By now, most of our local Character Ink friends have heard the news : We are starting a half-day homeschool in our home in six weeks (mid August 2018!). If you haven’t heard, you can see our original announcement here.)
So far, it has been such a joy to see the “exact clients” that we had in mind for our endeavor! They say the exact words that we felt would describe someone who wants this special service:
1) They love homeschooling—the lifestyle, the time with their kids, the home-centered approach to life that homeschooling offers, the relationships that are built through being with your kids way more waking hours than you are not (and knowing what is going on in their hearts through frequent interaction).
2) They value education—This can be said of most homeschoolers, but we are finding many parents who value education but felt that with their time constraints, work, and other commitments, they couldn’t give as much to their kids’ education as they feel is needed.
3) They are willing/able to spend a little extra on their kids’ education—They have the means for their kids to go to private school, but they want more control over their kids’ education—and they don’t want their kids to be gone 35 to 40 hours a week and don’t want to lose the home-centered approach to life that they have been enjoying through homeschooling.
4) They want the one-room schoolhouse feel that they offer at home–small teacher-student ratio that allows the teacher to know where his students are at all times in every subject.
5) They would like for someone else to keep track of everything academic—the teaching, the curriculum, the records, the grades, and yes, even the prodding some days!
We wanted to give some updates as Ray’s half-day homeschool takes shape with each enrollee. For example, we have found that high schoolers may or may not want to come every morning. Some of them don’t want the long drive. Others have jobs, etc. So Ray is altering the schedule for high schoolers who want to come longer some days and not at all other days.
While we have taught between 150 and 250 kids each semester for the past ten years in our four Cottage Class locations and have begun teaching dozens of kids online, this is new territory for us—being in charge of a student’s complete academic program and getting it all done by noon each day! 😊 (As Ray keeps saying with each plan, each book, each discussion—“Down memory lane again!” So many memories from our thirty-two years of teaching our seven kids at home! That has been so heart-warming.)
So we are tweaking, discussing things with our enrolling parents, and seeing what fits for each family. It is quite the journey—but a very exciting and rewarding one for sure!
This post is to give you some updates and let you see our registration information more fully. If you are near Fort Wayne, Indiana, and this concept appeals to you, Ray would love to chat with you and answer questions and explain our program more fully. Call him at 260-450-7063 or email him at characterink@gmail.com to set up a phone consult.
Check out the full registration document by clicking HERE!
In a nutshell…..
Character Ink Half-Day Homeschool will offer the following:
1) Responsible for teaching, assigning, overseeing, grading, and record keeping for ALL academic subjects for
2nd-12th grade students.
2) Teaching will be small group classes, block teaching, daily class meetings, one-on-one tutoring, and independent
studies all in our home at 11120 Aboite Center Road Fort Wayne and at First Assembly of God Church (on Mondays).
3) 180 days of instruction (and record keeping and accountability) (e-learning will be utilized for inclement weather)
4) Daily lesson plans, checksheets, and accountability (that Ray checks–not you!)
5) Curriculum found and laid out for each subject
6) Math, language arts, and reading taught by/planned by specialists in these areas. All academic areas will
be covered in various sessions, blocks, and independent learning.
7) Grading sheets every 9 weeks for all high school subjects and major subjects for 2nd-8th grades
Approximately 11/1, 1/15, 3/15, and 5/30)
8) Thorough, safe, and fun environment to learn
Check out the two weekly schedules for youngers (2nd-7th graders) and for high schoolers (8th-12th graders) below!
And thanks, once again, for your continued support of Character Ink blog, store, Cottage Classes, publications, downloadable products, online classes, parenting/homeschooling helps, and more! We appreciate you!
