Welcome to Fruit Cove Baptist Church Homeschool Ministry, Forge.
We are a community of Christian homeschoolers seeking God while growing in discipleship, service, and academic excellence. We seek to honor and glorify God in all we do. Our ministry consists of homeschooling families who are training and teaching their children at home.
Fruit Cove Baptist Homeschool Ministry provides a Christian fellowship for homeschooling parents and students in which they are encouraged to seek God first and to pursue excellence in learning. Our ministry has been established to support homeschooling families by providing Biblically-based classes in core and elective subjects. We are unapologetically Christian in our curriculum choices, and we are relentless in our passion for supporting homeschooling families. We believe there are many methods of homeschooling, and we desire to support families as they walk in God’s calling for their family.
Our purpose and desire is to provide loving encouragement, quality academics and enrichment courses, and God-glorifying social interaction for students as well as essential support for parents as they develop their children to Christ-like character, enabling them to stand firm in their belief in the teaching of the Bible as the complete and inerrant Word of God, thereby equipping them to glorify the name of Jesus in all they do.
Our mission is to glorify God by connecting with homeschool families and assisting them in their call to educate their children.
Our ministry offers different options for participation. Families can enroll as general ministry partners, offering access to our events calendar to participate in field trips, play dates, parent events, Bible studies, and more.
Our Academic day takes place on Tuesdays, and our Enrichment day occurs on Wednesday. For all courses, new concepts are introduced during class time, and work is assigned for the following week, as applicable.
We pride ourselves on learning that meets students where they are, using engaging conversation, hands-on learning, and intentionally selected curriculum.
Annual Rhythm: 12 weeks Fall • 12 weeks Spring
Academic classes: 24 weeks
Enrichment classes: 12 or 24 weeks
Daily Flow:
July 6-10 – High School Forensics Class & Camp
Sept 5 – Back To School “Pool” Party
Sept 26 – FORGE Supports Serve! Day
Dec 12 – Holiday Show And Family Celebration
Forge is led by a volunteer team of parents serving homeschool families in our church and community.
📧 Email: homeschool@fruitcove.com
📞 Church Office: Contact for urgent matters
Our ministry has a partnership with Christianbook.com and with Masterbooks. If you order through Christianbook.com, please use our organizational link, which gives 4% of your purchase back to our ministry https://www.christianbook.com/apps/giveback?org=GPWGEK (If choosing to use this option, you will use Group code GPWGEK.) (You can order all of the selected materials through this website, if you choose.)
If you are purchasing Masterbooks materials directly from the publisher, please coordinate with our volunteer leaders, who can schedule a private shopping time with you on our ministry’s organizational account, which will offer you a 30% discount on Masterbooks products (including those not used in our ministry).
Please note: If you have more than one child in a particular age group using the same curriculum, you will need to either purchase more than one student workbook, or your family will be responsible for making the necessary copies. Our ministry does not have the ability to support those requirements.
Stepping Stones: (Masterbooks) Family purchase is not required.
The Fruit Cove Baptist Church Homeschool Ministry leadership team is a volunteer group of parents who seek to serve homeschool families in our church and local community. We typically try to respond to messages Monday–Friday from 9:00am–5:00pm, but please understand that we do not keep regular office hours, as we too are homeschooling our children. If you have an urgent situation that requires immediate attention, please contact the church office and ask for them to contact our volunteer leaders personally.
Learn more about Forge Homeschool Ministry, enrollment, academics, and what to expect as part of our community.
Our ministry maintains class sizes no larger than 12 students per class. Depending on enrollment, some classes consist of multiple grades, which means we may have less availability in those grades. Our enrollment is an ongoing dance as we work to support as many families as possible while also maintaining the most positive learning environment for our students.
If you have a specific grade you are interested in, feel free to reach out to us at homeschool@fruitcove.com and we will do our best to share up-to-date availability for that particular grade level.
There are many factors considered when reviewing family applications. For all applications, we are looking to ensure parents acknowledge our Christian mission and align with Biblical values. We are not evaluating your family on a social scale, determining how you can best meet our needs, or figuring out what shared friends we have. Our heart is for the Lord first, and our families second. If you can say the same, then we look forward to meeting you.
For our Weekday Program, there are a few more factors. We will ask for a detailed testimony from both parents, and we like to learn a bit about your calling to homeschool. Additionally, every applying family will conduct an interview with our leadership team, where we can get to know you better. Some of our questions may ask about curriculum preferences, schooling philosophy, willingness to serve, approach to Christian conflict resolution, and more.
Another strong consideration is availability of seats. We believe it does a disservice to a family if we extend acceptance to only part of your family, so we do not offer partial enrollment for a family. If we are not able to accommodate your entire family, we will let you know that our current enrollment is full, but we would be happy to place your family on a waitlist.
At this time, enrollment preference is given to families who intend to participate in all three hours of our Weekday Program. While we recognize there are situations in which a student may have already taken a course or has a unique learning need, we expect that a family will stay with us for all three hours of each day. This allows a chance for fellowship, learning, and consistency for both families, guides, and our ministry as a whole.
Part of our interview process includes detailed conversations about curriculum selections. If you are choosing to participate in our Academic Day, you are also committing to the chosen texts in their entirety.
Our high school curriculum advisors will work with each family to build personalized transcripts for your student. There are many online tools to support the actual development of the document, but we look forward to sitting with your family, personalizing the document, answering questions, and offering advice based on your goals for your student.
We will ensure your student’s transcript is accurate, sufficient, and tailored for their next steps.
Homeschoolers do not need to get a GED. Their home education program is equivalent to a standard high school program. Please note, there is no diploma issued by the public school system for the completion of a home education program.
A signed affidavit of completion, which is a notarized letter submitted by the student’s parent, will attest that the student has completed an appropriate program pursuant to the requirements of s.1002.41, F.S., and is a legal document of completion. This statement can be included on a student’s academic transcript or parent-issued diploma.
Forge values a restful approach to homeschool, which supports families having quality time together. That said, we also recognize that we cannot adequately school a student in one day per week at Forge. This means that much of your student’s education takes place within the walls of your home.
With that in mind, we do assign homework at a developmentally appropriate level. Language Arts in every grade will almost always have some element of home requirements, whether it be reviewing phonics, practicing sight words, reading a literature selection, or drafting a paper. For history and science, home assignments will depend more on grade level. All courses will have a 12-week schedule so parents and students are aware of expectations and can plan accordingly.
General ministry families have full access to our calendar of events. This is where we post field trips, service opportunities, park play dates, Bible studies, parent events, and more.
We aim to have community fellowship opportunities at least twice a month, and we strive to serve together at least once per month. Additionally, we have events that take place all throughout the school year and breaks.