We're Looking Forward to Fall!
Hi Families!
I can't believe this is our last week of school!
I sure wish we could have ended our "Adventure at the Museum" year with a celebration! This year's ending feels so anticlimactic! I wish we could all be together to celebrate all the good things the kids did this year. I love seeing their smiling faces!!
So what are your plans for summer? We didn't get much interest in our online camps -- and that's totally fine. I think online time should be limited anyway. We just want to provide to you whatever you need/want! Let us know if you have any suggestions!
We do plan to reopen our in-person classes in the fall. We will be sanitizing our facilities regularly and each student will have their own in-class set of supplies so they don't have to share. Additionally, we will continue to maintain less than 10 students in any of our classes.
We will not require students to wear masks or to stay away from each other. Our classes are collaborative in nature and I feel enforcing masks and distancing would create a hostile environment, which is not a good environment for learning.
I understand if you are not comfortable with our distancing choices. Each family needs to do whatever they feel is best for their own children.
We will also offer our workshop class online in the fall. This will include a weekly one-hour online class, accompanied by at-home supplies to do projects at home with your kids.
Our opening celebration for the fall is scheduled for September 2 & all our classes will start the week of September 7. The full schedule should be online soon.
Our Journey Program theme for the new school year is "Explore!" Like the explorers of the early 20th century, we will be seeking out new lands, discovering new creatures, and experiencing new cultures. Field trips that accompany these topics will mostly be outdoors: hiking, camping, boating, etc. It will be so fun!!!
For our students with Inspire and in our 2-day program, in the fall Inspire is keeping back $500 per student from us to be spent by the families on at-home curriculum and materials. This means our regular field trips and at-home materials will not be paid for by us. Families can use their Inspire funds or pay out of pocket for these. We are putting together lists of materials you may want to purchase to go along with our classes.
Just like so many unprecedented things going on right now, this fall will probably be the largest number of new homeschoolers ever. Additionally, Other locations that offer in-person classes for homeschoolers will not be re-opening in the fall. There is a real possibility that our learning centers will fill this year. We still don't want large classes and crowded classrooms. This means that we need to hear from all of our current families. We need to know if you plan to return to our program in the fall so we can save your spot for your kids.
For the first time ever, we will be asking new families to pay a registration fee to join our classes. Families that continue with us will not need to pay this fee. We don't have our fall program up on our Website yet, but if you have friends that you would like to invite to our classes in the fall, you can start talking to them about it now.
We're looking forward to a terrific 2019-2020 school year!!
Please let us know whatever questions you have!!
- Heather Martinson
