By enrolling in DISCO, parents and guardians are committing to
leading classes throughout the year.
We want our teachers to feel supported, so we’ve developed a teaching assistant plan to achieve a smaller adult-to-child ration when needed. Each class will have a lead teacher, a co-teacher, an assistant, and other helpers as needed.
Teaching Commitment
The school year is broken into six blocks consisting of 5-6 weeks each. We meet each Friday with each school-age group enjoying 3-4 different class topics (lasting about 45min-1 hour ea.).
Teachers are encrouaged to teach age groups they feel comfortable with, but they are asked to lead at least 3 class hours over the course of the entire year. You are NOT committing to leading a class every Friday for the entire year.
For example, someone can teach one lower elementary hour for three blocks to fill their hours. Or someone can teach one topic to lower elementary, upper elementary, and middle/high in the same block to fill their hours. Or a different combination.
You’re also encouraged to teach more than three hours if you’d like!
We hope this schedule provides our students with a variety of experiences and lessons while also allowing for flexibility within our individual homeschool schedules by choosing to lead classes when best fits your family.
We will have a teaching sign-up event in June to plan for the 2024-2025 school year.
Class Planning
Teachers plan classes while keeping our commitment to inclusion (neurodivergence*, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.); sensitivity to colonization and other cultures; and secular content and worldview in mind.
Hands-on activities are encouraged!
We have a list of basic class topics available to choose from and we welcome new ideas and opportunities to showcase parent hobbies and passions in classes!More teaching strategies and tools are provided in the handbook and Facebook group files. Other members are happy to help as well.
*In addition to planning lessons with neurodivergence in mind, we have a sensory basket containing headphones, fidgets, coloring pages, etc. and a quiet/low-stimulus room to use as needed.
Classroom Materials
A portion of the monthly dues are used to reimburse teachers for classroom supplies. We also have a pool of supplies available for use and a generous community to ask for donations.