Dr. Paul Cates and Faith Christian Ministries (FCM) have been a part of our homeschool journey for almost 20 years. Our relationship started when FCM tested our oldest child in elementary school to determine if some academic struggles were from our curriculum being too challenging or too easy resulting in disinterest. Those unexpected results completely altered our homeschool trajectory for our large family.
From that point forward instead of automatically handing each child the next grade level of curriculum, we focused on keeping them challenged without being frustrated. Our goal became mastery of material instead of merely completing all of the grade level textbooks. If they did not master the material using the planned curriculum, we added new resources; however, if the concepts were mastered, we moved forward to skip busy work. At some point our students have all repeated or skipped ahead by topic, subject, or grade level. The annual testing gave us more confidence to customize their education as needed to assure complete understanding and to maximize their learning time.
This customized approach allowed our students the time and freedom to explore their interests and continue to move forward in their academics, while also overcoming learning issues and asynchronous development. The curriculum for each student has varied, but all of our homeschool graduates earned a significant number of hours of college credit before graduating high school, were admitted to many top colleges, received generous college scholarships, and are happily employed in their chosen professions.
I believe our children would have blended in fine with their peers using a traditional academic approach, but partnering with Dr. Cates and FCM helped our children develop as individuals – discover and reach their full potential, cultivate their love of learning, and be prepared to thrive among their peers in college and the workplace.
— Jane D. — who has worked with Dr. Cates and FCM for almost 20 years