Interested in starting a HillsLight Microschool Pod?
HillsLight is not just meant to be a blessing to students, but also to their teaching mentors, families, and communities. Starting a HillsLight Microschool gives you an opportunity to earn an income from home while also contributing a valuable service to your community. HillLight teaching mentors are often blessed with the spiritual gifts of teaching and hospitality, allowing them to joyfully open their homes to others as both a classroom and a community hub. Teaching mentors do not need to have a teaching degree, but they should have some experience in teaching or training, such as youth or children's ministry volunteers, tutors, or community leaders. Often times, they are experienced home educators who wish to open their doors to other children in their community.
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Defining a HillsLight Microschool
1. One thing that sets us apart from a more traditional hybrid program is our commitment to encouraging and developing a close-knit Christian community for each microschool pod or family of pods. This means activities such as family days or family fieldtrips are highly encouraged. Parents, siblings, and grandparents are welcome to participate. We also allow parents to assist in our classrooms whenever they are able (*security clearances and signed agreements required).
2. Because each community is unique, HillsLight does not require adherence to one specific curriculum. Our microschools have a fairly high level of autonomy. However, we do have some standards that each microschool must agree to in order to be included into our community. These will be discussed in the interview process.
3. In order to be considered a "HillsLight Microschool" (as opposed to a traditional homeschool program), you must have at least one non-custodial student enrolled. That means you must be teaching at least one child that is not your own. We can assist you in developing a plan to share with family and friends that you want to invite into your microschool pod.
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Steps for Starting a HillsLight Microschool
1. You must read and agree with our mission & vision (including our statement of faith) available on our website.
3. You must complete the interview & onboarding process, including background checks and related training. Microschools that are run by more than one adult must go through this process with each adult that works with the children during the school day.
3. Our microschools are relatively autonomous, but we do wish to hold to certain standards within the HillsLight community. You must work with our advisors to develop a plan for establishing the basic structure of your microschool day.
4. Begin recruiting family to join you in your microschool journey.
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A "Typical" Day at HillsLight
Each microschool will develop its own flow, and each day is different. However, a "typical" 4-day microschool schedule might look something like this:
8:30am - World Watch News, discussion & prayer.
9:15am - Morning worship, Bible memory, & worldview. This time might include a Bible Study, a missionary biography, or other related resources meant to engage the students in a discussion about developing and maintaining a Biblical worldview in light of a variety of relevant areas.
10:00am - Core subject periods (depending on what is scheduled for this day, a core subject period might take 20 minutes or 2 hours. When students are interested and engaged in a topic, we do not arbitrarily stop it and move on to the next isolated subject just because our schedule says so. We allow them to explore the topic further, continue to engage them in discussion, or give them time to work on a project. Students who are not as interested in the group topic may work independently on their own electives using their Monarch dashboard. We might spend all day on science Monday, and then all day Tuesday on Bible, history, and art. Subjects are often woven together so that each student can use their own gifts and interests to contribute to the group.
12:00pm - Lunch
12:30 - Flex period. A literature based microschool may use this time for reading, grammar, and writing exercises unless they've gotten "stuck" on another topic that day. A STEM focued microschool might use this period for student-led experiments. Nature based microschools will usually spend this time outdoors. Each microschool will have it's own focus and purpose for this class period. Alternatively, each day or week may rotate.
1:30pm - Parent pick-up. Pick-up times may vary. Some microschools may offer additional electives, Flex time, or aftercare.
2:00pm - At home: Students will complete any additional independent work (such as math lessons) at home with parental guidance.
