What are your qualifications?

I am a professionally trained teacher and school leader with relevant experience in a variety of subjects and grades.

I received three semesters of teacher training while enrolled as an undergrad at the University of Texas at Austin, where I earned a B.A. in history and literature with minors in economics and government and the Business Foundations Certificate from the McCombs School of Business. Subsequently, I enrolled at Texas A&M University, where I earned an M.A. in history with a minor in sociology, picking up valuable experience as a teaching assistant, including helping undergrads learn to write better.

I am a certified teacher in Texas with certifications in all core subjects, grades 4-8, and high school social studies and English, having earned my certification through an alternative certification program. I was also trained by the Barney Charter School Initiative of Hillsdale College when as a teacher I helped open a new charter school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

My teaching experience includes teaching all core academic subjects to grades 5-12. I have served in both public and private schools. My students have had a wide range of abilities, learning needs, and socioeconomic backgrounds. All of my students have positively benefited from my work with them. My passion is for a peaceful, productive classroom, where every student can meet high expectations.

My educational leadership experience includes three years as the Middle School Headmaster at a small parish classical school, serving an urban population. During the second year of my tenure, I served as the acting headmaster of the whole school, grades 5-12. My contributions to the school significantly helped turn it around and expand it into the elementary grades.

How does the three-year curriculum work?

Our cohorts function as online equivalents of micro-schools, which are characterized by mixed-grade classrooms, hearkening back to the one-room schoolhouse. Rather than deploy technology to ensure each student is working in the subject or course they need, we rotate the curriculum by topic, so that over the course of three years every student receives all the courses in our curriculum.

Math is done a little differently because each course stacks on the previous course. We divide our students into math-specific classes that will meet at various times throughout the week, as needed. We do not offer foreign language, which would also stack like math, but we make room for students to study any language they want to pursue.

Is the Wayside School a classical school?

Yes and no. The Wayside School teaches both logic and rhetoric and is deeply influenced by the classical liberal arts tradition. However, we do not require a classical language for either admission or completion of our program. My full-time teaching experience has been exclusively in classical schools, but my intention for the Wayside School is to create an educational space where people from all types of schools can come together to learn alongside and from one another. Like all classical schools, we study primary documents wherever possible, rather than secondary sources.

Can my existing school or homeschool group benefit from the Wayside School?

Absolutely! I would love to see wayside cohorts as little schools within existing high schools. I would love for a homeschool parent to establish a cohort from their close group of fellow homeschool parents and serve as the cohort leader of the group (and earn income for it). For small schools, the Wayside School can deliver all the curricular needs for a high school program and train a teacher in the local school as a cohort leader. Our goal is a global network of cohorts and graduates able to engage peacefully in civil dialogue because of a shared background studying American democracy and its interrelationship with the world. The point is not market share but spreading a common language of ideas, so that peace is promoted.

Is the Wayside School accredited?

The Wayside School is not accredited at this time, though we are considering the pursuit of accreditation as an online high school as a near-future possibility. We will help students create portfolios of their work and issue evidence of course completion and credits earned. The parents of a student in an online high school still must comply with any state regulations for homeschooling according to their local state regulations.

Can a cohort meet in person?

Yes. A Wayside Cohort that forms in a local area is encouraged to meet once per week for in-person class discussion. The cohort leader would be required to meet all safety requirements of such an in-person meeting.

What are the qualifications for a teacher, cohort leader, or assistant cohort leader?

Teachers must have a valid, up-to-date background check, relevant experience in teaching, and an undergraduate degree.

Cohort leaders have the same qualifications as teachers, but the cohort leaders need only to demonstrate the ability to lead discussion groups based on what is taught, planned, and assigned by the teachers. They function like teaching assistants in a college course.

Assistant cohort leaders would be selected by cohort leaders and would need to pass a background check, have a high school diploma or the equivalent, and have some experience teaching.

Teaching experience can include informal teaching, such as coaching a little league team, teaching Sunday school, or serving as a scout troop leader.

Interviews for all of these positions are a key element of the process, and a cohort leader should ideally have already identified at least two students from at least two different families who would join his or her cohort if approved. A potential cohort leader should have a plan for connecting with potential students through his or her personal and professional networks.

What are some of the possibilities for the early gap-year?

How about working in an internship in a foreign country or in the mountains of Colorado while taking a couple dual credit courses from the college from which you would like to receive an acceptance letter?  What if you served for a year in a non-profit organization, perhaps part of your religion or something about which you are passionate, working for room and board only and perhaps a small stipend?  This would be a huge blessing to the non-profit and whomever it serves, perhaps people in the inner-city or a rural area struggling with poverty or hunger or in need of after-school tutors to help their children succeed.  The possibilities are endless!

What are some of the possibilities for learning cohorts?

Learning cohorts could include a large classroom with online learning capabilities in a public high school that serves as a micro-magnet program.  A learning cohort could be an independent, teacher-owned microschool that has a specialty alongside the core curriculum provided by the Wayside School, such as: a pre-nursing program; a trade school program; a sports program like a football or volleyball team; an art, music, or dance studio; a coding program or other STEM program; a military academy; an equestrian program; or a scout troop.  A learning cohort could be a small, church-based school, whether teacher-owned or church-owned, operating out of a fellowship hall one or two days a week or out of a Sunday school classroom.  In-person learning cohorts can meet anywhere from 1-5 days per week and either be homeschool cooperatives, hybrid schools, or full-time microschools.  There are no limits to the exciting and creative possibilities, and entrepreneurial educators, even those who don’t have traditional teaching experience, are welcome to contact us to discuss these possibilities. We’ll provide the teaching expertise. You provide the unique set of interests and relationships!

What are the three biggest ideas behind the creation of the Wayside School?

An education that is restful and therefore liberating.  An education that brings people together.  An education that is civics-focused, in other words one that helps citizens understand America’s founding, form of government, and way of life.  In all of these things, the Wayside School will be accessible.

Why Start During a Pandemic?  And, “A call to leaders of churches, small businesses, not-for-profits, and other institutions!”

I was finishing a three-year contract as Middle School Headmaster at a small parish school near Philadelphia, while planning to open a hybrid school at a sister parish in Philadelphia with 20 students. I had designed the school and curriculum, hosted open houses, and recruited several families, and then the COVID-19 lock-down happened, throwing these plans into a state of uncertainty.

As I began learning by experience how to deliver effective online education and exploring what was available, I discovered that the curriculum and school design I had created would work very well if offered online. I began adapting to the new market situation by designing a product that is better and offered at a lower price point than comparable live, online programs.

As a parent, teacher, and school leader, I predict that more families will enter the homeschooling market and the online course market as a result of the pandemic. Online education works particularly well for high school students, who as young adults will benefit from learning how to tele-commute effectively, as so many working adults must do today. For high school, many parents also sense a greater need for a subject-matter expert to challenge and inspire their children. In April, I decided to enter this growing online market by providing excellent and restful education for high school students.

Another major motivation for me is the impact of this pandemic on churches, religious institutions, other nonprofits, and small businesses.  Donations will be down.  Sales will be down. Some businesses will not be able to open. We will lose many smaller organizations like these, which are foundational to civil society. If you fit into one of these categories, the Wayside School could be a way to diversify your income stream and survive the ongoing economic winter. 

Most churches have someone who could serve as a cohort leader for a Wayside Learning Cohort.  This could be any adult in the community with a bachelor's degree, some experience teaching—including informal experience in activities such as teaching Sunday School or adult classes—and a valid background check.  This person could be the pastor of a small church that might not survive on tithes alone.  It could be a youth minister facing a furlough, layoff, or pay cut due to a shrinking church budget.  What a better way to disciple youth than serve as a cohort leader?  It could be a homeschool parent, out-of-work parent, or retired teacher who loves working with youth and can gather a small group of parents and lead a learning cohort at the church once or twice a week or completely online but with members of that community. 

The design of the Wayside School makes serving as a cohort leader both easy and enjoyable.  The hard work of lesson and curriculum planning is done for you, and we even provide the weekly lessons.  All you have to do is read along with the students, lead discussions, and grade the work using rubrics and software that we will provide.

The tuition is set at a very affordable price, $3600 per year, but gather a group of 20-30 students to start a cohort and the numbers can add up fairly quickly, especially as it expands to 50 students or multiplies to several cohorts.  Scholarships or additional fees to cover facility costs or extra programs are at the discretion of cohort leaders. The cost of the curriculum is aligned with the size of the cohort, and we are able to provide continuously improving services to our students and cohort leaders.

This is a great opportunity for leaders out there looking for a creative and excellent solution both to educational needs and economic needs during this pandemic.

Please contact me if you would like to inquire about becoming a cohort leader.  Churches, homeschool co-ops, other religious institutions, non-profits, or businesses are welcome to inquire about bringing people together as part of the Wayside School.  Even other schools, whether public or private, are welcome to start a learning cohort of the Wayside School.  We invite art studios, fencing academies, sports teams, equestrian programs, music schools, and all other sorts of other entities to inquire.  A business or non-profit could gather a Wayside cohort and provide the students with internships alongside the curriculum. 

The possibilities really are limitless, but cohorts are not complicated or difficult to start.  They are very simple and easy to start.  The Wayside School provides restful and thus liberating and life-giving education that can restore our society and bring people together as we rebuild after 2020!