Overview

St. Philomena Homeschool (SPH) is structured as a Catholic hybrid homeschool that meets two days per week, offering classes for K-8th grade. Our classes meet for 30 weeks/year, on Mondays and Thursdays, with the remaining schoolwork taking place at home on Tuesdays, Wednesdays. Tests and catch-up work will occur on Fridays. Class time is heavily dedicated to educational instruction, written work, and religious formation. Required reading for classes is done at home during the week.

We are not a typical co-op in the sense that we offer extra-curricular classes at random. We are here to help homeschooling families provide an in-depth education to their children by providing structure, a shared curriculum, and a place to find Catholic friends and peers. As such we take our classes, their preparation, and their instruction very seriously. We ask that the families that wish to join us do the same. Our program is only 30 weeks, and thus is very demanding for those weeks, since our calendar year is much shorter than the average school year.

As of now, a parent is required to be on-campus with their children, and to participate in the teaching of classes.* All parents/volunteers who will be on-campus during school hours are required to complete a child safety class as well as pass as background check.

Our classroom setup has several combined classes due to space limitations and instructor availability. Kindergarten is not combined with any other grade.  1st and 2nd grades will not be combined, as reading capabilities are highly variable. 3rd and 4th grades, 5th and 6th grades, and 7th and 8th grades are all combined at this time, until the need arises to separate the classes due to numbers of students enrolled. Upper school classes will be added as the need presents itself. Children who are younger than kindergarten, who have older siblings in attendance, are invited to stay in the on-campus nursery. Nursing infants will stay with their parent.

*If a family’s oldest child in attendance is of kindergarten age, this presents a special case, with the possibility of a drop-off option. Other drop-off situations will be offered on a case-by-case basis.