The Fairhaven Program is a new alternative for high school in Bellingham, Washington. We cultivate lifelong learners by reading great books, solving difficult problems, and taking students seriously. Without screens or politics. Enroll today!

Register for the upcoming parent seminar on teens and technology.

What We Offer

• Three options for exceptional high school students in Whatcom County:
  • Our Main Program meets two full days per week (Monday & Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) throughout the school year. It consists of instruction in literature & philosophy, writing, speaking, mathematics, Ancient Greek, and local history, art, and science:
    • A curriculum of living books, from Homer and Plato to Wendell Berry and Annie Dillard.
    • Writing persuasive, elegant prose.
    • Experience leading and participating in discussions through the Touchstones Discussion Project.
    • An approach to mathematics that allows every student who thinks she is “not good at math” to discover the beauty of mathematics and every student who excels in mathematics to build a foundation for higher-level work.
    • An introduction to Ancient Greek that allows students to encounter the classics directly and teaches them how to learn languages.
    • Science and art instruction rooted in the peoples, plants, and animals of the Pacific Northwest.
    • Independent projects.
  • Our individual classes give students a chance to experience the Program while attending school elsewhere.
    • We offer a bevy of classes in the Spring for teenagers and adults.
    • The two Fall 2024 classes meet after school: Moby-Dick and Fall Seminar.
  • The summer academy combines seminars on great literature with hands-on learning in the woods. We offer three summer options in 2024:
    • Shakespeare in the Woods
    • The Writing Life: Stories of Franz Kafka and Flannery O’Connor
    • The Writing Life: Borges by the Sea
• Homeschooling consultation and college & career counseling are included in the Main Program tuition.
• We practice education by hand. We do not use screens for classwork because they are not the right tools for the job. We write papers by hand. We draw by hand. We read real books. We speak to each other face to face. We develop our capacities and discernment so that we can make choices about how to use technology and which technologies to use.

Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.

Charlotte Mason

Meet the Founder

Welcome to the Fairhaven Program! My name is Donald Antenen. I live in Bellingham with my wife, two daughters, and thousands of books. Why did I start the Fairhaven Program? There are many K-8 options in Bellingham, but few choices for high school. Students need an environment where they are taken seriously and can read and study serious books. One of my former students writes of a class she took with me, “I think of this seminar as really the beginning of my becoming confident in my own intelligence. I was very apprehensive at first and worried if I would have anything interesting to say. But I was pleased to feel like I could meaningfully contribute. It gave me a lot of confidence in my own ideas and analysis and my ability to communicate them.” That is why I started the Program: to create a place for students in Whatcom County to discover for themselves the confidence to think and to speak and to write.

What’s my background? I was graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in classical languages and literature (Greek, Biblical Hebrew, & Latin) and from St. John’s College in Annapolis with an M.A. in liberal arts. At Penn I was recognized as a University Scholar, was on the Dean’s List, was awarded the College Alumni Classics Award and Allen Prize for Excellence in Ancient Greek, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. I’ve taught and mentored middle and high school students, led an annual Plato seminar in Philadelphia, and taught and tutored Latin and Greek, and I am a popular instructor in Western Washington University’s Academy for Lifelong Learning program. I also lead a homeschool co-op and teach Sunday school at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church. Besides reading and teaching, I enjoy vegetable gardening, time in the woods and on the beach, lifting weights, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Join us!

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• Monday & Wednesday Main Program
• After-School Classes
• Summer Academy
• Private Tutoring

During the school year the Fairhaven Program has two main offerings—two full days per week or after school—but may offer additional weekend classes or private tutoring.

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