Home schooling is a rapidly growing trend in education, with estimated numbers approaching 2 million in the United States. In the 2008-2009 academic year, 14 home-schooled students were admitted as freshman at UST, contributing more students to the freshman class than any other single “feeder” high school.

With the freedom and flexibility that home schooling provides, the Aquilas employ all the resources available at UST to enrich their children’s education. Participating in University programs, enrolling as students and attending campus events – life on campus has become an extension of their formal instruction and deeply ingrained into their daily lives. Mrs. and Dr. Aquila recently shared their experiences and insights with a crowd of about 80 area home-school parents and students at an open house on Feb. 26 held on the UST campus.

Since Dr. Aquila joined the University of St. Thomas administration in June of 2007, the Aquila family – parents Dominic and Diane, Natalie, 22 , Catherine, 19, Dominick, 18, Elizabeth, 16, Victoria, 14, Emiliana, 13, Joseph, 11, Anthony, 9, Salvatore, 7 and Carmella, 5 – has found the University to be an environment which embraces the home-school culture. The eldest son, Justin, 24, currently lives in Washington D.C. Natalie, Catherine and Dominick are currently enrolled in UST classes.

Arthur Ortiz, assistant director of admissions, specializes in assisting home-school students who apply to UST. “It is a tremendous value for UST to have Dr. Aquila and his wife Diane on our campus,” Ortiz said. “Dr. Aquila understands the value of a home-school education and is nationally recognized in home-school circles. As the chief academic officer of UST he is at the forefront of establishing academic programs and initiatives - many of which have been directed to the home-school population.”

At UST, the Aquilas are not alone in their support of home-school education. A number of faculty members have also carried their teaching expertise home to their own families including Dr. Kerry MacArthur, associate professor and chair of English, Dr. Clinton Brand, associate professor of English, Dr. Jeremy Wilkins, assistant professor of theology and Dr. Steve Jensen, associate professor of philosophy. The Aquilas are currently home schooling seven of their own children and frequently collaborate with a network of more than 20 home-school families for weekly tutorials held on the UST campus. Three of their children participate in the Music Preparatory Program; the older high school students are currently in a Socratic class, where Dr. Wilkins teaches Dante’s Inferno; the younger students are learning Irish dancing from a UST student in the Center for Irish Studies and drama from Marianne Ivany.

The Aquilas began exploring the option of home schooling more than 20 years ago as an alternative to the available traditional educational options. Though the couple experimented with various curricula, their goals were simple, Diane said, “to provide an education that was family-centered, not peer-centered, to instill a love of learning to raise children who were well-educated, well-rounded and holy.”

“UST is very deliberate in understanding what home schooling parents want in a college education,” Dr. Aquila said. “Home-school parents like the idea of a safe environment both socially and intellectually – a place where students will receive a high quality education that gives serious attention to religious traditions and allows students to openly explore profound questions of meaning. 

“At St. Thomas, we want to be very friendly and welcoming to home-schoolers,” he said. “That begins with having an application and an admissions staff that acknowledges and understands home schooling, and our admissions staff does an outstanding job of serving the home-school community. Home-school parents are much more sensitive to the strengths and weaknesses in their kids. Because we are a smaller private university, our faculty and staff can continue what parents do in a home-school setting. Our size enables us to continue that special attention to further nurture that discovery of talents.”

Dr. Aquila added the University helps parents and students make the transition from the home-school environment to college. The University, he said, also makes efforts to familiarize area home-school families with UST’s close-knit campus community to assuage common concerns about socialization. Though home-schoolers frequently use humanities-intensive curriculum, the recent open house highlighted UST’s Environmental Science and Studies program to help homeschoolers “feel at home with the sciences,” Dr. Aquila said. He also extolled the benefits of UST’s dual enrollment program, where students can earn college credit while they are still in high school.

The Aquila family is shown above: Top row left to right: Dominick, Catherine, Carmella, Dominic (Dad), Salvatore, Diane (Mom). Middle Row: Justin, Anthony, Natalie. Bottom Row: Emiliana, Victoria, Elizabeth, Joseph.

To learn more about home-school admissions, visit the admission's Web site.

To contact Dr. Aquila, e-mail aquilad@stthom.edu.