Frequently Asked Questions
Do you accept payments directly through Step-Up-For-Students (PEP/UA) in Florida? We are currently an approved provider of Home Education Instructional Programs for the Personalized Education Plan (PEP) and Unique Abilities (UA) Scholarships through Step-Up-For-Students. Once enrolled in one of our microschools, families will be able to make quarterly payments directly to our company from the SUFS Marketplace.
Where is HillsLight Located? For the 2024-2025 school year, Hillslight currently has one location in Port Charlotte, Florida. We hope to expand our offerings in the future. Most of the time electives, clubs, and microschools will be held at the teaching mentor's home. However, sometimes students will have the opportunity to go on fieldtrips and participate in other fun activities out in the community. Your student's teaching mentor will be sure to discuss these opportunities with you first.
How do I know if HillsLight is a good fit for our student/family? Students who excel in the small multi-age classroom at HillsLight are often independent learners who are curious about the world around them. They are capable of working together with a team. They are excited about demonstrating their expertise in creative ways. They encourage and mentor their peers. They are bright, creative and playful. They are excited to learn. They love to see their learning connected to real life experiences. Most importantly, HillsLight students come from Christian families who have a genuine desire for their children to grow strong in the Scriptures with a solid Biblical worldview. HillsLight families also have a strong commitment to developing deep and lasting relationships with the other families in their individual microschool community. Family days and family fieldtrips are strongly encouraged to facilitate this. Parents are encouraged to work together and assist in the classroom whenever possible (pending background checks).
What curriculum do you use? Each HillsLight microschool has the freedom to choose the curriculum that best suites their community's needs. Often times, students will work on interest-led projects of their own choosing. You will need to discuss this question with the individual microschool leader in your area. However, we do encourage and endorse several curricula for certain grade levels. They are to be considered as "spines" to give our instructor's a firm foundation to structure their lessons around. We highly encourage interest-led learning within these parameters. A pod may spend an entire month on a topic that was only scheduled for one week, or they may skip a topic altogether if it does not spark their students' curiosities. Here is a short list of curricula that we recommend: 1. Beautiful Feet Books offers literature based curriculum options for history, geography, and science. This is often used for grades K-8. 2. BiblioPlan is a curriculum that integrates multiple resources for history, Bible, and literature into one comprehensive lesson guide. It can be used for any grade level, and we highly recommend this curriculum to our microschool leaders because it works well for both encouraging group discussions and for creating individually tailored assignments. 3. Our microschools often choose Bible studies from Not Consumed Ministries, Answers in Genesis, and/or Apologia. Students are encouraged to participate in group discussions, each at their own level. 4. We highly recommend using Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) and Fix-it-Grammar for students in 3rd to 8th grades. Most microschool leaders will be certified IEW instructors by the end of their first year with HillsLight. 5. For grades 3-12, other courses and electives may be assigned on an individual basis using Monarch Online Curriculum by Alpha Omega Publishing. Monarch provides a solid background for a variety of topics. We encourage Microschool leaders and parents to consider supplementing these electives with real-world experiences.
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