About Apple Orchard Academy

Welcome!

I have been home educating since 2008. I have four kids: three boys and a girl, and a wonderful husband (married thirteen years!). I have homeschooled in two states (Texas and Utah). I love the flexibility home education provides! I also enjoy the challenge it brings for us as a family, as we navigate learning together!

 

What's in a name?

The name of our homeschool, Apple Orchard Academy, comes from a true story, passed down in family history. My ancestor, John Perry, lived a life full of service to the Lord. Baptized in England, he and his family journeyed to America, losing a son on the way, and two more children in Nauvoo. He and his family journeyed across the plains to Salt Lake. From there he was called to go back to Great Britain on a mission. The rest of the story comes from an account written by Hope Jackson Krum:

 

Upon being released from his labors, on May 5, 1855, Brother Perry sailed from Liverpool with a large company of Saints on the ship, Curling. Upon arriving in America, he was appointed captain of a company of Saints, but upon reaching Mormon Grove, Kansas he was stricken with cholera and after eight hours of illness he passed to the great beyond. He was gifted as a singer and one who was with him at Mormon Grove relates that he spent several hours singing hymns just prior to his death.

One of their daughters, Amelia Elizabeth Hatch, recorded in her diary that when they received the cloths of her Grandfather John Perry, after his death that there were some apple seeds in the pocket of his coat. They planted them and they were the best eating apples in the area. They never canned any apples from that tree as they were so good eating fresh.



This story has always touched me. Now I and my children enjoy the "fruits" of the labors of this family, through the blessings of the gospel, for which they sacrificed everything.  

When it came time for me to name my homeschool, I thought of this family and this story as being symbolic of my efforts to "plant" the seeds of the gospel and of the love of learning into the hearts of my children. It is my desire to see my children grow and bear the fruit that comes from love of gospel and learning. Ours is a small apple orchard, striving to nourish, grow, and bear good fruit.

As we do so, we complete the cycle of sacrifice and love that was begun by the Perry family and others in our history.