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About Sharper Quill

The vision for Sharper Quill was conceived through the perception of several needs relating to home education. Below are some of these needs.

I. Constructive Community
First, home educators have felt a need to avoid an excessively exclusive educational atmosphere and take advantage of the shared knowledge of parents within their social circle or home-school group. This has led to the formation of informal classes across America taught by willing and able parents. Through these classes, parents are able to give their children the added benefit of education from different adults with specialized knowledge while retaining the independence and parental control which served as part of the original impetus of the home school movement.

Sharper Quill fills this need by:

Providing courses which are personally taught by a qualified instructor. Students are not left on their own to simply submit an assignment every two weeks to a teacher who only serves as a distant grading entity. In other words, Sharper Quill is not a correspondence course program! We place a high emphasis on student/teacher as well as student/student interaction on a day to day basis. This retains the direct interaction and student-accountability found in traditional classes.
Preserving parental protection and involvement by allowing parents the option of being included in all teacher/student email interactions. Parents are also given the login information to be able to access the class web page.

II. Shrinking the Learning Curve
Second, the online medium is becoming an increasingly popular alternative for pursuing higher education. It provides a natural progression into formal education for home educators who are used to self-study and scheduling flexibility. However, like traditional classroom settings, online courses are not without their popular pitfalls. Though the principles are simple, there are certain methods of study and participation that must be implemented for online education to be successful. If students become familiar with online learning in high school, the transition into online college will be easily and successfully negotiated.

Sharper Quill fills this need by:

Designing our courses to not only explicitly teach content, but to implicitly develop the mental mind-set of online learning. We teach students to cultivate habits which will contribute to their future success in higher education or any other educational endeavor they pursue. In short, we not only teach content, we also teach effective ways to engage the content in the medium of online classes.
Designing our courses to be similar to a typical online college course. Naturally, online courses differ according to the subject presented. However, taking the various subjects offered by Sharper Quill will equip students to smoothly transition into the varied world of online higher education.

III. Building Basic Skills
Related to the above need concerning methods of learning, there is a general body of knowledge necessary for a student’s success in higher education. It is not difficult to learn, but it takes time. Most students spend the first year or two in college, in part, to develop basic skills and a basic knowledge base required for higher level courses. If these basic skills are already in place (skills like efficient research methods, critical thinking and writing skills, etc…), students can spend more time learning actual content in their college and university experience, rather than simply learning how to learn.

Sharper Quill fills this need by:

Designing our courses to equip students with the basic skills which form a solid foundation for further education (whether formal or informal). We have sought to condense the most valuable skills gained over years of online education into our high school courses, especially in the area of research and writing methods, and critical thinking skills.

IV. Giving a Reason
Finally, and most importantly, there is a need for Christian men and women to be fully equipped to deal with the hostile world which awaits them on the other side of graduation. Bold, strong, intelligent, and articulate Christians are not popular in 21st century America, but they are necessary to fight the relentless onslaught of depravity which dominates our culture. In whatever discipline they choose to pursue, there will be intense challenges to your student’s faith which will threaten to shake their beliefs to the core. Yet, there is no sector of life which is outside of God’s sovereignty, and therefore which cannot be pursued to His glory. But your student cannot be expected to survive (no less thrive) if he or she hasn’t been trained in giving a reasoned defense for the hope that is within them (1 Pet. 3:15).

Sharper Quill fills this need by:

Emphasizing the importance of being able to articulate one’s beliefs. This entails strong critical thinking and writing skills, as well as the ability to formulate a position, conduct thorough research, and construct a cogent argument for that position. These skills are especially emphasized in Sharper Quill’s English courses.
Emphasizing a knowledge of the history and development of philosophical thought and principles, practical logic, and the methods of argumentation. These skills are especially emphasized in Sharper Quill’s Philosophy courses.
Training students to combine all these skills into an effective defense or apologetic for the Christian worldview. Sharper Quill is currently developing the course: Understanding, Articulating, and Defending the Christian Worldview. This course will expose students to the most common objections to Christianity and will equip them with sound, relevant answers. An emphasis will be placed on practical dialog with students being able to read and critique real apologetic encounters, and practice articulating their own answers in class chats and discussions.

We invite you to join us in the exciting journey of online education!