Foundry Cottage School
Shaping learners of courage, curiosity, and conviction
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
About Foundry Cottage School
Vision and Mission
The Foundry Cottage School is a Christian, parent-led community pursuing a Charlotte Mason education, helping parent educators share the load of spreading the feast for their children. Helping our children learn to wonder, pursue truth with humility, and love learning while growing in wisdom, virtue, and conviction.
We do this through:
- Reading good, living books
- Short lessons
- Teaching some core subjects/riches at co-op
- Working with our hands
- Getting outside
- Creating educational experiences in alignment with the Charlotte Mason method and the subjects being taught.
Why Parent-Led?
Foundry Cottage School embraces a parent-led model because it fosters a strong, interconnected community where both children and parents thrive. When parents take on the role of teachers, they build meaningful relationships not only with their own children but also with their children’s friends and peers. This creates a web of trusted, familiar adults that children recognize not just as teachers, but as part of their extended community.
As a result, a deeper sense of trust and belonging naturally develops, strengthening bonds among families. Additionally, this collaborative approach helps reduce program costs, making Foundry Cottage School more accessible while enriching the educational experience with diverse talents and perspectives from within the community.
“We spread an abundant and delicate feast in the programmes and each small guest assimilates what he can.”
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Location
Our co-op is located in Sandpoint, ID at a local church. We have been blessed with a beautiful meeting space, classrooms, and a dedicated nursery. The nursery includes a toddler bathroom for preschoolers who are potty-training and a changing area for babies.
Classroom Structure
Students will be placed into classes based on classroom readiness, which includes the combination of maturity, scholastic ability, classroom behavior, engagement, and age. The final classroom breakdown will be finalized once we confirm the number of students enrolled for the fall term. This will be the general guideline:
- Nursery & Preschool: Birth – 5 years old
- Form 1:Year 1 – Year 3 (roughly 6–8 years old)
- Form 2:Year 4 – Year 6 (roughly 9–11 years old)
- Form 3:Year 7 – Year 9 (roughly 12–14 years old)
- Form 4:Year 10 – Year 12 (roughly 15–18 years old)*
*For the 25/26 school year, we had students enrolled through the 9th grade. Our long-term vision is to keep adding grades as our students age up, in a “grow with me” model. We believe that part of fostering a strong, solid community is being a place that invests in the whole family, so we never want families to have to leave because one of their kids “ages out” of co-op.
“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.”
“…to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Sample Schedule
Form 1 (Grades 1–3)
Morning Time
Bible Memory Work, Poem Memory Work, Hymn and/or Folksong
Block 1
Could contain: Geography, Literature/Shakespeare, Nature Study, Composer/Artist Study
Lunch and PE/Outside Time
Block 2
Could contain: Foreign Language, Handicrafts
Form 2 (Grades 4–6)
Morning Time
Bible Memory Work, Poem Memory Work, Hymn and/or Folksong
Block 1
Could contain: Shakespeare Theater, Nature Study, Scriptorium/Composition, Composer/Artist Study
Lunch and PE/Outside Time
Block 2
Could contain: Literature, Foreign Language
Form 3 (Grades 7–9+)
Morning Time
Bible Memory Work, Poem Memory Work, Hymn and/or Folksong
Block 1
Could contain: Shakespeare Theater, Science, Scriptorium/Composition, Composer/Artist Study
Lunch and PE/Outside Time
Block 2
Could contain: Art, Literature/Discussion
Blocks are subject to slight adjustments year to year, depending on the pool of parents we have to draw from and their strengths or desire to teach certain subjects. However, our goal at Foundry is to make sure we are covering some of the essentials at co-op and not just doing “fluffy/for-fun” classes. There's nothing wrong with those kinds of classes (they definitely have their place), but at Foundry, we really want to focus on classes that we would want to see on our schedules at home. This enables us to accomplish our mission of lightening the load of spreading the feast for each other. This way, co-op helps us “move the needle,” so to speak, not just act as a fun-only community day that takes away from our “real” curriculum. This way we get the benefit of community and subjects done for the day we spend together!
Community Life & Events
FCS is more than a Thursday. We believe a strong co-op is built on relationships, and these moments outside the classroom are where those relationships deepen.
- Monthly field trips (optional, encouraged)
- Park days (optional)
- Christmas service project
- Shakespeare production (Forms 2–4, with end-of-year performance)
- End-of-year celebration (open to family and friends)
“Children must have books, living books. The best is not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough.”
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Program Costs
Keeping the costs reasonable is really important to us.
Foundry Cottage School is a parent-led co-op, which means families share the work of teaching and organizing. That shared effort is what keeps our costs intentionally low.
Every family pays a Community Fee of $150/year, which covers shared costs like insurance, supplies, and administrative needs, split across all participating families.
Beyond that, there is a per-child class fee based on your child's Form, which covers the books and materials used in their classes. Based on last year's costs, class fees have ranged from $60 (for nursery) to $130 (for Form 3) per child. Final amounts are confirmed each August once teachers finalize their plans. Subjects like science can raise the costs in those forms when we purchase all the things required for science experiments and labs, but since it is spread between many families, it is actually more cost effective than procuring all the supplies on your own to do at home.
Families with three or more children enrolled receive a 15% sibling discount on class fees for their third child and beyond.
We also offer a split payment option for class fees. Just note it on your enrollment form.
Want the full fee breakdown? It's included in our enrollment packet. Fill out the form below and we'll send it your way.
“Our aim in education is to give a full life.”
“Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Our Philosophy
Charlotte Mason & Education
At Foundry Cottage School, we use Charlotte Mason-style learning to cover our enrichment subjects. Charlotte Mason was a British educator in the 19th century who regained popularity after Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book For the Children’s Sakein the 1980s. Her life’s work and philosophy can be summarized in her 20 Principles. For a greater understanding of her philosophy, it is best to read Charlotte Mason’s own words in her six volumes.
Three of Ms. Mason’s key beliefs about education, which we firmly agree with, are:
- A child is a person, and we must educate the whole person, not just their mind.
- Children do not need watered-down ideas. They are capable of making sense of information and ideas.
- Time outdoors and a knowledge of the natural world are an important part of a child’s education.
Foundry Cottage School, though heavily influenced by Charlotte Mason and her ideas, does not require you to adhere to following her methods in your homeschool. Our philosophy of education will have direct implications for our methods. We believe Charlotte Mason’s philosophies and methods fulfill a holistic view of what a person is and why they learn.
“I am. I can. I ought. I will.”
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
Faith & Foundation
Foundry Cottage School is rooted in a Christian worldview. We believe education is more than academics - it is the formation of the whole person, created in the image of God. Our faith shapes how we approach learning, community, and the care of every child entrusted to us.
Statement of Faith
Our Statement of Faith for Foundry Cottage School reflects only the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. For theology beyond what is reflected here, we direct our participants to their own churches’ statements of faith and the Bible. We are also happy to dialogue about any questions parents might have.
Families are welcomed to our co-op who hold to traditional Christian orthodoxy, submit to the Bible as the inerrant, in the original manuscripts, and authoritative Word of God, and agree with each of these statements of faith:
- Nicene Creed
- Apostles’ Creed
“Self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.”