Welcome to Village Home, where learning is seriously fun.
Welcome to Village Home!
Village Home has been serving homeschooling families since 2002, and is a model of self-directed, authentic learning. Our design encourages learners of all ages to take ownership of their learning. Learners are free to learn what interests them, free to spend time with the families, and free to be themselves.
At Village Home, we embrace real learning as it is meant to be: engaging, collaborative, inspiring, and fun! We are designed for families who relish the opportunity to learn together, and who want to belong to a community of families who are learning together! This is what Village Home is all about.
Learning is a naturally enjoyable process, and our choice-based alternative-to-school is designed to maximize classroom engagement and learner autonomy. We develop empowered learners connected to their families and their world.
We focus on tapping into a learner’s intrinsic motivation to learn by making learning FUN, and by supporting SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING (AUTONOMY) and COMMUNITY CONNECTION (BELONGING).
How do we make learning fun?
- We start with a teacher who wants to teach a particular class in their own particular way — that way, the teacher shows up authentically engaged and enthusiastic about the topic.
- We add a classroom of learners who CHOOSE to be there because they are authentically interested.
- We take away grading and testing so that we can spend our time together exploring and discovering.
- We make learning active, with lots of ways to engage and lots of encouragement.
- We make learning communal so that learners can learn from each other.
- We make learning playful and celebrate often.
How do we support Self-directed learning?
- We function like a community college starting at preschool. The learner, with their family, decides what they want to learn about, or need to learn about, to meet their education goals.
- We continually encourage learners to own their education.
- We create assignments and classwork with options.
- We avoid punishments for not doing work.
- We give learners the freedom to let the teacher know how they want to receive feedback on homework.
- We focus on learning for the sake of learning, not for performing on a test or assignment.
- We infuse classes with fun energy that is contagious in a good way.
How do we support community connection?
- We have caring and enthusiastic teachers who co-create respectful, trusting classrooms focused on the joy of learning together.
- We have small class sizes to ensure personal attention which allows our teachers to respond individually.
- We create classroom experiences that include opportunities for learners to explore and discover with each other.
- We remove the invisible yardstick by which learners could compare themselves to others (because no one is on a “standardized” path at Village Home).
- We focus on learning, not grading and testing and performing for a teacher.
- We create a welcoming campus and experiences for the whole family to intersect with other families, so that the learner’s community has a family foundation.
Who We Serve
Who are Village Home Families and Learners?
We welcome all homeschooling families, regardless of your family’s approach to homeschooling. At Village Home, we value parents as the managers of their children’s education. We are a community-based organization that values and celebrates diversity, and we all welcome the opportunity to learn from and with each other. Most of our families consider Village Home to be a significant part of their overall education plans, but, in most cases, Village Home learners also engage in learning activities at home.
Village Home primarily serves homeschoolers, charter schoolers, and a few private and public school learners. Village Home learners are self-directed learners who actively participate in their educational plans with their families. Because we have a structure based on trust that maximizes student autonomy, learners are expected to manage their own learning constructively in the classroom. Learners with academic, emotional, or behavioral challenges that preclude them from managing their own learning in the classroom (yet) are welcome to attend class with their parents.
Families at Village Home have diverse approaches to education and widely varied educational philosophies. We love serving families who are homeschooling veterans as well as those exploring independent learning outside of traditional school for the first time. We embrace diversity in all ways, and welcome homeschooling families of every faith, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, and gender identity. We build community, belonging, and acceptance in our classes, as well as knowledge.
Village Home believes that every learner is unique, and deserves a unique education that they take ownership of, as well as a community of people to grow and learn with. If you are a hands-on parent looking for a different approach to education – one that honors the family – Village Home is for you.