School options for deep roots kiddos?

I'm interested in moving to the lab, but need to figure out where my boys, currently ages 2 & 8, will go to school. I'm not crazy about public schools, but I don't necessarily want to home school full time either. Missoula has some private schools that would work for now, but nothing secular at the high school level.

I saw a post that Armin wants to attract more families with children to his section of the lab. Matt Powers has a post about what a permie school would look like. There's another post about Tim & Kristie seeking a family with similar age children to share their section. Tim & Kristie have pulled their kiddos out of the local elementary school in favor of home schooling this year.

Are there other school-age kids living at the lab? Where/how are they being schooled? Would anyone be interested in organizing some kind of cooperative school on-site at the lab? Is this already happening? Would Paul allow such a thing?

I like the idea of folks setting up some collaborative home school stuff.

There are other deep roots folks with kids, that are coming with their kids. And there are other families currently considering deep roots with kids.

I'm glad that we have Armin's land now. This solves the family question in a big way. The big innovation stuff will be focused on the first 200, and the family stuff can happen on the 100.

One word of warning: figure out what Montana rules are about homeschooling groups and co-ops. I know some that have gotten in trouble for trading time-mom A teaches all the kids on Monday, mom B on Tuesday, etc. That was considered teaching other people's kids and not under homeschooling laws that only apply to parents directly teaching their own kids. But other states are fine with that, or up to a point, or all parents have to be present, etc. Knowing the rules can let you set things up to do what you want in a way that keeps the dept. of make you sad off your back.

The best teaching is when the kids are doing right beside mom AND DAD. Deep roots looks like it could be awesome for that.

This may answers some questions about Montana home school laws.
http://opi.mt.gov/PDF/Measurement/HomeSchoolPacket.pdf

paul wheaton wrote:There are other deep roots folks with kids, that are coming with their kids. And there are other families currently considering deep roots with kids.

To clarify, we do not yet have dates when other kids (besides Tim and Kristie's) are moving here. A move to a more homesteading lifestyle can take some planning and time.

I'm coming to the farm in August as a gapper, hopefully for a longish term. I have my bachelor's degree in Music Education, I taught high school band for 2 years, and have been running my own private music studio for the last 3 years, where I teach about 35 students a week.

If anyone would want it, I'd be willing to help with teaching, or designing a curriculum and lesson plans to some degree while at the farm. I left my last teaching position because I was becoming dissatisfied with public education in general, and I'd be interested to see how quickly students can learn in a non traditional school setting.

Jesse- I'm starting my kids out this fall on homeschooling...an we are using the Abeka curriculum except my four year old daughter will be using the hooked on phonics system to get her started on reading I have family an friends that use both an love it!

paul wheaton wrote:The big innovation stuff will be focused on the first 200, and the family stuff can happen on the 100.

So are Kristie & Tim located on "the 100" too?

We are a separate 6 acres all to itself...a children friendly area

More questions:
1) How far is it from Tim & Kristie's 6 acres to Armin's 100 acres (distance between the two spaces where kids are allowed)?
2) Would it be safe and feasible for kids to walk this route on their own? Bike? Ride a horse?
3) for kids attending school offsite, is there a school bus?
4) would driving kids to & from school constitute too much traffic (like commuting to a job)?

1--The properties touch corners.
2--my kids are always walking/biking back and forth
3--there is a bus available for pick up 3 miles away
4--yes it would unless a trip off the hill was with others doing other things

Tim Wheaton wrote:1--The properties touch corners.
2--my kids are always walking/biking back and forth
3--there is a bus available for pick up 3 miles away
4--yes it would unless a trip off the hill was with others doing other things

So it sounds like school options that would be in keeping with the desire to minimize vehicular traffic would be either walk to the bus stop or homeschooling. Did I get that right?