Creating and running a homeschool collective / coop / alternative school

Running a Homeschooling

Running a Homeschooling Collective / Alternative SchoolAndrew Delamarter@ADNYCEAndrewDelamarter@hotmail.com

Presented to Huge OffTopic Discussion Group 10/2/2012Visit us at radschool.org

Homeschooling collectives.• Families join together to create a mixed-ages cottage school

environment

• Curriculum and subject matters are set via consensus and

planning meetings.

• Funds are raised to pay for part-time teachers and specialists –

music, sports, dance, etc.

• Parents can teach subjects and contribute time where they can.

• Parents lead field trips, bring classes into their workspaces and

business.

• Combines elements of historical small-scale schools and ‘true’

homeschooling.

• Parents file homeschooling plans with the state.

• ‘Old-time education’ - 60% of families homeschooled prior to

1920.

• 1930s-1980s homeschoolers were prosecuted under

compulsory schooling laws.

• Homeschooler victory in 1987 Leeper v. Arlington, TX case set

precedent and prosecutions stopped.

• Homeschooling in many forms has expanded ever since.

• 2% of US children are homeschooled.

• Current gov’t push is to regulate-to-death homeschooling as it’s

politically impossible to ban it outright.

Homeschooling History

Modern Forefathers of Homeschooling Movement

Underground History of American Education

by John Taylor Gatto.

Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing

, by A. S. Neill

• Every study shows homeschoolers doing better

academically than state-schooled children on

standardized academic tests.

• In the 2000 national geography bee home schooled

children were:• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places• 4 or the top 10 • 27 of the 167 finalists

Homeschooling works.

Who we are / what we do:

Dancer / ChoreographerDance studio owner

Bar / Restaurant ownerFashion photographers

NY Times reporterChef

Boutique ownerIndie film distributor

FilmmakerSearch geek (me)

Key Issue: Making relationships work

Weekly field trips: Align to curriculum and mandate team work to synthesize learning

Weekly field trips: Small groups can often get ‘backstage tours’ and special access and attention

• It could be a list of things to talk about.

• Or maybe just once concept with a few points.

• It could be a list of things to talk about.

• Or maybe just once concept with a few points.

This is the most common slide.

Weekly field trips: Well-behaved homeschool groups are beloved by the folks we visit.

Physical activity: We can wear our children out. They come home physically exhausted and collapse into bed.

Cookies. Milk.

• Nutterbutters • Whole milk

• Ginger snaps • Non-fat

• Oreos • Half & Half

• Oatmeal raisin • 1% milk

• Thin mints • 2% milk

This is a table.

It’s up to us what sports they learn. They can suggest ideas and make them happen.

As part of the community and due to small, human size of the group, we get to know our neighbors.

Art plays a big part. Here they are Andy Goldsworthy-inspired environmental transient art.

Here we are at Occupy Wall Street. This sign made by 6-year old Olivia pretty much sums up the experience.

Older kids teach the younger kids. If an older kid claims to be bored we force them to show mastery of a subject by teaching it to the younger kids.

The NY Times fashion magazine wrote a snarky article about us. Don’t let the haters get you down!

The hard part.Clashing personalities.Finding new families.

Diets.Curriculum.

What is it?.Homeschool?

Homeschool collective?Cottage school?

One-room schoolhouse?

Alternative School.

We used SEO and online marketing tactics to find new families by framing the school as an ‘Alternative School’ since ‘Homeschooling collective’ is not a common phrase.

You need to market your collective. Create a blog, post photos, and track visits using Google Analytics

SEO work begins here

Read this book. Stay under the radar. Only accept people into the school you trust, who have reputations to uphold, and are committed to the concept. Accept people will drop out and re-create the school each year.