Beacon School a hybrid model

BEACON: Learning, fun

‘Microschool’ allows best of homeschool, brick-and-mortar worlds

BY DREW HARMON

THE EDMOND SUN

As the school year begins, several Edmond-area students will be the first to embark on a new “microschool”
that will be a hybrid between homeschooling and a traditional brick-and-mortar school.

The Beacon School, 18800 N. Western Ave., will open its doors for the first time Aug. 5 to welcome 17
students from pre-kindergarten to fourth grade from 11 local families.

Edmond resident Emily Jensen, founder and head of school, said the idea for The Beacon School was
conceived two years ago when she was looking at local schools for her children. She found many schools
that had interesting and successful programs, but what she was looking for was particularly unique and
difficult to find, she said.

Jensen said she was looking for a school that would allow her to homeschool part-time and send her children
to school part-time for additional learning opportunities like projectbased learning, field trips, leadership
training, group activities and positive peer interactions.

The students will learn in a multiage model, with all students in the same class learning at their own, unique
pace.

“On any given day, we can only accommodate 15 students in the classroom,” Jensen said.

Several students will attend part time, either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. Others will attend
full-time, Monday through Thursday.

The students come from Edmond, Oklahoma City, Luther and Piedmont, and most were homeschooled
before coming to Beacon,

SEE BEACON | A5

Beacon School a hybrid model

BEACON: Learning, fun

FROM PAGE A1

she said.

Jensen was a teacher and worked in administration at private schools in Texas before moving to Oklahoma
about five years ago.

“I got a sense for what happens in the classroom and for what happens in administration,” she said. “I would
never have dared to tackle this without the experience I’ve had. It’s a daunting task even with that
experience.”

She began by calling and visiting microschools in Oklahoma and out of state to talk with their leadership
teams.

“I just started dreaming about it and told my husband one day, ‘Honey, I think I’m going to start a school.’
He looked at me like I was crazy, and it probably was.”

She said it’s been an amazing, exciting journey.

Beacon will have two “school guides,” one fulltime and one part-time. Jensen said school guides are very
different from a standard, lecture-oriented teacher.

“They work with students on an individual basis, kind of like a tutor,” she said.

At Beacon, students have specific daily goals and longer-term projects, and it’s the guide’s responsibility to
assist and answer questions.

“What we’re trying to do is put the responsibility for learning on the shoulders of the student,” Jensen said.
“We don’t want them absorbing information. We want them proactively seeking understanding and trying to
figure out answers to questions.”

Beacon will be much more learner-driven rather than teacher-driven, she said.

Jensen said microschools are small schools started by parents who are unsatisfied by public school options.

“It used to be that parents wouldn't really question the process of education, and would just leave the process
up to the ‘experts’ within the government,” she said.

“But within the past 10 years or so, more and more parents have begun questioning the processes we have in
place as a country to educate our children, and are seeking for different models that allowchildren to be more
engaged in the learning process through hands-on, project-based learning experiences.”

The concept is slowly catching on across the globe, she said, but the hybrid model of incorporating
homeschooling is much less common.

“The biggest difference in the hybrid model is we’re trying to engage families who want to be engaged in
the learning process with their children,” she said. “It’s a new concept that many people have not heard of. I
think over the next 10 to 15 years we’ll see it really explode.”

Jensen said the future of Beacon will be a learning process.

“We want to grow organically,” she said. “We’re not numbers-driven. It’s about providing the best quality
education we can for our families. We want to find families who are willing to think outside the box and
don’t want what’s been prescribed for 150 years by the government.

“I’d love to see it where we have small Beacon campuses all over the state and beyond, but for now we’re
focused on quality and growing and educating students the best we can.”
Part-time tuition is $350 a month, full-time tuition is $700 a month, and the school is still accepting students
for the 2019-20 school year.

For information about the Beacon School, email info@thebeaconschool.net.

Students help with the ribbon cutting at the grand opening celebration of the Beacon School.

PHOTO PROVIDED

The Beacon School, a new microschool in Edmond, opened its doors for the first time with a grand
opening celebration on July 22.

PHOTO PROVIDED

Lila Morris, Goldie Kariya and Gracelyn Morris display their face paint during the Beacon School
grand opening celebration.

PHOTO PROVIDED
Playing in a sandbox during the Beacon School grand opening celebration are, from left: Beckett
Kleman, Truman Moses, Isaac Martin and Eli Martin.

PHOTO PROVIDED

Wednesday, 07/31/2019 Pag.A01 Copyright (c)2019 Edmond Sun, Edition 7/31/2019