What is A One-Room Schoolhouse: A Hybrid Homeschool Academy?

Why one-room? What is a Hybrid? Homeschool, is that legal? In this post, I will break down who we are and what we do. I will go word by word: One-Room, Schoolhouse, Hybrid, Homeschool, and Academy. Each word has a meaning and purpose. Each was carefully selected to describe us.

One-Room

A One-Room Schoolhouse is truly one classroom. Therefore, all students, regardless of age, are educated in the same classroom at the same time. Then, once a classroom enrollment reaches 20 students, we start a new classroom, not a new grade level. For every classroom of 20 students, there is one highly qualified teacher and one parent volunteer.

This is a fundamental element of our program. Students are not pigeonholed into a grade level for academic subjects. We meet each student where they are so they can learn and progress through the curriculum based on individual competency in each subject. This avoids the problem of an age and grade mismatch.

In short, you can’t make your child older than they currently are! You can’t make them develop faster than they are programmed to develop.

Much of student learning, especially in the early years, is developmental. Many students struggle simply because there is a mismatch between what they are ready to learn (based on maturity and developmental level) and what they are required to learn.

An example…

For example, a student who is ready for long division and multiplication can work the math curriculum at that level. The same student might be learning to blend words with long and short vowels. This student might be 6 years old or 9 years old. Either is just fine.

At One-Room Schoolhouse age has nothing to do with the curriculum and teaching provided to that student. Therefore, once competency is reached, the student continues to the next skill.

Subsequently, there is no need to wait for a birthday. Or to go to the 5th-grade classroom for math acceleration. Hence, no one needs to go to the reading room for special remedial reading instruction. Thus, no one suffers from social stigma or isolation. Everyone works together to learn.

Just 20 students of many ages learning together until competency have been reached in all subject areas.

A final note: What is competency in all subject areas? That depends on the student and the parent. Really: Not everyone will leave high school with a solid grasp on Calculus. That is just fine. Parents and students work together to determine their desired educational outcomes.

A One-Room Schoolhouse will provide a rigorous, college preparatory curriculum and instruction. The parents and the student will determine how deeply and in what way that education is consumed.

This is individualization and flexibility. One-room learning fits the curriculum to the student instead of the student to the curriculum.

Schoolhouse

Schoolhouse: (n) a building in which school is conducted. This might be the dictionary definition of a schoolhouse, but the connotation elicits more warmth, community, and simplicity.

A schoolhouse is a place of warmth: a place where young minds are nurtured and allowed to grow. This is a place of safety, care, and organic learning.

A schoolhouse is a place of community. It is a place where people gather together for education, fellowship, performance, and celebration.

A schoolhouse is a place of simplicity. A place where nature is honored and discovered. It is a place where technology does not distract but adds to education. It is a place of down-time and exploration.

We are a schoolhouse. Not a school. We are warmth, community, and simplicity.

Hybrid

This is a very new and up-and-coming school choice that melds the best of a private/public school and homeschool together. Many models exist, but according to the state, your child is a homeschool student. Students then attend the hybrid for some of their academic instruction.

Some hybrids do mornings at school and afternoons at home. Others do a partial week at school and the rest at home. Even others do the whole school week at the hybrid with heavy parent involvement.

At A One-Room Schoolhouse, a student can attend for any mixture of 1 to 5 days a week. A student can attend the Friday elective cluster, the Monday/Tuesday academic science cluster, or the Wednesday/Thursday academic history cluster. Additionally, students can group these clusters together in any combination to build a three-day, four-day, or five-day week of participation.

Language Arts and Math are taught Monday through Thursday. If a student attends only one academic cluster, these subjects are taken home to study the days the student is not with A One-Room Schoolhouse. Furthermore, if a student attends only the science cluster, in addition to studying Language Arts and Math at home, the parent would also be in charge of teaching any desired history curriculum.

I know this can be a little confusing, please drop your questions in the comments below! (Take a look at our weekly schedule here.)

Homeschool

A One-Room Schoolhouse is set up as a nonprofit homeschool support group. Students are registered as homeschoolers and parents are the primary responsible party of the education. Tuition is much lower than in a private school due to more limited classroom hours and heavy parent involvement.

We believe that the family is the center of a student’s education. A child’s learning and accountability for their education are between that child, their parent, and God. Period. A One-Room Schoolhouse is a support for that education, not an enforcer of artificial standards of learning and behavior.

This is why every student that studies with us is a homeschooler. Learning starts and ends in the home. Parents and students are responsible for learning. A One-Room Schoolhouse is a support, a place of gathering, and a group of mentors and learners.

(I have summarized how to become a homeschool student on our website here. For more detailed information, check out hslda for all the details!)

Academy

This last word was the hardest to determine. When defining academy, one encounters phrases like “educational institution”, “training establishment” and “center for learning”. Out of these, a center for learning is getting pretty close to the true essence of A One-Room Schoolhouse.

But, the second definition of “academy”, really hits the nail on the head:

“…a society or institution of distinguished scholars and artists or scientists that aims to promote and maintain standards in its particular field.”

Yes! That is us! We are and are striving to become distinguished scholars, artists, and scientists. We aim to promote and maintain the highest standards of education.

Our goal at A One-Room Schoolhouse is to create a flexible, rigorous, individualized, and comprehensive educational environment that reflects the counsel of Paul to learn and teach those things that are pure, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy. (Philippians 4:8) We aspire to be an edifying classroom environment with the expertise of experienced teachers to support all families seeking after these educational values in their homeschool endeavors.

We are an academy that values…

A flexible educational environment, without the confines of grade levels, where students can progress in each subject as they reach concept mastery and are developmentally ready for further study.
A rigorous academic curriculum preparing all students for post-secondary education, meaningful employment, civic involvement, and a lifetime of service.
An individualized curriculum allowing students to pursue interests, goals, and in-depth understanding of knowledge and culture.
A comprehensive education that honors the students’ needs for unstructured play, time in nature, socialization, leadership, creativity, and personal accountability.
A learning environment with high moral values as taught and exemplified by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as each classroom learns and teaches those things that are pure, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy.
A family’s right to be an integral and motivating force in their child’s education; that children are ultimately accountable to their parents and to God for their learning and behavior.