Why we’re starting a microschool
And what we’re looking for in an instructor
I am a dad of three. My oldest is now 50% of the way done with her K12 education.
And while I’ve given nearly the entirety of my professional life to reforming education for others, I’ve done very little by way of working to improve or innovate against the education my own kids are receiving.
As the years whisk by, my wife and I realized if not now, we’ll miss our chance to make our own children’s education look more like the future we advocate for others.
Grateful for what has been
Up to this point, our kids have attended public school, which in San Francisco is on a lottery system. Navigating that system is full of bureaucracy and pitfalls.
In the first school, due to unforeseen circumstances, our daughter had rolling substitutes the entire year — a new substitute every week. Without the dedication and continuity of a real teacher, she fell terribly behind. But in SF you cannot just transfer schools. And we had no money for private or alternative options. We were fully at the mercy of the system, gated by massive bureaucracy, and contingent on random chance.
It taught us a lot and created a lot of empathy for all parents, who want the best for their children, but have few options and are given little locus of control over their children's fate.
After a year-and-a-half, we drew another school and transferred mid-year. But it wasn’t so easy: my wife visited the district offices multiple times, resubmitting for the lottery twice, and entered 6 more rounds of the lottery. At the time, she was a stay at home mom and able to spend the time and energy to make this happen. Unjustly, even without money, time is a luxury many don’t have.
There, a new principal was busy taking one of the worst-performing schools in the city and transforming it into, what would become with more time, one of the most requested schools in the lottery.
It was informative and amazing to see the difference a great principal can make, and in the wake of their efforts to recruit and build, the remarkable difference great teachers and the parent community can make.
In the years since, our kids have enjoyed an AMAZING school and learning experience. I am deeply grateful for the efforts of so many that have made a difference to our kids.
We have gotten to see what great looks like. So what is the issue?
The problem: It is a great version of a 100-year old Prussian model, designed and built around convergent thinking and standardization.
Mass education was the ingenious machine constructed by industrialism to produce the kind of adults it needed. The problem was inordinately complex. How to pre-adapt children for a new world — a world of repetitive indoor toil, smoke, noise, machines, crowded living conditions, collective discipline, a world in which time was to be regulated not by the cycle of sun and moon, but by the factory whistle and the clock. The solution was an educational system that, in its very structure, simulated this new world.
— Alvin Toffler
As a function of my journey through education reform work, I had been exposed to the concept of microschools.
Microschooling splits the difference between homeschooling and public schooling, 12–15 students taught by a professional teacher in the home in a differentiated instruction setting.
The vision for our microschool
When I first saw what Prenda, the pioneer in the microschooling movement, was doing, I was intrigued.
But their approach isn’t the only way to run a microschool.
Here’s what we’re aiming for:
Liberal arts-based curriculum
Core academics taught by a professional teacher instilling the ability to take multiple viewpoints, the skills of critical thinking, and the capabilities of adapting to, debating with, and collaborating alongside others in service of problem-solving.
Book-based curriculum
Engaging with numerous great texts which illuminate our history and culture. This also anchors differentiation, learning for diverse students of various ages, skills, and interests. Downstream, this curriculum is fodder for BookClub Jr., part of BookClub. For example, students will read books, reach out to the authors, and prepare to interview them.
Apprentice-based curriculum
Students will build and run BookClub Jr. with adult mentorship and guidance. This includes web development, design, marketing, project management, product management, video production, finance, and accounting.
Project-based curriculum
Interdisciplinary projects might include:
- garden to table cooking (biology, chemistry, art)
- the history of American history textbooks (research, reading, writing, social justice)
Using projects allows for freedom and specificity in addition to a playing field for each students’ creativity and problem-solving to emerge naturally. You can imagine how biology, chemistry, and art might play into gardening and cooking (itself a life skill), or how myriad skills like research, synthesis, and debate may arise from a study of textbooks’ inherent racism.
Who will teach with us?
To start, we are looking for a professional teacher, reform-minded and an entrepreneurial spirit. Not only will you be teaching in a differentiated approach to middle- and high school-aged students, but also your teaching will be embedded in and integrated with BookClub Jr.
You are likely someone with strong science/tech/engineering skills who can also help students appreciate domains like writing, debate, the arts, and other important soft skills.
This is the beginning of a new microschool mission. You are willing to try new things, give and take feedback, and be directly involved in BookClub Jr.
Additional Requirements:
- willing to live in/commute to Bountiful, Utah, and be in person M-F.
- run class sizes up to 12, of students aged 10+
Interested candidates should email applications to careers@tfow.com.
Your application should include whatever you think makes the best case for your consideration for the role.
This is an opportunity to be a forerunner in the innovative microschooling movement.
We’re excited to meet you!
Our hope to share
It’s our ambition to make the resources we develop available to others for free. We plan to record much of the instruction so it can be shared with others interested in taking a similar journey in supporting their children in apprenticeship/project-based learning.
Join me in building The Future of Work and Education
