Our Story

In 1973 a small group of parents and grandparents met to hear a talk encouraging the formation of traditional Roman Catholic schools. They had realized the negative influences in the public schools, the declining quality of Catholic schools, and the effects on their children and sought an alternative option.

That September the school opened its doors to 30 students in rented classrooms at the Church of the Nazarene in Panorama City, Southern California.

In order to fund the school, the parents held weekly yard sales year round. They relied on donations and support from the community and other Traditional Catholic groups. This project lasted for 12 years and supported the school during that time.

By 1977 the school had moved twice to find enough classrooms for the growing number of students.

It was then decided that Our Lady of Victory School would offer their attractive educational program by correspondence. Our founder, Mr. William Bowman, and his wife, Ina, traveled approximately 10,500 miles throughout the United States and Canada via a VW van and spoke to various groups who were interested in homeschooling.

The reception of this idea was exceptional, and soon the school had over 1,200 students in 48 states, five Canadian Provinces, and Australia.

At that time, homeschooling was still frowned upon and difficult to implement in certain states. Mr. Bowman received letters from parents describing their legal struggles while exercising their God-given parental rights.

Thankfully Home School Legal Defense Association came onto the scene in the early 1980s, and Our Lady of Victory became a member of them, which gave parents the resources they needed in order to understand their legal rights surrounding homeschooling and to avoid government overreach.

Since moving to Post Falls, Idaho in 1991, the demand for homeschooling has increased tremendously.

In 1995 Lepanto Press was founded to preserve our Catholic curriculum materials for future generations. To date we have published over 500 classic Catholic titles, ranging from school curriculum to spiritual reading and novels by Catholic authors.

To ensure the continuing quality of our educational standards and assist graduates in applying to colleges, Our Lady of Victory became accredited through NAPCIS in 2007.

With the blessings of Our Lady of Victory, always at the helm of our school, and the constant dedication of our fine staff, we have operated from our current facility since 2004 and from which we continue to serve families across the world in educating their children for Heaven!