Her program also recently won a grant from the VELA Education Fund, a philanthropic non-profit whose goal is to provide startup and expansion support for non-traditional K-12 learning models. A mechanical engineer who spent 10 years working at companies such as SpaceX, Katie launched her forest school program last fall and it quickly doubled in size. Katie’s husband, whom doctors diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, was picked on incessantly in school. Katie Switzer is a mom of four young children and founder of the Monongalia Family Forest School. Katie Switzer grew up attending traditional schools and intended to send her children to the same, but she was already aware of the possibility that assigned schools may not be a fit. Our guest today is one of these visionary West Virginia education entrepreneurs. The education entrepreneurs who are creating these models are diverse in their educational philosophies, building a dynamic landscape of learning options from which families can choose. Microschools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, and low-cost private schools are launching or growing to meet parent demand for more education possibilities. Sessions are offered on Thursdays or Saturdays.West Virginia has experienced a dramatic expansion of educational freedom, from the state legislature passing a near-universal Education Savings Account Program, called the Hope Scholarship, to loosening state compulsory school attendance laws for participants of learning pods and microschools. In her first fall session, Katie had 13 families sign up, and she now averages around 60 families with 100 children!Īt Monongalia Forest school, you can expect to go to a new location each week, take a hike, explore, climb, and play games. That’s when Monongalia Forest School was born. Katie reached out to a friend who had been running a forest school in another state for advice, and the friend offered to share her curriculum with her. When she didn’t find an option that was the right fit for her family, she decided to start her own! In the summer of 2021, she began looking for a forest school for her kids to participate in. Katie lives in Morgantown with her husband and four kids. Welcome back, friends! Today on the show, we are joined by Katie Switzer, founder of Monongalia Forest School.
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