Before any of my children started school, I had made up my mind that we would need to homeschool. Theo was working long hours with shifts on the weekends and I did not want to have a family situation where the kids were gone during the week and Theo was gone during the weekend. It was a lot on my shoulders to try to hold all the routines and relationships together. I know because the year that we had our foster teen, it was like this, and it was challenging. She was at school when Theo was home, and Theo was at work when she was home. Because of that, I had set my mind on homeschooling.
Until I discovered our local Christian hybrid school, CHESS Christian School. It seemed too good to be true. School in the classroom only part-time and homeschool the remaining days? We began to look seriously into this school and quickly found that it would be perfect for our family and our needs. A bonus was that they were hiring and I could work at the school, landing us a tuition discount that helped greatly.
The first year at this school, our oldest was in Kindergarten and I taught only two classes- half of a day a week. It was a nice way to ease back into working! Then in our 2nd year, I was offered a more permanent position as the 1st grade CORE teacher teaching two full days a week. This is my 2nd year teaching 1st grade and I’m loving it!
Please note that while I am an employee of this school and therefore represent them just by being me, this blog post is completely my personal opinion and isn’t a representation of the school itself.
So! What is hybrid education? Before the year of our Lord 2020, most people had never heard of hybrid education. Now, the name has a tainted edge to it due to all the pandemic schooling, but I assure you that when done intentionally, it can be a huge asset to a family. A hybrid school is a school that takes some part of the child’s education in a classroom setting while the remainder of the schooling is done at home on ones own time. This can look many different ways, but at our school, we have Core classes two days a week and the remaining three days a week are for elective classes and completing the remainder of the classwork at home. Elective classes are offered two days a week, and those are completely “a la carte”, where a family can choose how many classes they wish to attend. Every student at our hybrid school has a different schedule, ranging from just one class a week to four full days at school a week!
As a classroom teacher, this has been a unique model of education for me to adjust to! All of my educational background/training and most curriculum is divided up into 5 20-40 minute lessons a week. Since I only see my students two days a week, I have to make sure that I can cover the information from all five lessons in those two days, and send home creative work that will reinforce the concepts that we learned in class and that will be easily transferable to parental guidance at home. Instead of just sending home “homework”, I’m sending home 2-3 days of “school work at home”. Another struggle for me has been the fact that I work “part-time” but really am covering the work of a full time teacher, just not in the classroom full time.
As a student, this is a unique model of eduction because they are in the classroom only two days a week, and working with their parents on independently at home the remaining time.
Even though it has been a bit of a pivot and adjustment for me to learn how to teach this way, I have SO MANY great things to say about this model of education and how our school does it.
Things Parents Should Consider Before Choosing Hybrid Education
- Do we have the capacity to homeschool at least part time? Hybrid education is wonderful, but it is NOT a hands-off approach to your child’s education.
- Can I consistently homeschool at least two days a week?
- Do I work well as a team player? Because parent/teacher communication is a must in this type of educational system
- What is the goal of my child’s education? What are some of the barriers I foresee to that goal? What benefit would they gain from being a classroom? Are there disadvantages to my child being in a classroom setting?
- Can a small, private school meet the individual needs of my child? For example, my school at this point is often not able to meet the needs of students on IEPs, since we do not have any reading specialists or behavior specialists in the building.
Pros of Hybrid Education
- Family Involvement in the eduction of the child
- More time together as a family
- Flexibility in scheduling during the week
- The child/students have other supportive adults in their lives who can help lead, guide and teach them
- The child/student is able to interact with other students their age and be in a classroom where they learn to work together and help one another out
- A supportive community that extends beyond the classroom
- The child/student learns how to work independently and take charge of their own learning.
- I LOVE that I get to be home with my kiddos and be involved at school with my children
Cons of Hybrid Education
- The workload can be fast paced and fairly rigorous (remember how we are covering 5 days of information in 2 days?)
- The education that is taught in the classroom must be reinforced at home. If this does not happen, then the child begins to fall behind quickly. It can be overwhelming!
- Cost- it is not free!
- Students are in a classroom setting where the education cannot be as individualized as it is at home. Of course, they do still get home days where this education can be individualized!
- Parent involvement at home is a MUST. The students are not coming home with “homework”- they are coming home with a full day of schoolwork at home.
- The school/classroom teacher chooses the curriculum and guides most of the work that is done both at school and at home. Although I will say as a teacher and a parent, parents are free to reinforce and teach whatever additional lessons/curriculums they would like at home- but the student is also required to turn in the work required by the teacher.
Because I have gotten a lot of questions about CHESS recently, I thought I would share some of the FAQs and some specifics of how our school works. Remember not all hybrid education looks the same, but this is how our hybrid education looks!
Tues/Thurs- CORE days. Classes offered are math, language arts, history, social studies and Bible. For grades K-6, they must be in core days for all classes. For grades 7-12, they can pick and choose the classes that they want to take. For example, a 9th grader can take just science classes at school.
Mon/Weds- elective classes. Students can sign up for the classes that they wish to take such as sewing, art, music, career planning, PE, cooking, woodworking, etc. The list really does go on and on, and the classes offered each year are different depending on the people from the community that are ready and willing to teach their life skills! Students in K-12 can sign up for whatever classes they would like, and are responsible for switching classes throughout the day.
Fri- No school. Fridays are reserved for staff meetings, high school gathering, some honors classes and occasional school field trips.
Because of the unique class offerings at CHESS, every student is taking a different class load! And because of that, the cost is different for each family and each situation. For a better look at tuition details, please click here.
One of the things that I love most about CHESS is the community that I get to be involved in. It’s been so beautiful to have Christian brothers and sisters that surround me at work. I love how the atmosphere of work is so supportive of family life and encouraging one another to follow hard after Jesus. I have loved getting to know some of the teens at the school and am just so impressed with their maturity, work ethic, and desire to follow Jesus. Plus, my little 1st graders are SUCH a huge blessing to me. The privilege of getting to spend my days with little minds who are so eager to learn – that is not lost on me. I absolutely love my job!
As always- if you have questions, please feel free to ask away! I am happy to answer questions and also be thoroughly honest about our experience in hybrid education. It does take an entire mental shift to get used to the way things are done in the hybrid setting, but in my opinion, it really is the best of both worlds!