How it all began
Structure
Money Matters
The Future
The Alternative Learning Center: A Dream Come True
by Katharine Houk
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Imagine This!
You are a parent in a rural area who for a variety of reasons has been considering homeschooling, but you are concerned about isolation and socialization for your children. You also have concerns about helping your children learn about subjects with which you are not familiar or which would be better learned in groups, such as foreign languages or laboratory science. In looking for a local homeschooling support group, you discover that in your area homeschooling families get together twice a week at a learning center in a community building. Parents and children lead classes and workshops on a wide variety of topics. People from the community come in to teach, and field trips and opportunities in the community are also part of what the group offers. You decide to drop by to see what it is like.
On the day you arrive, outside in the sunshine on the wide steps of the building five or six parents are discussing state testing requirements for homeschoolers while their children are busy indoors. In the lobby of the building you find more parents sitting and talking with one another while small children play nearby. These parents are planning an "astronomy night," when they will meet at one of their homes in the evening to explore the night sky with the older children. Upstairs you peek in on a French class and a class in which solar cars are being built; in the gym children are involved in cooperative games. Back in the lobby a woman shows you the bulletin board for announcements and items of interest. She also shows you the "mailboxes"--a container of file folders labeled with members' names which people use to communicate with one another. She explains that the center is cooperatively run by parents and children. It all seems too good to be true, and you are eager to become involved.
Several things aren't obvious on your first visit: the slow and uneven process of the center's growth over the past nine years which brought it to where it is today; the ever-changing leadership; the different settings in which the center functioned and the evolving rules by which it was run over the years; the dedication, communication and work it takes to keep it running well; and the growing pains the center is experiencing as more and more families are becoming involved. How it all began
At the end of the year in 1990 I received a phone call from a woman who was looking for an educational alternative for her children. She had explored our rural area's public and private schools and had considered homeschooling, but was looking for something more. Because I ran a local homeschooling support group and had contacts in alternative education, we were able to call together a group of eight people to discuss educational philosophy. We agreed that a school was at that time more than the people involved could undertake. However, a learning center had the potential to grow into a school, and could in the meantime be used by people of all ages. We each had a different vision of what the ideal learning alternative would be, and we dared to "dream big" as we started small. We approached the project slowly, and with careful listening and respect for one another's ideas and visions.
We put together a survey to ascertain the number of interested families, their geographical locations, and the types of programs and services that interested them. Based on this survey, we made plans, and at the beginning of September in 1991 The Alternative Learning Center (TALC) was incorporated as a non-profit organization and opened its doors for workshops three days a week at a community building. During the first year twenty families used the center, and eight families became members; membership was not a requirement for participation at that time, though it is today. It was eight months from the first meeting of parents to the day the learning center opened its doors. After a year at the community center, TALC moved into the homes of two of the members because rent and insurance costs had become prohibitive. After a semester in the members' homes, TALC moved to a local church which offered a nice space for $25 a month. A few years later, because of renovations at that church, TALC is back at the original community center which it is now able to afford, having grown to serve over seventy children. Structure
TALC is set up as a parent cooperative. Its purposes, as expressed in its bylaws, are:
"A. To provide a place for people of all ages to share educational resources and knowledge, and to organize and coordinate activities which further such sharing and B. To operate a program of activities for children and youth, using the resources of the community, to encourage learning in its broadest sense."
TALC's governing board is called the Council, and any member who is interested can become a Council member. This Council adopts rules and regulations by consensus (and sometimes by voting), plans what will happen at the center, and holds an annual meeting as well as other meetings throughout the year. At planning meetings the upcoming semester's schedule is worked out based on information from workshop/field-trip proposal sheets submitted by each family. There is a rotating Coordinator position, as well as Secretary and Treasurer. Sometimes two people share the Coordinator position, and other positions are created as needed; all positions are volunteer. As the center has grown, there has been talk of hiring a Coordinator, because it has become such a time-consuming job.
Over the years the ways that the parents are involved and the scheduling of classes and events have changed according to the needs of the group. At the current time, each family is responsible for one workshop/event/class/series/field-trip each semester. The families don't necessarily have to lead the class themselves, they can instead find someone from the community, or arrange for a field trip or some other educational experience. Often what is offered is based on what the children have requested, and sometimes the children themselves lead the classes. Lately I've been hearing the complaint at the center that there is simply too much to choose from! What a wonderful "problem" to have!
Some of the offerings are very structured and "class-like," others are more free-flowing and experiential. The people involved try to strike a healthy balance among philosophies of learning. One of the mothers expressed to me that although she didn't always agree with the child-rearing and educational philosophies of some of the families at the center, she was glad that her child was being exposed to many different ways of being and doing, and saw the center's diversity as a strength. Diversity can also be a source of ambiguity and tension, but this tension can expand our vision and increase our tolerance, and the ability to live with ambiguity is not a bad thing to possess.
TALC is not a "drop-off" center. Parents stay and use the time for enrichment and support. If a parent cannot stay, he or she must find an adult present who is willing to be responsible for his or her children that day. Classes and events are multi-age, and there is no grading or compulsion. The center is open two days a week during school hours and field trips are on other days of the week, though sometimes TALC has had summer sessions. One of the beauties of homeschooling is its flexibility; families need not follow a "school" schedule. Members don't always want to see TALC's fun end in May, and summer offers new possibilities for learning because of warmer weather.
Socialization for both parents and children is an important part of the center. Deep friendships among families have developed, and people often get together for extra outings and outside classes in the community as a result of the connections they've made at the center. The place is full of the noise of happy children who have chosen which classes to attend and who look forward to seeing their friends twice (or more) a week. At the end of each semester the center hosts Display Day, when the children bring their projects from home and/or from classes at the center, and the drama group and chorus perform for relatives and friends. This festive event has become a TALC tradition.
During the first year of the center's operation, one of the workshop days chosen was Saturday because we wanted non-homeschoolers to be involved; we also tried having events late in the day so people could participate after school. For whatever reason, people beyond the homeschooling community did not take advantage of the offerings. Perhaps by the end of the day or week, kids had had enough of being busy with "learning" activities and were craving time of their own. Yet as time has gone on, every so often one or another parent has been known to take his or her child out of school for a day to attend something special at TALC.
The families themselves are responsible for meeting the state's legal homeschooling requirements; the learning center does not take care of the paperwork required by the state's homeschooling regulation. TALC's activities look great on the required reports, but the writing of them is up to the parent/child. Money Matters
The amount charged per family has varied greatly over the years, based on rent and insurance costs and the number of families involved. At first, though we encouraged people to become members, even people who were not members could use the center (they paid for workshops that were free to members). There are two semesters--September through early December and February through April or May (it varies). Currently, the membership fee for each semester is $35 per family with a $16 insurance surcharge per child for the year. Classes sometimes have extra fees if they require materials or are led by people who wish to be paid. Field trips to performances and museums also sometimes require extra fees. While the learning center seems like an amazing financial bargain to those people who might be able to consider a private school for their children, there are families in this area for whom the cost (which can range from about $85 to well over $300 per year) is a very large sum. For families needing financial assistance, the center offers scholarships (called TALCerships); in exchange for a reduction in membership fees people devote extra energy and time to the running of the center beyond the basic that is required of each family.
Funds raised through membership fees are used to pay for rent, insurance, postage and printing, and sometimes for materials. The center operates in the black and has a nest egg for emergencies, and no one, to my knowledge, has ever been turned away for financial reasons. The Future
TALC's mushrooming membership, diversity in educational styles and the variety of parental expectations of the center have produced growing pains which may lead to changes in structure, the search for a larger space, additional days when it will be open, more off-site classes and experiences, or possibly some spin-off groups or new learning alternatives. TALC's greatest challenge, but also its greatest strength, is its diversity. The learning center process can be very empowering to both parents and children, and some of TALC's programs are branching out into the wider community (a community chorus, for example). TALC is one successful way that people who might otherwise be isolated have joined together to create an educational alternative that meets local needs and is flexible and ever-evolving, and it could provide inspiration for similar efforts elsewhere. More information (including the philosophies underlying the center, copies of bylaws, sample registration materials, surveys, rules, and other forms) is available in the book Creating a Cooperative Learning Center: An Idea-Book for Homeschooling Families. Contact
Katharine Houk,
29 Kinderhook Street,
Chatham, NY 12037, USA.
518-392-6900.* * * * *
© Copyright 2000. Katharine Houk - All Rights Reserved.
allpie@taconic.net