Leadership Education Association of Families and Friends

Welcome to LEAFF’s home on-line!

Please make sure to visit our Upcoming Events page for news about our annual Thomas Jefferson Education Forum Canada!

We would be so pleased to have you join us!

Leadership Education (a.k.a. Thomas Jefferson Education) is based on the five “pillars” of classics, mentors, simulations, field experience and God/Truth. It’s not just a sound philosophy of education, it’s a worthy approach to living life more fully. We find it’s also a terrific magnet for some of the finest individuals and families you could hope to meet.

The Leadership Education Association of Families and Friends (LEAFF) serves as a gathering place for people interested in exceptional education based on proven methods of building great leaders. In fact, we sponsor events, provide this website, and do all we do in order to help grow great leaders.

Strong, good leaders are needed in all ages, but perhaps more than ever in our place in human history. The pace of change is phenomenal! We believe great education leads to better thinking, wiser choices, and more meaningful contributions across the board–in our personal lives, our homes, our communities, our nations, and in our increasingly global society.

There are great works to be done, and people to do them. Success at making the world a better place–with more safety, prosperity and happiness for all–depends on our preparation. We each need to ask ourselves: Where will my education take me? How will it allow me to serve? What special contributions may I be able to make in my lifetime? What preparations am I making now to squarely face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead?

We hope you will consider joining us as a member of LEAFF. We would love to be of assistance to you and your family, and we would love to add your strength to that of our members. Together, we can “become the change we wish to see in the world.” (Gandhi)

Enjoy exploring our website–we hope you’ll visit us often!

Liber Youth Retreat is an annual Leadership Education camp experience, an opportunity for youth (aged 12 - 18) from all over North America to gather together in a beautiful, natural setting and — if they choose — to come away inspired, enlightened,  and ready to take responsibility for their actions, their educations, and their missions in life.

This retreat includes the Five Pillars: Classics (see the Reading List below), Mentors (dedicated, energetic, and enthusiastic counselors and Statesman Speakers), Field Experience (there will be service opportunities throughout the camp), Simulations (occasions to practice statesmanship in a safe setting) and God (uplifting devotionals) . As well, there will be lots of time to work and play with amazing youth, sharing great food, crackerjack colloquia (book discussions) and lots of fun.

Theme: It’s Your Responsibility. Take it!

**New this year: Liber Youth Quote: “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself.”  Jim Rohn
We would appreciate it if all who are attending would please have this quote memorized before arriving.

Location: Camp Impeesa (the Scout camp near Pincher Creek)

Dates: August 20-22 (Counselor training August 19)

Reading List: The quality of your experience is greatly affected by your preparation. Start by reading and discussing the following books with your parents, siblings and friends.

(Age 12-13) Little Britches by Ralph Moody
(Age 12-13) The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis

(All Youth) the articles “No Excuses, Sir!” http://newsletter. gw.edu/pre/ june2000. pdf
and “The Ophelia Syndrome”  http://www.usu. edu/account/ faculty/nelson/ ophelia.htm

(Age 14-18) Magnificent Obsession by Lloyd C. Douglas
(Age 14-18) The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

Note: Search for these books early as some of them are not stocked in popular bookstores.

Fee: The fee for youth staying overnight at camp is $200.00. The fee for youth staying overnight with their parents is $175.00.

To register, please click here. Upon registration, you will be sent an “everything you need to know”  information packet.

Questions? Please contact us at registrar@leaffcanada.org.

Please join us for a day of ideas, conversation, encouragement, and experience with Leadership Education principles!

Come spend Saturday, May 2 with us at Lethbridge College enjoying a broad selection of speakers and presentations.

The Youth Forum runs concurrently and is a great way for young people to consider the infinite world of educational possibilities and their own potential for greatness.

We’d love to have you join us!

For more information, click here.  To register on-line, please click here.

What do you get when you take dozens of eager, talented, shining young people and provide them with a stage, an appreciative audience, and the opportunity to do what they love? You get the Annual Homeschool Variety Show and an evening of entertainment and community never to be forgotten!

On November 14th, 2008, LEAFF hosted the Variety Show under the capable direction of Joan Sillito, committee chair. “It’s always a thrill to watch our children perform,” Joan said. “And, it always worth the last minute worries and glitches!”

Six year old Destiny offers her sweet song and dance

For the third year in a row, the Homeschool Variety Show has been held in the historic Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, Alberta. Local and regional newspapers covered the event which meant many of the young performers were able to see themselves in print during the week following the show. One young man commented, “It’s like we’re almost famous, or something!”

Variety really is an apt way to describe the show. Performances ranged from instrumental musical numbers on guitar, harp, piano, drums, violin, saxophone, and more to poetry recitations to drama selections to song and dance routines to air bands to clogging. One grandpa was overheard to say walking out of the theatre, “I thought I would be bored, but this was really good entertainment!”

Following the show, refreshments were served in the green room below the theatre. Parents’ conversations often touched on the value of the Variety Show in helping their children develop confidence, feelings of worth and accomplishment, a greater desire to hone their abilities and to pursue interests, and an appreciation for other people’s talents.

“Since the Variety Show, our children have been excited about practising their new hand drums,” a mom remarked. “We all were so impressed by the young man’s drumming performance at the show and thought how much we would like to do that too!”

The Homeschool Variety Show takes place in the late fall each year. Please check back in a few months to find out when the next one is scheduled. We would love to have you join us!

For additional photos of the Homeschool Variety Show, click here.

On September 12th, 2008, ninety-nine people gathered to collectively consider a Big Dream–the establishment of a true Leadership Education school in southern Alberta, Canada. George Wythe Institute Canada (GWIC), a private post-secondary institution based on the methods of education common to great leaders of the past and present, is one step closer to becoming a reality.  This inaugural benefit event was held in the Remington Carriage Museum, a landmark cultural centre in the town of Cardston, Alberta. Dining, discussing, learning and musical performance comprised the program for the evening.

To view photos of the event, please click here.

Sponsored and organized by LEAFF, the Gala centered on the theme “Come Higher,” a phrase derived from a modern parable-book The Dreamgiver by Bruce Wilkinson. In the story, a young man named Ordinary comes to acknowledge a great “dream” he’s been given, one that will provide profound meaning in his life…if he can overcome numerous obstacles, external and internal, along the path to that Big Dream. As Ordinary journeys,  the Dreamgiver provides guidance, encouraging the youth to come higher in order to witness the grand view of what accomplishing his Big Dream will mean to himself and to others.

The GWIC Benefit Gala is a first formal, public step toward a similar “big dream,” a Canadian satellite campus of George Wythe University. Chairman of the Board of GWIC Allan Burton explains that a George Wythe institution is needed in Canada.

“We have a growing number of young people who wish to prepare themselves for active leadership in homes, communities, businesses, churches, schools, and our nation here in Canada. They need a place where they can learn how to think like leaders, how to make decisions like leaders, and how to take action the way great leaders do. What better place for them to get that kind of education than here?”

George Wythe University has agreed to partner with George Wythe Institute Canada in providing the administration, training and mentorship it will take to replicate the successful George Wythe philosophy and methods used on their two U.S. campuses and in international projects, as well as in schools, businesses and homes across North America.

The “five pillars” of the George Wythe approach are classics, mentors, simulations, field experience and God/Truth.  Participating in tutorials, colloquia (group discussion), lecture, coaching and meaningful testing, George Wythe students are brought closer to becoming “men and women of virtue, wisdom, diplomacy and courage who inspire greatness in others and move the cause of liberty,” the mission of the University in all its operations. The book A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century by Dr. Oliver DeMille explains the George Wythe approach and is recommended reading for those interested in the philosophy of Leadership Education.

If you would like to learn more about George Wythe University, please visit their website at www.gwc.edu. For more information about George Wythe Institute Canada, we invite you to become a member of LEAFF and to check this space often for updates about the new GWIC website under development. Our quarterly newsletter The Mentor will feature articles, interviews and updates about the Institute.

LEAFF gives heartfelt thanks to those who gave so generously to make the Gala a beautiful, memorable, inspiring event. Please consider “saving the date” for our second Benefit Gala on October 16th, 2009 to be held at the Silk Purse in Cardston, Alberta.