The Hardison Mill oneroom schoolhouse was created from the outpouring of love and generosity from thousands of individuals when beloved country music singer and Hardison Mill resident, Joey Feek, passed away from cancer in March 2016. Countless cards and letters from people all over the country and world sent condolences, and encouragement along with cash and checks to help in any way they could. The money received was nearly a hundred thousand dollars. A year later, Joey’s husband Rory used that money to build the schoolhouse for their then 3 year old daughter Indiana. Knowing that, though the school was built as a way to school Indy at home, it would be filled with lots of other children in our community.

In the fall of 2017, friends and neighbors of the Feek family and the Hardison Mill community came together for an old fashioned barn raising. Only instead of a barn, they raised a schoolhouse. With the help of dozens of men, women, and children in the community, the floor, four walls, and roof trusses were raised over one weekend. The schoolhouse was finished out in the next few months by Keith Hunley, Rex Whorton, Dennis Monroe, Derrick Mote, Chris Butler, and a few other talented builders and workers.

The goal of the schoolhouse is to serve the children and families in and around our Hardison Mill community. Not only educating them, we want to teach them to love learning and skills to grow, love life, and hope in a world where all those things are constantly being challenged in schools, homes, and work spaces. As an integrated farm school, our schoolhouse sees all children as special, whether their needs are unique or typical.

Taking cues from the oneroom schoolhouses that dotted every small and large community in the United States a hundred or more years ago, our school purposely has an enrollment of only 15 children. Our classroom is a patchwork of multiage children, to more clearly model our learning environment after actual family life. Though we have two fulltime teachers and a school director, we also believe that everyone in our community is a teacher that the children can learn from (and they can learn from our kids), so our curriculum includes instruction from ’specialists’ from all walks of life: farmers, chefs, beekeepers, retired persons, and everyone in between.

Learn more about Hardison Mill Homestead School here: https://www.hardisonmill.com/theschool