- Tom Garfield, Logos School Superintendent. Generaltional Building: At Home and Around the Nation was originally published as a column and was added, along with many other columns, to Mr. Garfield’s Dear Parents: Communicating the Christian & Classical Vision to Families.

Dad was far more confident than I was… and, once again, he was proven right. As he and I pounded the last roof shingles into place on our final day of working together on my house’s addition, he said, “I was trusting we could get the roof on in the time I was here.” He and Mom had come up from Portland to spend a week with us, turning our foundation (or “the pit,” as our kids called it) into a new bedroom and bathroom, and making our lives a lot easier. Dad, Seth, and I were able to spend seven full, work-filled days building together. My dad turned seventy last winter, after almost single-handedly (Mom helped with the tough spots) finishing his own two-car garage addition. (That should tell you who led the pace in hammering, even though thirty years the senior!)

Three generations working together was not all that unique in America’s farming days a hundred years ago. Today, though, I know it is somewhat unusual. In any case, it was an extremely special time for all of us. To be able to work side-by-side with my father and my son, literally building a home, was, as C.S. Lewis describes times like these, a “glimpse of heaven.” I believe there will be good work to do in heaven; imagine doing it alongside generations from previous centuries!

The week before I took the time off to work with my dad, Logos School hosted the second annual Association of Classical and Christian Schools (A.C.C.S.) conference. In 1993, about seventy-five delegates attended the first conference; this year over one hundred and thirty came from over twenty states in the Union. In the year between the conferences, more than half-a-dozen new classical and Christian schools had sprung up. Two new schools shared their testimonies of how hard it was to get started, and the many rewards they are already seeing in the lives of their students. This year we had many more workshops to offer, with more emphasis on “nuts and bolts” ideas, as well as far more representation from the Logos elementary program. In addition, we introduced the elementary science program designed by Logos parents and staff. It was a big hit! Meetings were also held during the three days of the conference to lay the groundwork for the national board and bylaws of A.C.C.S. It is the hope of all connected with A.C.C.S. that regional conferences can begin to be held throughout the United States. This would allow even more people who are excited by the idea of this type of education to get together for planning and sharing ideas.

Throughout all three days, time and again, I was almost overwhelmed by the thought of so many people traveling thousands of miles, and spending thousands of dollars in the hope of building a better education for their children and others’. As was emphasized many times in the conference, Logos is not seeking to see franchises, “McLogos’s” spring up all over the nation. Rather, we are praying and working through A.C.C.S. to assist more and more families who recognize their God-given mandate to educate their children and choose to do so by means of the classical vision. A biblically-grounded vision will enable families to build generationally; a copycat project will last for a very short time, and never succeed in its mission.

The edifices - facilities, texts, rules, staffs, etc. - of these new schools already look very different from Logos. But, like the work with my dad, the visible structure is not the real blessing or even the real purpose of working together; it is the hope of building and training generation after generation of those who will love and honor God’s Holy Name! What better work could we strive to do?