About Us

“By the grace of God, Roots’ mission is to support and encourage evangelical Christian parents in the Roots community as they home educate each of their children ‘in the way he should go’ (Proverbs 22:6).

Our Story

Roots began in 1994 with a simple but heartfelt desire: a mother wanted to homeschool in a way that stayed connected to a Christian community and vision. Trinity Christian School in Calgary embraced that vision, launching what was originally called the Trinity Christian School Homeschooling program. That first year, just 8 families and 16 students gathered together, supported by 3 dedicated facilitators. What started as a small, faith-rooted response to one parent's calling has grown steadily ever since, and by 2024, Roots will celebrate 30 years of walking alongside home educating families.

Today, Roots supports an average of 700 students and 300 families each year, guided by a team of roughly 14 facilitators. Every facilitator is an Alberta certified teacher who also brings personal experience to the role — whether currently home educating their own children, having homeschooled in the past, being a graduate of home education themselves, or having spent decades working closely with homeschooling families. Since September 2015, Roots has been affiliated with The Father's House Christian School, deepening our ability to serve families well. Through every season of growth, our name has remained a reflection of our purpose: just as Psalm 1 describes the blessed as those whose roots reach down to God's truth, we exist to help families stay rooted in Him — supporting, not replacing, the vital work parents do at home for God's glory.

Considering Joining Our Community?

We'd love to welcome your family into the Roots community. Before joining, please take a moment to review our Statement of Faith and Roots CHEF Bylaws to learn more about our beliefs and membership expectations.

Roots CHEF Bylaws

Statement of Faith

Mission Statement

By the grace of God, Roots’ mission is to support and encourage evangelical Christian parents in the Roots community as they home educate each of their children ‘in the way he should go’ (Proverbs 22:6).

God calls us to love God with everything we are and everything we do; then he instructs us to continually teach our children about God and His will. Roots as a program desires to honor God in our words, spirit and actions and we want to obey His commandments as given in the Bible.

Roots Philosophy of Homeschooling

Surely one of the Lord’s greatest gifts is our children. They provide us with joy and satisfaction as we see them grow and mature and as we experience with them the world our heavenly Father created. With the gift of children also comes the tremendous responsibility of bringing them up as children of God. The Bible is quite clear that this must be done not just on certain days of the week or in certain subject areas; instead it must be applied daily and be integral to all areas of our lives (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). Therefore, many Christians choose to educate their children from a clear and distinctive Christian worldview.

The philosophical motivation for Christian education, whether at home or in a school setting, is derived from the Biblical imperative to bring up our children in the fear and way of the Lord. Roots, Supporting and Assisting Christian Home Educators, is a parental response to that obligation we all have as parents. We believe that while the government has a responsibility to see to it that its citizens are receiving an education, parents have been given primary responsibility and authority from God to determine the content and nature of what their children are taught. That is why educational services, as an extension of this parental authority, must be operated and directed by parents who together with teachers, facilitators, and administrators develop a community that is faithful to and consistent with parental responsibility. Roots is convinced that a supervising homeschooling committee, administration and facilitators must share with parents this common motivating philosophy. Together, we strive to develop a “community of learners” where each player has a distinct role in developing our children to take their rightful place in this world as servants of our King.

The name “Roots” was chosen due to the Christian nature of our program. In Psalm 1, the blessed have roots going down to God’s truth, while the wicked are chaff blown in the wind. Roots’ strength is in being rooted in God’s truth and in bearing fruit for Him. Furthermore, we see Roots as being supportive, but the work is done in the homeschooling families. We desire to support and nourish our families so they can carry out their responsibilities in their families and to God’s glory.

Meet The Team

Lesley George

Principal at Large & Facilitator

Lesley holds a B.P.E. and a B.Ed. in Secondary Physical Education from the University of Calgary, and has 10 years of home education experience. Lesley served with the Calgary Board of Education for two years prior to becoming a Roots facilitator. She has facilitated with Roots since 2014. Lesley is married to Chris and they live in Beaumont. They have four children aged 17-10 years old. She believes that parents have been given the responsibility to educate their children in the Lord. The Bible says many times that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and therefore this is the starting point. Since God has given this responsibility to parents He will be faithful in providing guidance to parents.

Jennifer Scholten

Assistant Principal at Large & Facilitator

After teaching in the public school system for almost a decade, Jennifer Scholten left teaching to be home with her children. She joined Roots and began her homeschooling journey in 2011. Jennifer has been a facilitator with Roots since 2012 and is excited to have the opportunity to encourage and support others on their homeschool journey. She is passionate about embracing children's unique gifts and talents and creating a learning environment where children flourish. When not learning alongside her 3 children, Jennifer can be found outside hiking, running, and skiing or curled up with a good book and a cup of tea.

Education: B.A. Honours; B. Ed.; permanent Alberta Teaching Certificate

Tammy Eacott

Executive Administrator

My husband Darryl and I have been married for 28 years. We have 2 adult children, a daughter in law, and a grandson . God placed on our hearts to homeschool our children when our daughter was 4 years old. We had no idea what this journey would look like or that God would have us homeschool with Roots for the duration of our children's education, but God was faithful and enabled us to stay the course. In 2011 God opened the door for me to join the Roots staff as the office assistant, then in 2016 opened another door to serve as the executive administrator for Roots. I feel abundantly blessed to be in this role and to have the opportunity to continue to work with the families within the Roots community.

Wanda Chartrand

Office Assistant

Wanda has been married to Marc for 27 years and has 2 adult kids. Our kids started out in public school but the Lord clearly impressed on our hearts to bring them home in 2009. We completed our homeschool journey in 2021 when our son completed grade 12. That same year, the Lord opened an opportunity to stay involved in homeschooling, this time in a support and encouragement role by joining Roots in the office. I enjoy getting to know the families and supporting them as they walk in obedience to what the Lord has called them to do in discipling their children.