In this guest post, Dr. Carolyn McKeon shares some insights another way to homeschool .
Maranatha Mission Learning Community
by Dr. Carolyn McKeon
The fact is that every minute of the day we’re learning. There’s no such thing as a waste of time when you’re talking about learning, when you’re talking about evolving. You can’t not learn. Learning is about gaining experience and new insights into how to live, and to what the world is about…You can’t really stop a… person from learning…you can never tell a person he’s not learning” (Greenberg, 2007).
What does learning look like at MMLC?
In response to the fixed, hierarchical schools of today my husband and I set out to create something unique; something that not only gave parents freedom to educate as they desire, but something that built community. In 2007, we were inspired by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association’s (2007) interpretation of the homeschool law in PA, which stated (and has since been removed), “Groups of homeschoolers could organize a school under the auspices of their church. An administrator could be chosen to keep records, the teachers would be the parents, and the school campus would be divided up into each home” (p. 4). This is just what we did!
We started with the idea of needed a religious organization to write our learning community into its bylaws. This was easy. In 1985, my parents, Thomas and Kathleen Murphy, of Philadelphia started a home church and homeless ministry. My dad was a licensed minister and Maranatha Mission Home Network, Inc was started to support the idea of home churches and taking in kids who aged out of the social services system once they turned 18. It grew to include various homeless people who needed support to get back on their feet with jobs, education and kicking “bad” habits. This ministry is still supporting these ideas and now runs in Hartwick, NY. In 2007, we transferred the location of the organization from Philadelphia to our home in Trout Run, PA. In 2008, the bylaws of the organization where rewritten to include governance of the learning community. The paperwork was filed with the state and the stage was set. The kicker, we needed 5 students to start the actual “school”. I only had 4 boys! In the summer of 2009, another mother decided to join our efforts and MMLC was born. I attended the state required seminars for non-public school administrators, filed the paperwork, and we started learning in freedom.
As a religious, private school registered in the state of PA, MMLC is less constrained by the law and allows parents to educate their children free from some of the regulations that make homeschooling in PA cumbersome. We are not required to have portfolios, standardized testing, or end of the year evaluations that are turned into local superintendents. As the administrator, I along with our steering committee, oversee the now 60+ students enrolled in MMLC. Our oversight is minimal and your child’s education is between you and your child; not you, your child, and the state or school. We do not approve curriculum, teaching style, or have a required curriculum. Our learning community runs 365 days a year and we ask you to maintain your own records of your child at your home. Not so that we can monitor your progress but so that when your children look back in 5 or 10 years and say what did I accomplish, you can pull out all the wonderful things you did together and remember those accomplishments.
Our Foundational statement shares our thoughts. “MMLC is committed to diverse expressions of evolving, community-based learning that would replace fixed and hierarchical school systems. It is the belief of the parents, facilitators, and leadership at MMLC that learning comes naturally to children and the more we control learning, parcel it out, measure it, and push it, the harder it becomes. We believe that if we give young people an encouraging, compassionate, and supportive environment, that they will learn, just as they breathe and grow taller. MMLC believes learning should be intrinsically interesting to its members. MMLC believes that learning is encouraging, compassionate, and supportive. MMLC believes standardized education is an intellectual monoculture that diminishes rather than encourages participation in the affairs of the community. The establishment of this learning community is driven by the desire of its members to create a model for cultural, spiritual, and social renewal. MMLC further believes in edification that reclaims the natural qualities of learning and supports the individualized needs of families as they endeavor to nurture lifelong learners. In addition, MMLC believes each individual possess a complex personality containing many dimensions of experience, knowledge, and purpose that should be supported”.
Some might say, why be an “organized school”? As an organized group of learners there are some benefits that provide motivation for our continued desire to be a recognized “private, religious school” in PA. We have non-profit status with tax breaks on learning materials and can take the educator’s tax credit of $250 on our taxes. We receive grant information from the state. We are allowed by law to structure our learning how the parents and students see fit because of religious exemptions. We offer ungraded learning and no requirement of immunizations (we claim religious exemption for all students). We are only required by law to offer the following at the secondary school level: English, to include language, literature, speech and composition; science, to include biology and chemistry; geography; social studies, to include civics, economics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; a foreign language; mathematics to include general mathematics and statistics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health and physiology; and safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and preventions of fires (PA 24 P.S. § 13-1327(b)(2)). This means students are not required to take them. This is unlike the homeschooling law, which states certain requirements for high school. This gives our learners more flexibility to follow their plan for high school not one dictate to by the state.
MMLC offers structured classes on-ground as well as on-line. We have a less structured, dialogical pedagogy of online classes on Collaborize. We also encourage participation in community educational opportunities from libraries to sports as well as co-operative engagement and other structured learning institutions such as colleges and local schools. We see all of our adult and youth participants as potential educational facilitators (EF). We believe that youth can be “teachers” too. The EF utilizes a variety of instructional strategies (methods, techniques, etc.) and resources (media, technologies, etc.), effective organization skills, and effective communication techniques to establish and facilitate engaging and meaningful learning environments that support the intellectual, social, spiritual, and physical development of the learners. The EF fosters active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the learning environment. The EF uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. We believe learning comes in all forms and throughout all aspects of our lives.
If you would like more information about MMLC, please feel free to contact us at maranathamlc at gmail.com or by calling our office at 570-916-1376. This year’s enrollment has been closed, but we are taking names for the 2012/2013 learning year, which begins again on July 1, 2012.
About the Author
Dr. Carolyn McKeon is an adjunct professor at Kaplan, Ellis, and Northampton Colleges. She joined the Kaplan family in May 2007 after completing her doctorate in K-12 Teaching and Learning, Ellis in 2009, and finally NCC in 2010. She has been in the field of education for 20 plus years with experience in various teaching venues. Her most extensive work is in the homeschooling field. She has been a home educator for 13 years and is intimately involved in the homeschooling community. She also holds an M.S. in Education (Reading and Language Arts) from Duquesne University and a B.S. from SUNY Cortland as a Teacher of the Speech and Hearing Handicapped. Currently she is pursuing another M.S. Ed. in Instructional Design and Technology. Carolyn’s expertise is in individualized learning with an emphasis on learning styles and personalized curriculum development. She is the Academic Principal of Maranatha Missions Learning Community and has several years in the classroom as a hands-on educator as well as being private reading and speech tutor. In addition, Dr. McKeon has published articles in the homeschooling community with regards to Multiple Intelligence Theory and Curriculum development. Her most recent publication was in October of 2010, with a publication in Journal of eLearning and Online Teaching.
On a personal note she is the mother of 4 boys (15, 12, 11 and 8). She has been married for 18 years to a Biology Professor at Pennsylvania College of Technology (a Penn State Affiliate). Dr. McKeon has a love of lifting weights and Victorian Doll houses. She is an animal lover with 5 dogs and 3 cats and a devote Messianic Gentile. Dr. McKeon considers herself to be an educational catalyst and strives to leave a lasting impression with her learners.
