As summer draws to a close, parents and school-age children turn their attention to the coming school year, and increasingly many families are opting out of traditional public and private schooling and choosing to educate their children at home. With so many options of curriculum and philosophies of learning, it can seem like a daunting prospect, especially if parents feel they don’t have a firm grasp of every subject area. But in truth, homeschooling has never been easier or more accessible than it is today, thanks to the internet and the ability for students to livestream classes and review video lessons, and for parents to connect with other homeschooling families and educational professionals. One such way homeschoolers are connecting with and supporting each other is through the homeschooling cooperative model.
Homeschooling co-ops offer students the opportunity to learn in a community of other students, and it offers parents support in providing their children exposure to specialized subjects that they may not have otherwise been able to thoroughly cover on their own. Cooperatives range from relatively informal ad-hoc local meetup groups to highly structured online organizations that require yearly enrollment ahead of time. Thehomeschoolmom.com provides directories for each state detailing the locally available co-ops and contact information for each, so have a look at what’s currently available in your region.
If you are interested in cooperative homeschooling but no groups exist in your area, why not start your own? Each cooperative can tailor their courses to the needs of the students in the group. Group learning is a great way to pool resources, explore more technical subjects, deep dive into specialized topic areas, and develop STEM projects. Parents usually take turns providing instruction to the children of the co-op in their particular areas of interest or expertise; for instance, a homeschooler may be interested in learning a foreign language that their own parent isn’t familiar with, but in the homeschool co-op one of the other parents is fluent in several languages and more confident in their ability to teach that skill. So everyone shares their strengths and the whole group benefits from this wider deeper pool of knowledge.
When it comes to curriculum the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming, especially as a new homeschooling family. In my own homeschooling process, we have picked and chosen from a variety of sources, some traditional text, others a combination of workbook and video instruction, and each of my children has their preference depending on the subject, and their personalities. One fantastic, and largely free, resource available online which I have found especially impressive in both quality and scope, and which all four of my kids have excelled with and enjoyed, has been The School of the West. We asked the founder, Brant Danger, about his approach to developing curriculum, and some of his views on the homeschooling and cooperative learning landscape as a whole. Here are some of his insights:
1. What is School of the West, and what led you to decide to start it?
SOTW is an online resource that addresses the psychological needs of white children, as well as providing support for homeschooling parents.
While working as a public teacher, I became increasingly aware of antiwhite material that was becoming part of the curriculum. I also saw the feminist control of schools – which opened the way for any flavor of “woke” nonsense to become part of the curriculum. I found all of these antiwhite imperatives unacceptable. I spent a lot of time thinking about how a proper school in Western Civilization would operate, and what would have to be done to counteract (or interdict) the antiwhite indoctrination students receive in public school.
The school district I was teaching in during 2020 decided the teachers would work from home during the covid shutdowns. Our workload was also cut down, as we were instructed to simplify our lessons (so students would not fall behind). This gave me time to start putting together the website, and I was able to promote the idea through Jason Kohne’s streams, and attract the first batch of individuals that showed up to help with the technical aspects and develop material for the site.
2. What are your goals when you develop schooling materials for SOTW?
There are two types of material on the site. Some material is typical of what is found in public school (math, grammar and some science). That material is meant to fill in gaps homeschooling parents might have in their understanding of the subjects (if I had the time, I would also add junior high and high school science courses).
The other material – which differentiates SOTW from everything else – is what I call White Wellbeing material. I consider this material to be much more important for our kids than traditional subjects. It is designed to give our kids a sense of their folk, and to inoculate them from the antiwhite propaganda they’ll encounter in their lives.
3. In your experience, what are the most challenging subjects to teach in a homeschool setting?
Biology, Chemistry and Physics are the most challenging, due to the specialized knowledge needed to teach them, plus they will often require additional equipment and prep time. Algebra, Geometry, Trig and Calc can also be difficult for parents if they don’t have an understanding of the subjects and/or sufficient resources.
4. How do you think getting involved with a homeschooling co-op can mitigate those challenges and benefit homeschooling families?
It’s similar to the specialization one would see in a public school. A co-op teacher-parent can specialize in a specific subject, so every parent doesn’t need to be knowledgeable about everything their children need to learn. Plus, there can be shared responsibilities and/or teaching shifts, thereby freeing up a little time in the lives of the co-op members.
5. Why do you think homeschooling, and by extension co-operatives, have grown so much in popularity in recent years?
Is this a trick question?
Parents have become aware that public schools serve to indoctrinate their children with the ideology the ruling class wants them to have. In general, it is an antiwhite/woke/feminist ideology that is mandated at the level of each state’s Dept of Education. Parents either have to closely monitor their students’ studies, or they need to teach them at home.
6. What are your future goals for SOTW?
Put together a series that teaches how to use Jason Kohne’s concepts.
Continue to attract specialists that can provide content in their field of specialty.
Flesh out the grammar and early math sections.
Add junior high and high school science courses.
Add history lessons (that are inline with textbooks, a few of which I wrote this past year).
Create a series of graphic novels that cover the founding of our countries outside Europe (starting with South Africa and Rhodesia).
Re-do the propaganda section to include more up to date examples, and a few more selected videos from Devon Stack (after his cussing has been removed from the audio)
I may possibly do some more online teaching with families
Eventually, I would like to help co-ops and communities develop curriculum – incorporating history/identity/white-wellbeing as a foundation for their studies
7. If you could recommend just one piece of curriculum from SOTW, what would that be?
The “Meet Your People” videos.
8. Thank you so much for your time! Please include your website and social media links so readers will know where they can find out more about your excellent content.
The website is:
on Gab:
@brantdanger
Written By – Sally Hausfrau
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