their desks by 8:50am. At 9:00am, we will head to the chapel for Morning Prayer. After dismissal at 3:30pm, students, siblings, & parents are welcome to join the Headmaster for Evening Prayer at 4:00pm.

No.

The Glebe School believes that the growing minds of young students are barraged and domineered in modern culture by the use of screens. Throughout most of history, the brains of children have been allowed to develop and grow strong through traditional “long form” educational tools: such as cursive handwriting, the chapter book, memorization of Scripture, and manual long division. Balanced with lots of recess, fresh air, and moving of their bodies… there isn’t much time left for screens.

At The Glebe School, we believe that the purpose of a uniform is not only in the clothing itself, but in the pride, dignity, and grace with which you learn to wear it.

Our male students wear an oxford shirt with slacks. Our female students wear an oxford shirt with a plaid pinafore. A full version of the dress code along with link to purchase the uniform is found in the student handbook.

For The Glebe School, the common arts represent the need for children to be taught the heritage skills they need in order to live fulfilling and good lives. To change a tire, sew a button, make a budget, build a fence.

To dive deep into the philosophy of the common arts and their place in education, check out this book by author (and friend of the Glebe!) Chris Hall:
“The academic foundations of classical education do not alone guarantee human flourishing. The liberal arts—the trivium and quadrivium—represent the core frameworks for cultivating virtue and practicing skills vital to our life in the world. And yet, they alone are insufficient, for we must eat, heal, defend ourselves, trade, build, find our way around, and more. It may seem evident that the common arts should be an integral part of education, and yet we see that every generation is losing skill in the common arts as we increasingly rely upon others to provide them for us. In Common Arts Education, author Chris Hall provides not only an argument for an integrated liberal, fine, and common arts pedagogy, but also some practical advice for crafting a robust, hands-on curriculum.”

What a great question!

Get your feet wet with these articles written by friends of the Glebe:

“Why we need Frog and Toad more than ever” by Joshua Gibbs

“Common Arts that Matter” by Fr. Mark Perkins (Bonus points for mentioning the Glebe in this article!)

Dive into these wonderful books, found wherever books are sold:

The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education by Kevin Clark and Ravi Scott Jain

The Scholé Way: Bringing Restful Teaching and Learning Back to School and Homeschool by Christopher Perrin

Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David V. Hicks

And a final beloved poem by Wendell Berry, which is on the hearts and minds of The Glebe School board at this time.