What is Barn School and the Kirkos Caravan?
Four Season Family Barn School is a home education initiative to study and participate in the four cycles of life in each season and month through the holistic and life-affirming practices of homesteading and storytelling.
The Kirkos Caravan is the name for the Kirk Assaf family's "School of the Family" project. We entertain family and friends at feasts with our seasonally-themed storytelling theater, cafe, and bazaar. Our journey of life takes us from Remus, Michigan, to Rome, Italy, with occasional excursions to Lebanon and other places of personal or religious significance. These diverse locations enrich our family culture and cuisine.
Culture, Creativity, and Cuisine
We are a domestic church, a traveling family enterprise, and a family school specializing in homesteading and storytelling theater. We've combined two family legacies into one with these pursuits: from the Assafs, we inherit a tradition of agriculture, culinary arts, and the Maronite rite; from the Kirks, we inherit storytelling, theater arts, and the Roman Catholic rite.
Both a personal and public endeavor to renew family-based traditional culture and sustainable agriculture, the the Four Season Family Barn School and the Kirkos Caravan are headquartered in a barn on Assaf Acres in Remus, Michigan. What is home-based culture and agriculture? All those daily and seasonal pursuits we once took for granted but that now seem to be lost arts: following the liturgical calendar with special hymns, recipes, and crafts, entertaining our own circle of family and friends with talents that were born and nurtured through their support, decorating our homes with our own handiwork, growing and preserving our own food and celebrating the bounty with our community at seasonal feasts...
In essence, it is a life-learning family formation project made to be shared with other pilgrims we happen upon during the journey.
The Kirkos Caravan is the name for the Kirk Assaf family's "School of the Family" project. We entertain family and friends at feasts with our seasonally-themed storytelling theater, cafe, and bazaar. Our journey of life takes us from Remus, Michigan, to Rome, Italy, with occasional excursions to Lebanon and other places of personal or religious significance. These diverse locations enrich our family culture and cuisine.
Culture, Creativity, and Cuisine
We are a domestic church, a traveling family enterprise, and a family school specializing in homesteading and storytelling theater. We've combined two family legacies into one with these pursuits: from the Assafs, we inherit a tradition of agriculture, culinary arts, and the Maronite rite; from the Kirks, we inherit storytelling, theater arts, and the Roman Catholic rite.
Both a personal and public endeavor to renew family-based traditional culture and sustainable agriculture, the the Four Season Family Barn School and the Kirkos Caravan are headquartered in a barn on Assaf Acres in Remus, Michigan. What is home-based culture and agriculture? All those daily and seasonal pursuits we once took for granted but that now seem to be lost arts: following the liturgical calendar with special hymns, recipes, and crafts, entertaining our own circle of family and friends with talents that were born and nurtured through their support, decorating our homes with our own handiwork, growing and preserving our own food and celebrating the bounty with our community at seasonal feasts...
In essence, it is a life-learning family formation project made to be shared with other pilgrims we happen upon during the journey.
What's in a name?
“Kirkos” was the first word for circus, meaning “circle” in Greek. The symbolism of the circle spans the ages and all cultures, from the Phoenicians of the ancient world to the Native Americans of the new world. “Kirkos” symbolizes the circle, the circus, the cycle of life, eternity, and the Church. “Kirk” is an antique word for “Church” from Scotland, the country of origin of Andrea Kirk Assaf’s paternal ancestors. The “Caravan” represents the journey, the passage of time, the wheel, and colorful festivity.
“Kirkos” was the first word for circus, meaning “circle” in Greek. The symbolism of the circle spans the ages and all cultures, from the Phoenicians of the ancient world to the Native Americans of the new world. “Kirkos” symbolizes the circle, the circus, the cycle of life, eternity, and the Church. “Kirk” is an antique word for “Church” from Scotland, the country of origin of Andrea Kirk Assaf’s paternal ancestors. The “Caravan” represents the journey, the passage of time, the wheel, and colorful festivity.
