Camarillo: Beacon Hill Academy & Grace Reformed Church

Our lives have shifted westward, away from LA, towards Camarillo (about 20 minutes), where we attend Grace Reformed Church

and Michael attends Beacon Hill Classical Academy,

which has a home-to-school program, allowing Carolyn to homeschool twice weekly; and volunteer an art rubric on Fridays. Today was Van Gogh; later in the month I'll do a segment on Hokusai, an early influence.

Red Fuji

The Great Wave

Initially a dicey venture, word has gotten out and this K-2 school is nearing its 20 student ceiling. I personally scrubbed those chairs and Carolyn made an IKEA trip to outfit the space.

Mr Smith

Anyone who has met Michael knows how much he loves social interaction - we think peers and additional authority figures in a community we trust is good.

Going from a setting largely bereft of social value, over the summer we landed in a world centered by church, with integrity of worship and meaningful conversation over tables of food in houses that are lived in; surrendering anonymity. Towns are no longer anchored by church architecture or public spaces; we meet in an office park, bordering farm fields and train tracks. But given the social alienation represented by the car culture of SoCal, these realities and the intermittent roar of a train during a GRC service is oddly healing to me.

Thinking demographics are also part of the story, compare these cities:

Camarillo
33K (per capita income) 28% (college degree)
Thousand Oaks
54K (per capita income) 45% (college degree)

Camarillo has a stronger agrarian tie, while TO showcases the transience of the professional class; by contrast, GRC has families spanning generations in the locale. We are the anomaly in the church, being from the outside with significant personal histories in other states, but hopefully add something to the mix. We've been made to feel very welcome here.