How to Launch a Micro-School | Jeanette Eastin and Tabitha Chapman-Marson

Jeanette and Tabitha join us today to educate our viewers on the different options to the education systems currently available to our children, why they are superior to the publicly funded systems and how anyone can customize teaching to benefit each and every student no matter their individual needs. Tabitha began home-schooling her son in early 2022 out of pure frustration of the public system while Jeanette is the cofounder of Steam Schoolhouse with the intention of offering students a way to escape the indoctrination train, offering micro school pods, an unconventional method to teaching youth.

On One Approach to an Alternative Education System ….
Learning pods for kids, we are a micro school, so we started from grade J K all the way up to grade five. We have two teachers. We have 11 kids right now, but our space is able to accommodate up to 20 children. So, our kids are getting the math, the literacy, the science, but it's student-led. And it's an opportunity for our kids really to dictate how they'd like to be taught and how they really grasp what they're being taught. I love what I'm doing. I haven't looked back since then. We started in February and we're going full force, full steam ahead.

On the Value of Each Student …
Every child to the system I know in Ontario is worth $12,525 annually. And if we were to decentralize education, we could actually save over $10 million annually if they just gave the money back to the parents. Currently, [students] still get past, move them on to the next grade, but that problem doesn't even occur under the micro schooling system, because you're going to catch that way early on and address it long before that becomes an issue. It is a business.

On Why Failing is a Good Thing
…for the last 20 or so years, teachers have not been allowed to fail a student. This is just wrong. It's counterproductive…failure is always an option you learn from. A child receiving an F under, the traditional grading system. It's not a condemnation. It's just, okay, you didn't learn this material. And this is the way we're telling you. You didn't learn the material, so you need to do it again and learn it.

The key component [is] building a relationship with someone and they flourished. It was having someone that they could trust. Someone they knew that cared about them that wanted their success and it takes time…patience is really key. And then the academics will come naturally because they're feeling supported emotionally.