Im new to this site so please forgive me if I put this on the wrong bored. I am planing on one day in the far future I plan on opening my on private school and running it like schools was ran during the early 1900's (with some modern age subjects though of course). It would have something like grades pk-6 .. or maybe k-8. tuition would be some where between $200-$400 a month (but less or free if donations are sufficient) and possibly on a sliding scale depending on how much the family could afford. My question is how many homeschooling parents would consider allowing there kid(s) attend this school ?
Mr. Milton, you will want to hear from Lindina, who does something very similar. To answer your question, however, I think it depends heavily on the reasons the parents are homeschooling. When it comes to our family, rejecting other forms of schooling is a secondary (although important) factor in our choice to homeschool. Our primary reason stems from a conflict with mainstream schools that we would, in turn, experience in your format as well. However, if things were to change for our family, if our life was less transient, and if I was no longer able to coordinate my work schedule with providing adequate instructional guidance for my children, I would consider a school as you've described before many others. One other thought: Frankly, the rate of tuition you mention would make me incredibly doubtful. I don't see how you can make rent on that, much less meet code, carry insurance, etc. Would your school be accredited? That wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, necessarily, but...I worked with a lot of schools before I left the "classroom," both public and private. There are good private schools that aren't accredited...and then again, there are some atrocious situations. If you school were accredited, I want to know with whom, but if it wasn't, I'd be giving you the third degree on curricula, instructional methods, your background in child development... That might sound odd coming from a homeschooling parent, but having done both, I contend that working with large groups of children (whether that group is homogeneous or heterogeneous, as you've described) is very, very different than homeschooling. Making the switch for ME was the biggest challenge for our family in homeschooling. I would want to learn a lot about how things would work inside that one room schoolhouse.
Hello, Milton, I am the one she thinks you should hear from. And the answer to your question is "45 in the last 13 years". I opened my little school in 2001, after I retired from public school as the school social worker. I had homeschooled my DS while working out of the home (DH had his own shop and could make his own hours.) Some years we've had one student most of the time, and other years as many as ten at a time. Most of my students have come to me out of public school, some from other private schools, and some few from homeschool. We aren't really "school" nor are we really "homeschool" but more a unique hybrid of both. My tuition is based on what I think people can afford to pay. I already own my building, so I don't have rent. I have electricity and water/sewage/trash to pay, and property taxes. I do not have a landline phone, nor do we have internet for school. (We're cattycorner from the library, so if we absolutely have to have internet we walk over there.) I have a retirement to "live" on, so I'm not dependent on tuition to pay me a salary. Out of the tuition, I buy all the books, workbooks, notebooks, pencils, paper, markers, copy supplies, erasers, office supplies, everything. This stops them from demanding their parents buy them the latest "cool" school supplies. Parents appreciate not having to fight the crowds at WalMart. We do not serve lunch - we all brown-bag it. Someone, when we were first getting started, donated to us a pick-up truck full of discarded public school desks. I had spent years accumulating discarded library books. People have donated stuff here and there, books, money, furniture. Every year I dutifully file my letter with the state - just like any other homeschool mom - which says that we started school on X-date, with Y-number of students, that we intend to provide 180 days of schooling, with a quality at least equal to that of the public schools, or at least equal to what would be provided in ps to students of a like ability (covers SN kids). There is no difference here between a nonpublic school that is not seeking state approval (at home with your own kids) and one schooling Other People's Kids. It's all "non-approved non-public" to them. For a couple of years I've toyed with the idea of getting accreditation through my curriculum-provider but just haven't done it yet. We do not keep the same schedule as the ps do. I start as late in August as I can, take Labor Day, a week at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas/New Years, and Good Friday and the week after Easter, and get done by the end of May. Daily, we start the Pledge of Allegiance at 8:15, work until 11:45 when we break for lunch/breaktime, start up again at 12:30, and we knock off at 2:45. I don't have a good place for outdoor play, because we're right ON Main Street, so we have toys, games, puzzles to play with indoors. So we start later and end earlier than public, get in about the same instructional minutes per day, and miss the bus traffic on both ends of the day.
thank you guys for the input. I think I would be able to keep tuition so low because I would more then likely be the only employe at this school and am hoping that the community will get behind me and donate a little here and there (such as books, desks, old laptops, etc). I am thinking I do know some one that would be more than happy to donate land to me for this. So that is how I am thinking I can get tuition that low. The area I am thinking of putting this school has no other private schools in the county, two public high schools ( I look for there to be only one soon.), 4 or 5 middle schools ( I hear that number will also go down soon), and a few elm. schools. All the schools also have very high class size numbers. So I think if all these things work out I might be able to make a good change in this community and possibly a living for myself.
I'm curious, do you live in a state that allows parents to homeschool other families? My state allows a parent to homeschool their own kids, plus one other family. I currently homeschool my own, plus one other child, however I have have had NUMEROUS parents ask me if I'd homeschool their kids. I always say I can't legally, so no. But personally I don't know if I can take on more while also working from home. However, with all these request I've recently started to wonder if there would be a legal way for me to make it work, then quit my job and just homeschool.....oh how I would LOVE that!
In my state home schooling and non-accredited private schools are considered the same thing. my understanding is that a private school can get accredited through the state but it is optional. The only thing that the state has to have is a list of students that attend there.
For me, I would not consider it if there were only 1 adult present at the school while the students were there. For their safety, for emergencies and for your protection against false accusations, I think there should be two adults present anytime students are present.
I wouldn't consider it, either... probably not even with two adults there. It's just too risky on many levels. (I've been back and forth in my head about whether or not I should say this...) I certainly don't make a habit of nit-picking on forums (because everyone has typos), but for you to be the only employee of your school, I'd expect better sentence structure and spelling than your original post contained. My confidence in you to teach my children isn't high at all.
Thank you both for your criticisms, I see where you are both coming from. I know my typing is not the best (English is not my strong point,sorry). My thought is that even in most normal classes there is only one adult in the room any ways. So i don't see how having only one at a school would be very much different. there are still a small handful of public one room schools that only have one teacher. I think the old one room schools was and would still be more effective. Both in public and private school setting because more of the funds goes to where it needs to, paying for teachers, books, supplies etc.. where as in modern public and most private schools a lot of funding gets ate up in admin. Some more positive things that the one room school house can offer is more one on one attention, teaches self reliability and helps teach people how to help one another. (for example teacher is with billy, but johnny a 1st grader needs help solving a addition problem so Alice a 4th grader can help johnny the 1st grader solve the problem. So in the end the teacher gets to keep helping Billy, Johnny gets help with the problem and Alice gets to help Johnny. Alice also gets a chance to get better at addition.)
Even with two of us present, it takes both of us to keep up with grading papers, correcting mistakes, and giving that 1:1 attention! And it's not a good idea to have a 4th grader "teaching" the 1st grader. A high schooler, maybe, for a question or two, or doing flashcards with one for a couple of minutes -- or the parents will start saying, "What am I paying YOU for, when Jimmy is teaching math?" (even if it's just a couple questions a day). You'll need that other adult, because first graders (even second graders) are particularly teacher-intensive. DH and I trade off: usually I do all the reading/language arts, and he does the math, he usually does all the Bible, while I do all the administrative, and we sort of split up the science and history, depending on what students we have and what their needs are at what levels. And I promise you, even three or four kids (even when all are working independently because you have put their assignments for the day up on the board or printed out on a sheet of paper) can generate more paperwork than one person can grade/check in one day. I'm not saying you can't do this, but I am saying you have quite a lot to think through before you'll be ready to start. I thought it over, planned, and prayed about it for a good number of years, from the time my DS was 4 until I could retire from the pubic system. No two years are alike!
I just thought of something else you'll have to have worked out: what curriculum do you plan to use? Is it likely it will be different than the PS curriculum around you? Will you use only one, or will you pick and choose among subjects for each child in order to meet individual needs? (For instance, a kid comes to me for sixth grade, and I have to place them in third grade reading, fourth grade math, what grade science/social studies will I place him in? what about English? will I have enough time to put him in R&S English, CLE math, CLE reading, R&S science/social studies? or should I put him in Saxon math? Do I have anybody else I can put at the same level in the same subject so that we can do it together as a "class" to use my time more efficiently?) How will you do placement testing, with what, to be sure that you're placing each kid in the right spot in your curriculum, that could well be very different than what they're coming out of. Any kid changing curriculum will need lots of hand-holding that first year to locate and eliminate academic gaps, so they can be more independent the second year. Will you do annual testing of any kind? What kind? Where will you get your tests from? Do you know how to interpret the results to the parent? I'm not saying you don't or can't, just saying that you need to be able to. Another thing I have had to deal with, too, is that public school kids do NOT embrace the idea of working independently, as you will want them to do in your class. I've had kids come in middle and high school grades who don't know how to write in a notebook in any kind of organized or paper-conserving way, nor which side of a sheet of looseleaf paper to write on first. They'll sit there, looking around, accomplishing nothing, until you ask them if they finished what you gave them to do, then when you check it, it's not done or it's not done the way you directed. Be prepared to be super specific with instructions at all grade levels. For some, they have never worked this way before, and don't want to. They wait to be told, then told again, and possibly a third time, as they were in public school. NO initiative - they've been taught not to have any in public school. They don't want to do homework, because in PS, some was assigned but if they didn't do it, it sort of "went away" and they just took their zero because the lowest grade gets dropped anyway. I've had a very tough time making some of them understand that my assignments don't go away, and I don't drop any grades nor give bonus points. They get what they earn. If I can think of any more issues you're likely to run into, I'll post, or you can ask.
My kids used to go to a small public school that was K-8th grade, 80 students, and 4 classrooms. It was (and still is) a wonderful little school. I love the small atmosphere, and the fact that kids have to learn to get along with kids of all ages. The 8th graders often played with the younger kids. The kids all learned so much. My son thought he was hot stuff when he could help kids in other grades. If I had to send my kids back to school, I would definitely send them back there. So in answer to your question, yes, I would send my kids to a one room school house, IF there were at least 2 adults at the school at all times.
I have been thinking, and it probably would be a good idea to have at least two adults there at all times just in case something was to happen, like a kid needing a trip to the hospital, or one of the adults needing to leave the classroom for a few minutes. I would have to raise the cost of tuition a little but it would be worth it. Im not planing on opening this school for about another 5 or so years but when do you thank would be a good time to start looking for donors and stuff?
In my state (Ohio), there is a state proficiency test required by all public and private school kids. HOMESCHOOLERS ARE EXEMPT. And we want to keep it that way. If I were to send my child to you, would you be REQUIRED as a "private sch9ool", to follow state guidelines? Would your students be required to take the proficiency test? How much flexibility would you have to individualize for your students? And yes, two adults is a good rule. In today's society, it goes without saying as protection for both the kids and the adults.
That answer would probably have to depend on why each family is homeschooling. For what it's worth...I think it's a neat idea, but I wouldn't consider my kids attending because one of the main reasons we homeschool is so we can be together. If I HAD to send my kids to a school and couldn't homeschool myself...then I would consider a one room school house over a public school classroom. It's very possible that where you are planning on setting up this school, there may be parents who are sending their kids to the public school but aren't too happy about it...yet they can't (or don't want to) homeschool their kids themselves. They may be very happy to have that option. I hope you can get everything figured out and make a go of it.
In my state a home school is considered a " unapproved (non-accredited) private school" and they to my knowledge dose NOT require for home nor private school, even accredited to take state standards test. I would consider giving some kind of proficiency test (probably not the same one the public's use) just to let me know how I am doing. But i would make it an option for the parent to opt their child out of the test. I plan on the school reaching no more then 25 kids. So I would be able to be very flexible with each child. What i want to do with curriculum is require history, Science, Math, and English up until about 4th grade but then allowing them more flexibility. I want to require them take at least one foreign language class before 7th grade. I also want to require some kind of religion class ( which one being up to the child and parents) and have an option for each major religion.
Actually, if you were here right now where I'm at, I'd actually consider it! My 13yo is being a real butt-head; being accountable to a man outside of the family might be a good thing for him!!!
I love the idea of a smaller school. I especially love the idea of a multi-aged classroom where older kids can help younger kids. My kids are different ages, but by in large learn from the same curriculum. I simply modify the assignments based on age. I don't like that most public and private schools place kids into levels based only on age. However, even with the mixing of ages I think you should strongly consider keeping a ratio of no more than 5:1 adults to kids. I teach Faith Formation at our Catholic Church and we are very strict about having at least two adults with children at all time, because it protects everyone. Also, we have two teachers in our class of 20 kids and I don't think we could handle one more child. There are a lot of benefits to one on one work, or small group work and if you only have one adult, you lose so much of the advantage of having a small school. Also, you mentioned that you are not good with English grammar. Of course for any subjects you lacked skills, you'd want to find someone to pick up that slack. I find myself scrutinizing my grammar more than ever, now that I homeschool. I know I'm being judged by some, and I want to leave a positive impression on everyone I meet. I tried to eliminate some of the quirky regional dialect that's been ingrained into me, in an attempt to show my best side to anyone who knows I am a homeschooler mom. I view myself as somewhat a silent ambassador for this movement and I think we should all put our best forward whenever we can. Good luck to you!
