Village Home began with a group of homeschooling parents lead by Lori McKee Walker who were interested in creating community for their children. They were happily homeschooling with a vision for MORE:

• More community spirit for the children.
• More affordable group learning opportunities.
• More places to meet that belong to the whole community.
• More free time with our children.

But they also had overstuffed calendars, and so were also happily homeschooling with a vision for LESS:

• Less hassle finding exciting and enriching educational opportunities to supplement their home-based learning.
• Less conflicting schedules.
• Less money out of pocket.
• Less time in the car running from class to class.
• Less time spent creating and re-creating group learning opportunities.

After spending months researching and planning, Village Home opened in the Fall of 2003 with 200 Portland area homeschoolers enrolled and Village Home was born.

Village Home Education Resource Center is a not-for-profit organization based in Beaverton, Oregon established to support diverse area families who choose to home educate. Founded in 2002 as an enhanced alternative to public education, Village Home incorporated, organized, and began offering tuition-free classes in Fall 2003.

Village Home strengthens (academically) and complements (socially) family-centered learning by offering an affordable community aspect to homeschooling and by offering expert-enriched group educational opportunities across fields that include mathematics, sciences, the arts, technology, and many other specific areas of study.

For the first two years of operation, Village Home partnered with area school districts to provide supplementary education for homeschoolers. Initially, Village Home was established in partnership with the Beaverton School District. By year two, because of the resounding success of the program, Village Home had earned service contracts from four other area districts: Portland, Hillsboro, Forest Grove, and Tigard, and served students from several other districts on a transfer basis.

In the first two years of operation, Village Home offered approximately 80 classes weekly, and 130 field trips per year for homeschooled students age 5-18, tuition-free. The program grew consistently and steadily, and enjoyed success as learner's thrived. In the Fall of 2003, we opened with enrollment of 202, and by the end of year two, had average enrollment of 258, a 22% increase in the first two years. A highlight of the second year was sending the science bowl team to national competition.

By the end of year two, it became clear that political climate changes and increasing district budgetary pressure was leading to increased control over the program, including requirements from districts to perform standardized testing, and to require students to engage in a full, standardized curriculum, despite the fact that Village Home was, by contractual definition with the districts, a supplementary program designed to enhance home-based learning. Both requirements are antithetical to what Village Home values about effective education.

In the Summer of 2005, Village Home re-organized as tuition based, private program designed with significant member benefits, and an optional member commitment to contribute volunteer time. Organizational structure was completely revamped, although course offerings remained similar. Taking some aspects of co-op organizations, and some aspects of private-tuition programs and schools, Village Home created an innovative hybrid program designed to enhance learning in a community setting while affording families and the learners maximum flexibility. In 2005-06, Village Home wsuccessfully piloted a private-school option within the program, now called CHOICE, which launches in Fall of 2006.

During the first year with private-funding, Village Home successfully retained over 50% of our population, a testament to the quality of the program, considering families, generally with one income, were for the first time paying out-of-pocket for services that were previously gratis. Village Home also gained many new families who had not attended previously simply because Village Home was funded by the public system, and hence, tied to it's requirements. During this year, Village Home served an average of 170 students with approximately 70 weekly course offerings.

Each year, Village Home has been honored to be associated with learners who are actively pursuing their dreams. In our short history, we can already boast quite a bit about our learners. Village Home learners have: won the regional Science Bowl and competed nationally in 2002, won several notable Chess matches, competed successfully in Lego Robotic competitions annually, taken home first place in Art Contests of various shapes and sizes, including the Oregonian's student ad contest in 2005-06. A highlight of the 2006 year included Village Home hosting our first Scripps-Howard Spelling Bee. We were proud when one of our students, Shelley Clark, rose from regional competitions to be the Northwest representative at the national competition in Washington D.C. We have many learners pursuing their dreams at Village Home, and getting accolades for their efforts.

Now, as a private program, Village Home is free to explore the outer bounds of what makes a learning community vibrant, meaningful, and effective for it's members. Village Home continues to be inspired by self-directed, intrinsically motivated learners, and remains responsive to community needs. During the past year, Village Home has had the opportunity to more clearly define its path, and it's place in the education reform movement.

Village Home serves homeschooling families in the Northwest Region. The community-learning environment at Village Home is best suited for self-directed, intrinsically motivated, life-long learners who actively participate in their educational plan with their family. All learners are welcome at Village Home Education Resource Center regardless of race, age, religion, creed, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or disabilities.

A look at the values of Village Home reveals the foundation "whys" of our learning community. These values, for the most part, have remained the same since our inception three years ago, and they are continually refined and reviewed by organizational leadership.

Unique Paths for All Learners – Choice and Flexibility
At Village Home, we recognize that all learners are unique individuals. Learners can customize their learning experience by selecting courses in a choice-based educational marketplace at Village Home.

Family-Centered Learning and Parent as Primary Educator
At Village Home, the family is honored in the learning community. We acknowledge that the parent is the first and the primary educator for their children. In addition to welcoming the parent in the classroom, Village Home supports families by making play space available for younger siblings and parents, offering multi-age classrooms where it is possible for siblings to learn together, and by providing opportunities for parents and children to learn together. We believe that the family is the primary sphere of influence for education, and the Village Home Education Resource Center functions as a secondary, supportive sphere.

Self-Directed Learning
We believe that true learning happens only in the context of self-direction. Intrinsically motivated learners maintain their innate drive to learn by self-directing their learning. We encourage families to see their children as the authors of their own learning plan. In classes, instructors rely on the student to measure their own success, and hence, there is no grading. Our learning environment centers on learning for the sake of learning.

Life-Long Learning
We value the spirit of life-long learning. We provide opportunity for people of all ages to learn together and to learn from each other and encourage primary educators, the parents, to model life-long learning for the children.

Peer-to-Peer Learning
We believe that there is tremendous value in peer-based learning for people of all ages. We create group-learning opportunities that facilitate meaningful peer interaction by offering classes with flexible age ranges.

Passionate, Focused Instruction in Small Classes
We believe that the most important thing an instructor can bring to the classroom is a personal passion and interest in the subject matter, and the most important thing we can do is keep their classes relatively small (8-15 learners). Classes are multi-age groups and are non-credit and non-graded. Village Home also provides opportunity for exploration beyond the classroom walls by sponsoring field trips weekly.

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	Overview
	Parent Executive Board
	Meet Our Instructors
	Our Location

Village Home follows the delayed opening and school closure policies of the Beaverton School District. If they are closed, so are we. If they are opening late, so are we.

Village Home is a learning community providing academic and social enrichment and resources for families who choose to home educate.

The vision of Village Home is to be a community model for family centered, home-based education that inspires and supports self-directed, lifelong learning.

For more information, please call at 503-597-9100 or email us.

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