Elizabeth Frazer

“Never be within doors when you can rightly be without,” is an educational principle that Elizabeth Frazer heartily endorses. As Natural History and Common Arts Teacher, she leads her students into the garden where they learn to observe, identify, and care for God’s creation under the shade of the Covenant Oak.

Elizabeth earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Florida, where she met her husband Matthew who is also a teacher at a classical Christian school. At UF, she took a class on the English Landscape Garden in Literature, and her interest in the connections between stories and gardens began. Her education continued at the University of Kentucky, where she earned a masters degree in British Literature with a focus on medieval studies. While in Lexington, she was introduced to the agrarian essays of Wendell Berry, whose writing became an important influence. 

Living for a time in rural north Florida, then in Orlando, she homeschooled her three children for several years, grew vegetables, raised chickens, and ran small woodworking and vintage shops on Etsy. She has been so grateful for the opportunity to bring her experience into the classroom at the Ecclesial School and to contribute to the development of a common arts curriculum. 

As a Floridan, Elizabeth has spent plenty of time outdoors, gardening, sketching, kayaking, and camping with her family. When she has to be inside, you can find her reading old books, sewing and crocheting, and watching Antiques Roadshow.