Outschooling in the Bay Area
30th April 2015
I first became interested in homeschooling several years ago after a friend with six kids began homeschooling in San Francisco out of necessity – the public school system wanted to send each of her kids to a different school. Instead of hiring six Ubers each morning she decided to start homeschooling her kids herself.
What she told me about the experience was very different, and much better, than what I expected:
- It only takes 2-3 hours of study per day to keep up with the regular school curriculum since the kids were able to study when they were best prepared and motivated. No time was spent on bureaucracy / classroom management.
- The kids could deep dive into their own interests, thus learning self-direction and creativity without the requirement to stick to a fixed schedule and curriculum largely driven by logistical concerns
- A lot of basic material could be covered through online courses, such as those offered by Khan Academy
- A lot of learning occurs outside the home and is social
The last point was the biggest surprise to me. Especially in the Bay Area, there is a wealth of group learning activities that are offered outside of regular school. The Exploratorium, Academy of Sciences and Museum of Craft and Design, to name but a few, offer tours and classes. New microschool startups, such as QuantumCamp which offers one-day per week science programs, are popping up. Parents group together to informally organize their own classes.