How to Launch a Christian Microschool for $125: A Conversation with David Hazell of Discipleship Academies

Emmi McCabe
Mar 30
6 min read

This blog post was written with AI assistance based on a recorded interview transcript. While every effort has been made to accurately represent the conversation, we encourage you to listen to the full episode of Wise and Otherwise for the complete discussion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRFGrfYb2h4

What if your church could open a school in six weeks? What if the barrier to reclaiming Christian education in your community was lower than you ever imagined?

That's exactly the message David Hazell — founder of the beloved homeschool curriculum My Father's World and the growing ministry Discipleship Academies — brought to a recent episode of Wise and Otherwise with host Dalena Wallace. What unfolded was one of the most practical, passionate, and Spirit-filled conversations about Christian education you'll find anywhere.

The Problem With Public Education (It's Not What You Think)

David Hazell doesn't mince words when it comes to the state of American education. But his critique might surprise you. He doesn't say the public school system is broken. He says it's working — just not for us.

"Public schools accomplished the very task they set out to do," David explained, "and it was to create people that were easier to rule, easier to follow systems."

He points to the deliberate removal of civic knowledge — noting that most Americans have never read the full U.S. Constitution as part of their education — and to the calculated use of the word "socialization" as far back as 1865 to convince parents that one-room schoolhouses were inferior and that certified institutions were the only legitimate path forward.

The result? Generations of Christians who handed their most precious resource — their children — over to a system that was never designed to disciple them.

A Biblical Vision for Community Education

David's vision for Christian education isn't just practical. It's deeply rooted in Scripture.

He returns again and again to Deuteronomy 6 — the famous "Hear, O Israel" passage — but with a fresh lens. "It doesn't say 'Hear, O father' or 'Hear, O mother,'" he noted. "It says 'Hear, O Israel.' That is a community word." The responsibility for raising up the next generation in the faith was never meant to rest on individual families alone. It belongs to the whole body of believers.

Psalm 78:1-8 deepens that vision further — a five-generation promise that if God's Word is faithfully passed to children, it will continue to bear fruit in their children's children. David sees Christian micro schools as one of the most powerful vehicles for keeping that promise alive.

He also offered a striking reflection on the familiar passage in Matthew where Jesus is asked about paying taxes. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's," Jesus said. David's interpretation? Children bear the image of God — and when we place them in Caesar's schools, we may be giving away far more than we realize.

So What Is a Discipleship Academy?

My Father's World curriculum was originally written with the church in mind — not just the home. David and his wife, a certified teacher with a specialty in speech pathology and curriculum writing, designed lesson plans so thorough and accessible that even a substitute with no formal training could walk in and teach effectively for five hours without any preparation.

That foundation made it possible for Discipleship Academies to emerge — a ministry dedicated to helping churches and individuals launch their own one-room schoolhouses, micro schools, and hybrid learning communities.

Today, David is aware of at least 167 schools using their materials. Some launched in as little as three weeks. Others took months of prayerful preparation. But the vision is the same across all of them: integrate discipleship and academics, give children God's Word in context, and build the kind of community that shapes character alongside knowledge.

What Does a Microschool Actually Look Like?

One of the most helpful parts of the conversation was David pulling back the curtain on what these schools look like day to day. The answer? It depends — and that flexibility is a feature, not a bug.

He described roughly eight different models currently in use across Discipleship Academies schools:

Full-day or half-day four or five day models — a traditional one-room schoolhouse approach where all grades learn together, with math and language arts taught at individual levels and subjects like science, history, Bible, geography, art, and music taught collectively.
Half-day synergy models — families using the same curriculum come together a few days a week, allowing for group activities like speech practice, projects, and community time while moms encourage one another.
One or two day hybrid models — families cover core academics at home and come together for interactive activities and community learning.
Specialty schools — David mentioned a farm school where academics wrap up at noon and afternoons are spent on the farm, and a performing arts school in Puerto Rico where a husband-and-wife acting team lead afternoon rehearsals.

At the school on David's own property, kindergartners and first graders attend from 8:30 to 1:30, while older students stay until 2:30. They meet four days a week, beginning with independent math, followed by a quick outdoor break, then language arts, and then group activities in history, science, and Bible — all together, in one room.

That room, by the way, happens to be a borrowed event center. The school is fully mobile. When a wedding is booked, the books go under the tables and the kids take a field trip. Resourcefulness, it turns out, is one of the curriculum's best unwritten lessons.

The Socialization Question — Answered Once and For All

If you've spent any time in homeschool or alternative education circles, you've heard the socialization objection. David addressed it head-on — and with a story that's hard to forget.

When his son went to college, the dean of an engineering school told him he could identify homeschooled students at the very first meeting without ever having been introduced to them. Why? Because they were the most socialized. They moved comfortably between groups. They didn't get stuck in cliques. They walked up, introduced themselves, and shook hands with professors.

The one-room schoolhouse, David argues, actually produces more natural socialization than age-segregated public schools — because older children learn to lead and care for younger ones, while younger children learn to look up to and learn from those ahead of them. Real community. Real relationships. Across ages.

How to Get Started — Even by This Fall

If you're feeling the stirring to launch a school, David's advice is refreshingly simple: start with what's free.

Head to discipleshipacademies.com and find the Rescue the Children page. There you'll find six videos — each about 20 minutes long — drawn from a 14-hour seminar David hosted in 2022 with just three weeks of preparation. Eleven attendees came. Nine schools launched.

The videos cover everything from the history of education and how socialism infiltrated the system, to curriculum outlines, cash flow, insurance, liability, and more.

From there, if you feel ready to take the next step, consider attending one of Discipleship Academies' in-person conferences, held every six to eight weeks on David's property. The conferences run on a Friday or Saturday, feature testimonies from real school founders, and offer hands-on, personalized guidance for your specific context.

The cost? As low as $65 for triple-occupancy lodging and $100–$125 for the conference itself. That's it. That's the entry point.

"You can't say it's unaffordable," David said simply.

A Note on Stewardship

The conversation closed with something deeply personal. Dalena asked David how he and his wife have stewarded the financial blessings that came through their business — and his answer quietly reframed everything.

From the moment they married, David and his wife committed everything to God — their resources, their skills, their very life direction. They served in Russia for eight years as Bible translators. When they returned in 2000, they made a commitment to give 50% of all profits from My Father's World to Bible translation. Over the years, their company has directed an estimated $20–25 million toward the distribution of God's Word and discipleship work around the world.

But it was one small reframe that might stay with you longest. When people ask him how much they should give to God, David says he and his wife ask a different question altogether: "How much of God's money should I keep for myself?"

Their goal? To keep 10% or less.

Whatever stewardship looks like for you — whether it's your finances, your time, your home, or your teaching gift — David's invitation is the same: ask what God is calling you to do, and then do it.

Your Next Step

If this conversation has stirred something in you, don't let it pass.

Watch the free Rescue the Children video series at discipleshipacademies.com
Sign up for an upcoming conference — no phone call required
Or reach out directly through mfwbooks.com to connect with David or Leah Brooks

The one-room schoolhouse isn't a relic of the past. It may be exactly what your community needs next.