Tulsa Living Education
Our Mission:
The mission of Tulsa Living Education is to partner with parents to nurture the whole child to love God, love learning, and serve others. We believe God has given parents the primary responsibility of educating their children, and thus the school is to function as an extension of the home, reflecting Charlotte Mason’s philosophy that “education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” We strive to offer the best of both worlds- homeschool and private school with a hybrid model of education.
Tulsa Living Education seeks to provide a rich and excellent curriculum by creating environments that foster the love of learning. We seek to build authentic relationships with students, families, and staff, while engaging students with a feast of learning opportunities and experiences that foster creativity and wonder.
Our Faith
The focus of Tulsa Living Education is to provide students with an outstanding liberal arts education in a Christian environment, surrounded by Christian teachers and staff, without preference for one denominational set of beliefs over another.
Our staff are Christians and the Christian faith is at the core of our community life, identity, and perspective. However, members of our staff come from different streams of Christianity. Tulsa Living Education adopts the Nicene Creed to serve as our common ground of Christian faith:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from Heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin, Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into Heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the Prophets. And I believe in one holy, universal and apostolic Church; acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
We welcome children and families from all backgrounds, whether from different Christian denominational affiliations, other faith confessions, or non-faith, secular backgrounds. We ask that during the enrollment process all parents familiarize themselves with our faith perspective and the role that it plays in student life. T.L.E students attend a short assembly which includes hymn singing and study of the Bible as part of the curriculum at every grade level. In their instruction and conversation, all staff members will demonstrate respect toward individual family beliefs and practices.
Kristin Vandagriff- Director/Third grade Tutor
I am Kristin Vandagriff, wife, mother of three, and a follower of Jesus Christ. I have a degree in vocal music education and have taught several homeschool music classes and private voice lessons for 20+years. I have been formally homeschooling for four years.
My son attended a hybrid school when we lived in Arkansas and loved it. When I found out we were moving back to Tulsa I was a bit sad he would have to leave his school. I looked into all of the Hybrid schools in Tulsa that I could find, and none of them were exactly what we were needing. It was 2020 and the whole world seemed to be on hold so we continued our Charlotte Mason education at home and then tried a couple of coops in the area.
After two years and two different coops I knew what we were needing wasn't available so I decided, with the encouragement of my husband to embark on the journey of creating a Charlotte Mason hybrid homeschool. This is our first year and I am already in awe at the fruit that Tulsa Living Education is bearing in all the lives of those involved.