Background

To start, Susan Wise Bauer is one of the go-to gurus of the homeschool world. Many refer to her book The Well-Trained Mind as the “Bible” of homeschooling. Many homeschool groups refer to this book as “required reading”.

Furthermore, www.welltrainedmind.com offers a comprehensive classical curriculum, classes, training, and a host of other academic resources. The blog is insightful, informative, and extremely useful.  Additionally, Bauer is a professor of American literature at The College of William and Mary.

(Side note, I did my graduate work at William and Mary. At the time, I had no idea that a professor worked on campus that would become such a huge influence on my life! Crazy!)

First inspiration

I was on my weekly Friday trip to library storytime with my kids when inspiration grabbed me. In the new release display, something caught my eye: Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child’s Education by Susan Wise Bauer.

I checked out this book and devoured it. It spoke to every one of my concerns about public education! (I talked about my concerns in this post.)  It was a validating, inspirational read that gave me the idea for the structure of A One-Room Schoolhouse. Additionally, it gave me the courage to take action.

Overview

I can’t count how many times I have recommended reading Rethinking School. I found it to be a balanced and honest assessment of our public-school system. In addition, you will be presented with up-to-date and accurate information about the many educational choices available to every family.

Rethinking School will help you understand the modern education system and how you can help your children get the best education possible. I especially like how this book presents ideas for every family to help “flex” the school system regardless of your ability or opinions on homeschooling, public schooling, or private schooling.

Questions

Some of the most important content in Rethinking School are the questions that this book answers. Even as an experienced educator, I found much of the content new and informative.

I knew little of my educational choices outside of public, private, and charter schools. The answers to many, if not all, or your school choice questions will be answered in this well-researched book.

Here are frequently asked questions to which Rethinking School provides current, well-reached answers:

• Should my student attend an accredited school?
• What courses are necessary for my student’s education?
• Does my high school-aged student need a diploma?
• When should I start my student in Kindergarten?
• Should I allow my student to be held back a grade?
• Should I allow my child to skip a grade?
• How do I get my student special education services?
• What are an IEP and a 504?
• How much homework is really necessary?
• How can to get my child help without making an enemy out of the teacher or principal?
• What are my other educational options outside of the public-school system?
• What is the “common core” and why is everyone so mad about it?
• Does my student really have to take all those tests at the end of the year?
• How do I homeschool my child?
• If not college, then what?

Takeaway

My takeaway after reading Rethinking Education was simply: one size does not fit all.

Students are unique as the snowflakes that fall in the mountains or the waves the crash on the beach.  Every student comes to school with their own strengths, weakness, and learning styles. Many even come with disadvantages, disorders, and disabilities.

Seldom are these individual traits a perfect match for any given classroom.  But, in modern education, students are asked to conform and learn.  They are the square peg and the modern classroom in the round hole.

The way we do school is not natural.

Children are not prone to sit for six to seven hours a day at a desk with a group of same-aged peers, learning a prescribed set of objectives, in a uniform amount of time.  In many classrooms, each child must conform to this routine to become a successful student.

This is the system we have come to believe is the only option for children. But it is not. I challenge you to think beyond this system; to believe that there are students that might fit in the round hole, but that the round hole is not the only or necessarily the best choice. In Rethinking School Bauer states:

“That’s because artificial systems, like our K-12 educational system, are powerful. They acquire a life of their own and become the framework that organizes our existence. In other words, the way we currently do education has become a paradigm, or a matrix: an invisible pair of glasses through which we view everything else.”

Think Outside the Box

If you are looking for educational answers outside of the box, this is the book for you. After reading Rethinking School, I felt empowered as an expert in my children’s education. It has helped me create A One-Room Schoolhouse for my children and others that are joining us.

Have you read Rethinking School? I would love to know what you thought. Drop a comment below or send me an email.

The post Book Review: Rethinking School appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.

After so much thinking, praying, and writing I had decided to start a one-room schoolhouse. (You can read my reasons here.) I was over the moon with excitement, but I had no idea how to begin. This is what I learned during my one-room schoolhouse journey.

My accreditation experience

Previously, I had taken a school from an old house to a fully accredited private school. That process went so well, that at the accreditation visits, the supervisor asked if I would accompany him on other such visits. On these visits, I saw a wide variety of schools with varying degrees of readiness for accreditation.

These experiences taught me that accreditation does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that a school is a quality educational organization. A school can have the lowest level of accreditation approval and the general public would have no idea unless they did a lot of research. Furthermore, colleges would have no idea either, unless a very curious admissions officer did a lot of Googling!

The schools that fall at these lowest levels are NOT quality educational organizations.  I would never recommend ANYONE attend these schools. The curtain had been pulled back on accreditation and I knew it was not something I wanted to deal with!

I wanted something different for my one-room schoolhouse. I did not want to jump through someone else’s hoops to design an educational program. But, if not standard accreditation, WHAT?

A religious school wouldn’t work as I had no sponsoring church, nor did I want to lock myself into a specific denomination. A charter school had so many state regulations that it gave me flashbacks to the accreditation experience. Hum….

My first inspiration

I was on my weekly Friday trip to library storytime with my kids when inspiration grabbed me. In the new release display, something caught my eye: Rethinking School: How to Take Charge of Your Child’s Education by Susan Wise Bauer.

I checked out this book and devoured it. It spoke to every one of my concerns about public education! (I talked about my concerns in this post.)  After feeling completely validated, I read the chapters on educational choice. A new idea was presented: a hybrid school.

What is a hybrid school?

Simply stated: a hybrid school is a mix of other types of educational models. This is a very new, cutting edge school model. It melds the best of private, character, public and homeschool together.

Example of hybrid models…

• In most states, according to state law, your child is a homeschool student.
• The student attends for some of their academic instruction.
• Some hybrids do a half-day in the classroom and a half-day at home.
• Other hybrids do a partial week in the classroom and the rest at home.
• Even others offer a whole week of classroom instruction with the parents actively participating in the hybrid on a regular schedule.
• Hybrids are often set up as nonprofit homeschool support groups to avoid heavy state regulations.
• They do charge tuition but rates usually lower than private schools due to less time being spent at the hybrid and significant volunteerism. 
• Hybrids often are centered around a specific educational model, homeschool philosophy, or religious denomination.

After reading about this option, I knew that this was the structure I wanted to use for my one-room schoolhouse. Finally, I had the general structure, but I had no idea HOW!

How do you start a hybrid?

I started by doing what any modern mom does: I turned to Google. I found a few hybrid schools in my home state of Pennsylvania. Next, I started emailing and calling some of them.  I received so much valuable advice from these educational pioneers. I will forever be in their debt.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was to check out HomeschoolCPA run by Carol Topp, CPA. This website is full of information for the homeschool support group! Furthermore, Carol Topp has published four e-books that I would highly recommend.

Below are some of the resources I found most useful on HomeschoolCPA:

• Under the Recourses tab, start by clicking on Articles. The tab even says start here. This is great beginner information to get your feet wet in the process.
• Next, visit Checklist under the same tab. This will take you through the three phases of setting up any homeschool support group.
• The third click down under Recourses is a goldmine! The sample documents will help you write up all the important legal supports for starting your group.
• The FAQ tab is also very helpful. Many of my burning questions were answered here!
• Also, check out HomeschoolCPA’s blog, podcast, and videos. These have been so useful to our group.
• Finally, Carol Topp offers her professional services. These consultations can be priceless!

Moving forward

Armed with this information, I had a basic game plan for starting a one-room schoolhouse. My to-do list looked something like this:

1. Start a nonprofit homeschool support group. (see this post)
2. Select a curriculum and clarify educational philosophy. (IE: work out all the millions of logistics!) (see this post)
3. Find people who are crazy enough to join me in this process. (see this post)

With that list, I started my journey. Three easy steps! (right….) Each of these steps had ten or more sub-steps, which became overwhelming at times.

Expect some potholes…

My journey was not without potholes. When I began I had three children, aged three and under. Then I got pregnant with child number four about half-way through the process. At that point, I had to put the whole project on hold while a barfed for a few months due to severe morning sickness.

Many people thought I was nuts. The paperwork was totally overwhelming. I often thought about how much easier it would be to just put my kids in public school or just homeschool!

However, as I write this, I am very near checking all three items off my to-do list. The dream is in sight. And yes, it has been totally worth it!

Let me hear from you!

In the next few posts, I will talk in detail about the three steps of starting a one-room schoolhouse. First up, I will write about starting a homeschool support group. After that, I’ll tackle choosing an educational philosophy and curriculum. Finally, I will write about engaging other people in this process.

In the meantime, click over to our hybrid overview. I would love to know what you think about our model!

The post How to Start a One-Room Schoolhouse appeared first on A One Room Schoolhouse.