HISTORY OF CAROLINA BAYS ACADEMY

On May 18, 2005, three Myrtle Beach mothers met to talk about the options of schooling their rising 7^th graders. These mothers had experienced public school and private school. One of the mothers had experienced what she called a “Home School School”. In the “Home School School” setting, students attended a group classroom 1-2 days per week and did the remainder of their schooling at home. In search of a school similar to the “Home School School”, one of the mothers heard of a University-Model School from a radio broadcast on Focus on the Family. They were able to locate the National Association of University-Model Schools at www.naums.net. The discovery was an incredible model of schooling that began in Arlington, Texas in 1992. This model was the result of a group of parents who sought to blend the best of the home school setting with the best of the traditional classroom setting taught by qualified teachers.
   
The Myrtle Beach families had a meeting with Shonn Keels, Senior Pastor of Carolina Forest Community Church (CFCC), on May 25, 2005 to discuss the possibility of a University-Model School on CFCC campus.  Pastor Keels was receptive to this type of school, and he encouraged the families to discuss this school model with the Elder Board. On June 1, 2005, the vision of a school at CFCC was presented to the Elder Board. The Elder Board approved of the concept and they encouraged further investigation into the model. The Elder Board authorized Kim and Joyce Partenheimer to attend the NAUMS national conference in July 2005. The Partenheimers returned from the conference in Ft. Worth, Texas very excited about the University-Model School. They received the tools required to begin the 18-month process of opening Carolina Bays Academy, the only University-Model School in Myrtle Beach, SC.

After numerous meetings among the founding families and 15 Parent Information Meetings, Carolina Bays Academy opened its doors to 39 students in grades 1 through 10 on September 7, 2006.  This date was special because it was only nine years earlier, on September 7, 1998, that Carolina Forest Community Church held its first worship service for the Carolina Forest community.
   
The founding families are sincerely grateful for the guidance, the wisdom and the grace that God provided during the development of Carolina Bays Academy.