What is a microschool?
A microschool is a small school with just one or two classrooms, and teachers serving dual roles as administrators. Like a village schoolhouse serving its immediate community, classrooms are mixed-age and make use of public parks for outdoor recesses and PE.
Microschools are based on the beliefs that:
Small class sizes are one of the biggest drivers of positive education outcomes
Mixed-age groups foster a more positive environment than strict grade-leveling
A small school creates a stronger community between students, teachers, and parents
Let’s look deeper at each of these.
Class size
Smaller class sizes allow for more individualized learning, more autonomy and relaxed atmosphere, more one-on-one support from teachers to students, and more time teaching rather than classroom management. All schools strive for smaller class sizes, but having fewer students in each class is expensive.
Microschools save money by forgoing non-teaching administrative staff (the principal is one of the teachers) and not investing in specialized infrastructure (no gym, cafeteria, staff room, etc.). This enables us to have fewer students in each class and still pay the bills. It would be nice to have more space and admin staff, but we believe keeping classes small is the priority.
Mixed-age classrooms
At Inner Fire we have two classrooms: K-2 and 3-5. These age bands are close enough socially and academically that they can work together, and younger students learn from their older role models while older students can practice mentorship and build confidence as leaders.
But what if students are not at the same level? They aren’t. Even in a single-grade classroom, individuals’ abilities vary significantly. The expectation that they should all be “at grade level” creates an unnecessarily competitive and stressful environment. Our small class sizes let us have each student learn at their own pace, with expectations tailored to their abilities. Same-age classes would benefit from doing the same.
School community
In our school, all the students know each other, and they know every teacher. Deeper relationships form, including across age gaps. Without an extra administrative layer, parents speak with us teachers regularly and directly. Many parents speak with us daily at pickup and drop off. Parents who enjoy attending our holiday parties or helping plan field trips are enthusiastically encouraged and appreciated. There is a sense of shared purpose in helping the students thrive, and a feeling that we’re all actively working together on it.
How is this different from a homeschool pod?
There are a lot of similarities between homeschooling and how we teach at Inner Fire: small individualized groups, high autonomy and a more relaxed environment, and use of public outdoor space for example. Many of our students are former homeschoolers, or even current home schoolers that attend just a few days a week.
But we also have a comprehensive academic curriculum, full time dedicated teachers, a structured schedule, classroom rules and rituals, and a double digit student body to socialize with across both classes. We aim to provide all of the benefits of both homeschooling and private schools, without the intensive parent time investment and lower socialization of the former, or the large class sizes and stressful academic competition of the latter.