Pathfinder on a Buzy Morning
Pathfinder People
A Few Nuts and Bolts
Pathfinder Learning Center
by Joshua Hornick
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Ken Danford and I left school teaching to start the Pathfinder Learning Center three and a half years ago. Pathfinder is a community-based learning center in Amherst, Massachusetts for teenagers who decide--with their families--not to go to school anymore. We provide services to make teen homeschooling a practical and successful avenue for any family. It is practical because, compared with a secondary school, it is very inexpensive to run.
Pathfinder has had a huge positive impact on its membership and staff. It has also had a substantial impact on many other people in the greater community of which it is a part. Pathfinder's membership consists of families with homeschooling teenagers. Most of the families did not consider homeschooling a viable option before discovering Pathfinder.
Pathfinder provides two sorts of services: family support and teen activities. Family support can be divided into start-up and ongoing support. During the start-up phase, we discuss with members what they believe is important and what their passions are. We brainstorm about possible activities (often new members don't think in terms of starting their own businesses or zines or they think they should have to do things they hate and don't find important), and we help them craft a plan. We help kids set up internships or other involvement in the adult community. We also guide them through the legal process of homeschooling which--although rarely a problem--is more complicated in Massachusetts than in most states.
On an ongoing basis, we meet with families to discuss how things are going. Over time, we have learned that this is extremely valuable to many families. There are a lot of wheels which don't need to be reinvented, and often a well-informed, caring third party can make a big problem much smaller or can suggest a great new approach or resource. It also gives us a way to get to know each family better. We call this work strategic planning.
Pathfinder's calendar of activities for teens includes two to six activities each day. Most activities meet once a week, unless there are rehearsals for a show. More than half of the activities are academic, writing groups, American History, Chemical Analysis, Gender Studies, Mock Trial. Others are musical, artistic, or outdoors-oriented. About half of the activities are run by Pathfinder staff, now two full time and one part time. The rest are led by interested community members, parents, college kids, or members. Most activities have about 10 young people in them, but sometimes they have only one (we do some personal tutoring) or two, or more than 20. Our teen members can do as many or as few of our activities as they wish. Most members probably come to the center about three times a week to do three to five activities (total). They'll stay for half the day or all day, hanging out with other kids at Pathfinder or doing things in town. Pathfinder is not a school. It has no requirements for its members, except to act civilly when on the premises. Members come and go as they choose. We have been likened to a YMCA. Significantly, we allow ourselves--the staff-- very flexible schedules; humane, gentle working conditions are an important aspect of center. Pathfinder on a busy morning
Visiting Pathfinder on a busy morning, you might find something like this: You walk from the parking lot into a little yellow entryway. You then turn into The Big Room (15x30). Here you find me (Josh) at my desk, clipping articles from the Science Times and chatting to a couple kids about racism. Ken's desk is empty. In the back of the room, a dozen kids are discussing the meaning of life or seeing how many can sit on one person's lap. There are old Macs on Ken's and Josh's desks. There's a new computer running some academic software and an internet link-up in the far corner. There's a high quality copy machine, a big bureau covered with literature, a big bulletin board with community events, opportunities, and messages. The walls are spotted with 8x10 black-and-white prints, processed in Pathfinder's little darkroom.
In the classroom, there are eight kids, ranging in age from 13 to 16, sitting or lying on a huge modern sectional, studying logic with Charlie, a community member who likes teaching logic. The little white board on an artist's easel is covered with incomprehensible symbols. They laugh a lot in this particular class.
The small artroom has three kids in it; one is sketching with markers, the others are cutting out decorations of some sort. In the meetingroom/library, Ken is meeting with a mother and 15-year-old son. It's a program planning meeting, and they are brainstorming activities that they might enjoy taking up together. The last room appears a bit disheveled. It is home to a little refrigerator, a microwave, and a toaster oven. The walls include some original art with quotes from Ani Difranco and a Jimi Hendrix poster. At a fold up table, five boys are playing Magic. Three other kids, two girls and one boy are sitting in a big chair and a small couch. They chat together and with the Magic players.
Most Pathfinder members aren't at the center. They are at home, at the library, at an art studio, at a job or internship, reading a book on the town commons, hiking, perusing stores in town, at a community college class, picking up a devil's food cupcake at the bakery. Pathfinder people
Pathfinder is run by its founders, Kenneth Danford and myself, Joshua Hornick. We had both worked at the Amherst Regional Junior High School (a well-respected public school) before we left to start Pathfinder. Ken taught history, American history. I, general science. Both of us had six years of classroom teaching experience in a variety of schools. Together we commiserated about the plight of the junior high teacher. Ken dwelled on the bad relationships between students and teachers. It's hard for students to be open and honest with adults when the adult's job is to make sure the kids have bathroom passes, whose job is to make them mind, and whose duty is to constantly judge them and punish them or reward them, grade them or discipline them accordingly. I tended to focus more on the death of motivation. Kid's love of learning gets squashed. No one wants that to happen or tries to make it happen, but the education system has developed to a point where it happens constantly, and I was part of that system.
Together we decided to find a better way for ourselves and the teens with whom we worked. We ruled out the alternative school route. We are passionate advocates for social justice, and we could not think of a way to make a viable school equally available to the poor and not become poor ourselves, which we ruled out. I had done my graduate research on homeschooled teenagers, and I had learned that parents don't have to work a lot to homeschool a teenager. Specifically, I learned that homeschooled teenagers rarely receive academic instruction from their parents. They mostly learn on their own. With this knowledge, Ken and I figured that we could set up an organization whose support would make teen homeschooling a practical alternative for any family. Any family could escape school and enter an exciting adventure in life and learning. We also thought that it would enable us to have honest and meaningful relationships with our students and to help inspire youth to love life and learning.
Our motto in those days was, Build it and they will come. Our dreams have largely been realized; we have meaningful, honest relationships with teens and their families, and we see their love of life and learning grow. We built it and people have come. But who has come? The one similarity of all Pathfinder families is that they all agree that this is a better approach to adolescence for their child or children than school. After that, they are a varied crew. Some, when they were in school, were high achievers. Others were low achievers. Some were always homeschooled. Some thought that school was ok. Others hated it. Most families are lower-middle class by income, but a few are middle to upper middle, and a few are poor. There have only been a handful of kids of color. About half our members join us in September, making plans over the summer. The others join us throughout the rest of the year. Most are college bound. All of them are geniuses, but then so is every other kid. A few nuts and bolts
When Ken and I started Pathfinder in August, 1996, we hoped to be making the same salaries we got as public school teachers, about $30,000, after a few years. We're not quite there, but it's imminent. Our overhead comes to about $30,000 a year including $12,000 for rent. Other big expenses include health insurance for one family, maintenance and insurance on Pathfinder's station wagon, and postage and copying. The rest goes to salaries. About $7000 goes to the part-time staff and a few outside resources. We'd need about $100,000 budget to get the salaries we want. If Ken and I hadn't had savings, supportive families, and other financial resources, we never could have brought Pathfinder to where it is now.
Most of our income comes from membership fees. We charge $1500 per member for a year which includes unlimited consultations and all Pathfinder activities. A big bargain! Our membership is now about 50 kids. Families that can't afford our fee, pay what they can and work to make up the difference in fund-raising activities, most of which Pathfinder sponsors. The biggest fundraiser is a Friends of Pathfinder campaign. Friends make contributions between $25 and $1000 and receive our monthly, four-page journal, Liberated Learners, in which two families a month write autobiographical pieces. This raises about $9000 a year. Other fundraisers bring in about $4000 more. Much of our fundraising income goes to offset what families can't afford. We also make a few thousand dollars a year consulting (strategic planning) for non-members interested in teen homeschooling or setting up similar centers. We anticipate income of $80,000 this year. We hope that with membership growing to 65 or 70, we will be able to reach our personal financial goals in the next year or two.
Pathfinder is a teacher/administrator-led model. It was created by and it is maintained by two former classroom teachers. Other teachers who are friends or acquaintances often ask us if we can hire them. Most teachers long for the kind of relationships that Ken and I have with our students. They would love to teach classes where all the students are there by choice. Untold numbers of great teachers get fed up and leave or consider leaving school every year. Instead, if they've got some resources, a little common business sense, and enough determination, they might consider creating a Pathfinder in their communities.
So far, Pathfinder has been a marked success, and we are near financial success as well. I hope that a pathfinder opens in every community in the country.
* * * * * Pathfinder -- Community-Based Learning Center for Homeschooling Teenagers
PO Box 804, Amherst, MA 01004
256 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002
www.pathfindercenter.org
413-253-9412
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© Copyright 2000. Joshua Hornick - All Rights Reserved.