The Clearwater Homeschool Extension (HE) program supports students ages 8 and above who wish to pursue home-based self-directed education that is individualized to your family’s educational goals. We provide parent/guardian supervision for the home-schooling process, support students to pursue their interests, and co-create an annual education plan guided by your family goals and the philosophy and values of The Clearwater School.
HE students have the option to spend unstructured time at Clearwater pursuing their individual interests, utilizing campus resources, and experiencing the community with the same rights and responsibilities as full time students. HE students also have free access to a wealth of after school and school break programming provided on our campus by the Well Being Community Center.
Students who enroll in a Homeschool Extension program are not required to enroll with the state as homeschool students or to abide by homeschool requirements such as annual exams as HE students are considered private school enrollees. Read more about state Homeschool Extension program requirements and their differences from regular homeschool requirements here.
Three vignettes of Homeschool Extension at Clearwater:
One-on-One Support: A teenager attends a weekly 1hr virtual meeting with a dedicated staff person to plan their graduation, get support in pursuing their passions, and talk about challenges in their life. They spend little to no time on campus. Their guardians meet quarterly with staff for the required home-based education supervision.
Meetings Are Not for Everyone: An active student prefers to attend school without pressure to make room in their day for meetings with staff. They average one hour a week of staff contact time more organically in the context of their engagement in school activities, games with peers, and other interests. In contrast, their parents like to meet frequently with staff to talk about educational philosophy and supporting their student.
All Together Now: A family of 4 meets with a staff member all together once a month to talk through their educational plan, what’s going on in their life, and the joys and challenges of self-directed education. The students also occasionally attend school outside of that meeting, pursuing their interests, building relationships, and being a part of the Clearwater community in a way that fits into their busy schedule.
These are three examples of how Clearwater’s Homeschool Extension (HE) program can be tailored to fit the needs of your family, and it’s a nonexhaustive list. Click through the drop down menu below to learn more about different aspects of how the HE program works.
Staff member Stephanie and student Julian have their Homeschool Extension meeting outside on a beautiful day
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Clearwater’s philosophy includes a holistic view of education. We believe that:
While we can “teach,” we cannot force anyone to learn something that they don’t want to learn and we’re all learning all the time, intentionally or not. In practice this means respecting and valuing the diverse ways that students spend their time without adding adult judgement and listening deeply to children with respect, trusting them with their education, and following their lead.
Learning doesn’t just happen in classes, isn’t only measurable in tests, and doesn’t need to involve homework. At Clearwater and through self directed education at home, students learn in a way that is challenging, integrated into everyday life, and, more often than not, fun. We learn through play, introspection, conversation, observation, conflict, boredom, failure, hobbies, and relationships, all within the context of an interdisciplinary world.
There is not one objective academic knowledge base that, if learned, will set kids up for success in the adult world. We can only offer our best guess of what the adult world will look like for our children. Science facts change, math strategies change, and history is constantly being made, uncovered, and told from different perspectives. But what can be gleaned from self-directed education is long lasting and applicable to many different challenges that may arise in the future, that is self knowledge and confidence, problem solving skills, emotional regulation skills, and a sense of one’s place in the world.
Clearwater does not impose a pre-established curriculum or learning outcomes. We specialize in helping students create their education plan in your family context. The HE annual education plan reflects your families’ traditions, culture, life philosophy and specific goals–and looks different in every household. Students decide their curriculum based on their interests, how they like to spend their time, and what resources are available. Through approaching education this way, many students build self confidence through exploring who they are, taking responsibility for their life and education, and being empowered to make decisions about their present and future.
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All family conferences at Clearwater are done with respect for student consent, privacy, and autonomy and do not include formal assessments or rubrics related to education without the consent of the student and co-creation with the student; this is tied to Clearwater’s more holistic and student-centered approach to education. We co-develop an assessment process for each family that feels helpful and satisfying to students and their parents/guardians and meets state Homeschool Extension requirements. We also provide templates to help develop narrative transcripts which support transitions to other K-12 settings and the college admissions process.
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Students must participate in one hour (on average) of weekly contact with certified Clearwater staff members in compliance with Washington State requirements. If students are not meeting this requirement, we meet with the family to discuss ways to increase staff-student contact time keeping in mind that the contact hours are a state requirement that we must adhere to and are therefore a requirement of our HE program. We may work with students and families who cannot meet this expectation to find and transition to a different option to support your homeschool program.
Parents/guardians are required to attend a minimum of 3 annual meetings with staff to provide supervision for their home-based self-directed education. Families may meet with staff on a more frequent basis and/or may combine their parent/guardian supervision meetings with their students' weekly contact hours if desired.
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In order to graduate from Clearwater, Homeschool Extension students must attend Clearwater for at least two years and spend some of that time planning their transition into adulthood, creating a narrative transcript, and preparing and presenting to School Meeting their graduation plan to be approved. After completing the graduation requirements, HE students may graduate with a high school diploma from The Clearwater School and a self-written narrative transcript to use for future educational opportunities.
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The tuition for the Homeschool Extension program is the same as the tuition for full time enrollment for any given year. The Clearwater Tuition Assistance Program is also available for Homeschool Extension students. See our Tuition and Assistance page for more information.
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The enrollment process for the Clearwater Homeschool Extension program is similar to the process for our full time program which can be reviewed here. Two differences between the processes are that HE orientation meetings require the creation of an annual educational plan and incoming HE families have the choice between a visiting week, a visiting month, and signing a month to month contract for the school year.