Our micro-academies belong in a totally different category than most online programs. They provide a consistent and empowering learning-community experience that emphasizes intellectual growth and "soft skills," as well as social connection. Activities, guest speakers and group projects are jointly chosen by the participants and facilitators. (Participants and parents explain what they get out of the experience in their own words, in our "What is a Micro-academy?" video.)
Essential Details for Tween Cohorts (Ages 9 to 12)
Note: All cohorts meet online and age up with the participants.
Tween Cohort #1 for the Americas and beyond:
Ages: 9 to 12
Days and Times: 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Facilitators: Sarah and Svet (you can get a sense of Sarah's vibe in this short video)
Enrollment: Terms run from mid-September to mid-December, and from January through May. Exact dates, tuition and enrollment info are described here. If interested in joining, please contact us to arrange to visit a session or to schedule an individual meeting, in order to see if it will be a good fit.
Tween Cohort #2 for Australasia and the greater Pacific region:
Ages: 9 to 12
Days and Times: 9a.m. to 1p.m. Australian ET on Tuesdays and Thursdays (this corresponds to an afternoon start time on Mondays and Wednesdays in US Pacific Time)
Facilitators: Sarah (based in the US) and Kirrily (based in Australia) (you can get a sense of Sarah's vibe in this short video)
Enrollment: Semesters run from February through June, and from mid August through November. Exact dates, tuition and enrollment info can be found here. If interested in joining, please contact us to arrange to visit a session or to schedule an individual meeting, in order to see if it will be a good fit.
Other Tween Cohort Options:
Would you be interested in a tween cohort that meets on a different schedule instead? Please get in touch to let us know your child's age and which alternate days/times you'd prefer, and we'll take that into consideration when we plan new cohorts and keep you posted.
Essential Details for Teen and Near-Teen Cohorts (Ages 12/13 to 16):
Note: All cohorts meet online and age up with the participants.
Teen Cohort for the Americas and beyond:
Ages: 13 to 16
Days and Times: 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Facilitators: Julie and Quin (you can get a sense of their vibe in this short video)
Enrollment: Terms run from January through May, and from mid September to mid December. Exact dates, tuition and enrollment info can be found here. If interested in joining, please contact us to arrange to visit a session or to schedule an individual meeting, in order to see if it will be a good fit.
Other Teen Cohort Options:
Would you be interested in a teen cohort that meets on a different schedule instead? Please get in touch to let us know your child's age and which alternate days/times you'd prefer, and we'll take that into consideration when we plan new cohorts and keep you posted.
Additional Program Details (for all cohorts)
The emphasis is on interdisciplinary learning about the world and one's place in it (spanning subjects such as history, cultural anthropology, economics, geography, sociology, psychology, literature, civics, science, engineering, and math) plus the development of key personal and inter-personal life skills, such as the “5 Cs” (critical thinking and problem solving; communication; collaboration; creativity and innovation; and citizenship). This is accomplished via longer-term group projects and shorter activities, which can take the form of discussions, games, collaborative creations, quizzes, workshops, presentations, guest speakers, and field trips (e.g., a guided walk through a historic French town or a tour of a marine sanctuary in Belize). Please scroll down to the next section to see a sample breakdown of the day.
Cohorts age up with the participants each year. Admissions are capped when a cohort feels full (the maximum is generally expected to be 8 young people per group, with two facilitators once the size warrants it). Facilitators actively participate in activities, bringing their different life experiences, perspectives, interests, ideas and personalities to the table, and modeling intellectual curiosity, learning, and conversation. Cohorts that run concurrently can mingle during some shared break-out sessions; cohorts that meet on different days/times have opportunities to collaborate asynchronously (and all members of The Hub can interact on our private communications platform).
The participants are given a lot of agency to shape the program and decide their roles on group projects, according to their strengths and interests, as well as skills they're working on developing. With agency comes responsibility, so they're expected to engage and play an active role. The cohort functions like a team, so an intentional, supportive culture is a key priority, and connection is woven into the format. Participants also hold each other accountable for following through on their commitments to the group.
To find out more about how everything comes together in our programs and sessions, you can read "The Full Story of The Hub," check out our FAQs below, and/or listen to one of our information session recordings here.
To get a sense of the general vibe you can expect, check out our open house highlights videos featuring tweens and teens.
What Happens Outside the Micro-Academy Hours
Participants can do more specialized studies (using whatever approach, format, and schedule suits them best), or recreational or family activities. The sky's the limit! (The Resources page includes lists of ideas that can serve as a starting point.) Overwhelmed with options? We can help you cut through the clutter via The Hub's wraparound services.
The participants can also continue interacting with each other outside micro-academy hours, via The Hub's private social network.
Micro-academy enrollment comes with membership in The Hub. As members of The Hub, enrolled participants and their parents also have access to the following:
Community Spaces
Hub members have access to private online social lounges where they can come and go and interact with each other at any time.
Wrap-Around Services
Parents can request up to one complementary consulting session per term, in which we can help them strategize around curating an individualized learning pathway, and documenting learning (if needed in order to meet either personal or formal requirements). (For more in-depth and personalized guidance along these lines, members have access to additional wraparound services.)
Access and Discounted Tuition for The Hub's À-La-Carte Programming
Hub members can request and participate in The Hub's occasional à-la-carte programming options.
Get in touch if you would be interested in a cohort that meets on a different schedule, or to be added to our mailing list.
We periodically run clubs, camps and workshops, by request, for current members and alumni of The Hub's micro-academy program. When it makes sense to do so, we open some of these up to the general public also, and will list them here.
If you'd like to be notified when something is offered, please fill out the contact form.
Wraparound Services for Members of The Hub:
We can assist members (families whose children are enrolled in The Hub's micro-academy) to figure out how to get started with independent learning, how to create an interest-based learning pathway, and how to document learning and prepare portfolios; up to one complementary consulting session is available each term. For additional or ongoing support, we can refer members to a consultant within our network of affiliates.
Wraparound Services for the General Public:
Please contact us if you'd like to be referred to a consultant within our network.
A: Our online micro-academies for ages 9-16+ cater to young people (whether homeschooling or not) who would enjoy an intellectually and personally stimulating group program with a consistent cohort and a socially healthy culture.
They may be bored or disengaged in a one-size-fits-all setting, but come alive when given the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge at their own pace, within the context of a program they can help shape, based on authentic interests. Or they may already be learning in a customized way that engages their minds, but be craving a more creative and inquiry-based format, and/or a more consistent cohort experience.
Examples of activities: games focused on geography, financial literacy, and other topics; collaborative story-telling or art; puzzles; researching and sharing findings on topics of interest; discussions. Group project examples: worldbuilding; producing a newscast or other video; producing a book of collaboratively written short stories; creating a multimedia art project featuring "alternative histories."
We also offer occasional other à-la-carte short-form programs and camps for tweens and teens, some of which are open to the general public and suitable for anyone who resonates with their themes.
Participants can be located anywhere in the world, as long as the schedule works for them.
A: The focus is on offering wide-ranging, part-time, learning-community experiences as well as support (as needed) for combining these programs with other activities to create a comprehensive whole.
The micro-academy is designed to broaden horizons by exposing young people to new ideas and bodies of knowledge, in a holistic, inter-disciplinary way. They may go on to more deeply discuss and/or research topics that feel relevant and aligned with their interests, which sets up the optimal conditions for them to integrate and retain knowledge. The facilitators also focus on guiding participants to develop their personal and inter-personal "soft skills," including the “5 Cs” that are essential to a lot of success in life—critical thinking and problem solving; communication; collaboration; creativity and innovation; and citizenship. There is ample time outside the micro-academy to acquire other skills and knowledge that are needed to meet each young person's and family's goals.
The Hub also offers select à-la-carte offerings, in response to member and community interest.
The Hub's wraparound support services are designed to help families who would like assistance with finding resources, putting the pieces together, and/or documenting what's being learned. Examples are also provided of curated learning pathways and portfolios.
Our Resources page lists many ideas for how time outside The Hub can be spent. "The Full Story of The Hub" explains our approach and how everything fits together in greater detail.
A: Standards are actually not very standard, in the sense that different individuals (or groups of individuals) have different ideas about what they consider important to know at various points of one's life. Our facilitators provide parents with updates several times per term, describing (at a high level) the various activities and projects that have been taking place. Parents can use this information, as well as information provided by their children, and artifacts produced via some activities, to prepare portfolios and transcripts that meet their individual needs.
Here's an example of how learning can be documented, in this case accounting for just the first month of a micro-academy tween cohort. (Please bear in mind that a cohort's first few weeks are generally heavy on icebreaker activities, getting to know each other, and building a healthy team culture and foundation before branching out into more activities and projects. Also, this example only lists the "general capabilities" categories within a curriculum that some families are following; knowledge gained through activities/projects can be mapped to many other academic subject areas as well.)
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"Literacy: Participants frequently navigate online activities and group participation by writing and reading. In the first few sessions, we also discussed parts of speech whilst doing and critiquing Mad Libs. Participants have been sharing book reviews and have begun discussing Shakespeare. We have also started Dungeons & Dragons (DnD), a group narrative-building activity.
Numeracy: As well as using arithmetic during DnD, participants have solved puzzles and decoded messages using many numeracy skills. Time keeping is also a large part of sessions, as we all come back at the same time from breaks and participants currently span four different time zones, which means we often calculate and discuss different times, factoring in the additional complexity of daylight savings time.
Information and communication technology (ICT) capability: As the Hub is an online activity, there are many passive ways students are intuitively and contextually picking up and practicing ICT skills. Participants also teach each other new skills required to navigate different programs and applications, such as Canva (used for graphic design), online communal art tools, and different types of games. Additionally, students have discussed safety online whilst playing cooperative games. Facilitators also identify potential skills that participants don't have but would be useful. For example, we have begun to introduce the Google suite of programs, including starting to edit Google documents.
Critical and creative thinking: Participants are empowered to help decide what activities take place during The Hub’s micro-academy sessions. They have contributed many creative ideas, which have been supported and explored. One example is the “interest share,” in which participants have been spending 15 minutes each sharing and answering questions about their current favorite game, book, or other interest. Most of the activities require some level of creativity. Critical thinking is encouraged and occurs naturally as participants discuss their lives and interests. Participants often discuss the positives and negatives of different games and activities and how they can be improved.
Personal and social capability: Social-emotional learning is also a central strength of The Hub. To function effectively as a group, participants need to get to know each other, while navigating the additional complications posed by the slight delays in video transmissions. They discuss issues with being spoken over or not listened to, and we work on how everyone can feel included and valued. Taking turns is one strategy participants implement initially, but even then, frustration and upset can still happen. So far the group has done well engaging and discussing any issues that arise, and facilitators encourage everyone to continue to work towards developing their communication and self-regulation skills.
Ethical understanding: The group has spent some time discussing AI and how it may be a positive or negative addition to the world.
Intercultural understanding: Participants log in to The Hub from different countries in which they either permanently reside or are visiting. Often the differences and similarities of different cultural practices are discussed and shared."
A: We have a unique combination of intentional culture, format, and approach. Most importantly, we also have talented, committed and caring facilitators who can weave together these elements into a magical experience.
On a more reductionist level, these are some of the features that distinguish the micro-academies:
Parents and participants tell the story best, though. Many of the participants return year after year, and their parents recommend the program to other families. Some representative snippets of the feedback that has been shared with us:
Hear directly from parents and participants about what's achievable online, if done the right way, in our short overview video, "What is a Micro-academy?"
A: Micro-academy cohorts meet twice a week for four hours at a time because that allows us to meet our goals—sessions are long enough to allow for a satisfying amount of activity and project time, and for more meaningful personal relationships to develop. Sessions also include several breaks. In this short video, you can hear how participants themselves experience the session length.
A bit of background: Micro-academy sessions were 3.5 hours long during the first term in 2020, but everyone asked for them to be extended. Many still feel that the time flies by (a characteristic of the desirable "flow" state). Nevertheless, four hours seems to meet tweens' needs adequately without over-extending them. Many teens like to stick around longer, so we give them the option to hang out informally after the main micro-academy program ends. (Participants can also communicate with each other between sessions through various channels, including The Hub's private communications platform.)
The below schedule is the starting point for the micro-academy's sessions; details are adjusted as needed. Some periods feature a choice of break-out rooms, each focusing on different things. Sessions are four hours long, which is longer than many other online programs, but participants and facilitators routinely mention that the time flies by (a feature of the productive and enjoyable "flow state," most famously described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). You can hear participants themselves describe how they feel about the session length in this short video.
45 minutes: Setting the foundation
15 minutes: Break
60 minutes: Purposeful activities
15 minutes: Break
45 minutes: Project work
15 minutes: Break
45 minutes: Wrapping up, with a "working lunch," if desired (individual meal times will vary, so this is just a placeholder in this sample framework)
(Younger cohorts: The program ends here.)
(Older cohorts: The more formal part of the program ends here too. Participants in established cohorts may be given the option to stay longer in the Zoom room for unfacilitated socializing, at the facilitators' discretion.)
A: The micro-academy is designed for people who consider themselves independent learners (whether formally homeschooling or not), and who enjoy having a communal base that: serves as an extension of their family’s home base; provides consistent social connections; amplifies deep, interdisciplinary learning opportunities; and offers opportunities to work on group projects that are vehicles for learning important, higher-order skills, such as how to manage projects and work effectively as a team.
Enrollment in the micro-academy can be paired with enrollment in any other programs, as long as regular attendance and engagement is practical. The Hub's à-la-carte classes, workshops and activities are also suitable for anyone.
It is up to families to research and ensure that they’re following any relevant regulations and requirements regarding school enrollment and/or homeschooling. A site that contains a lot of information about homeschooling requirements in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia can be found here; its international counterpart is here.
A: The Hub's programs are part-time, so there's plenty of time left over for in-person activities too.
Families that live in the same area are also welcome to make arrangements among themselves so that their children can get together to do sessions in the same space, either regularly or every once in a while, as some have chosen to do in the past.
A: A micro-academy facilitator’s role is like a blend between a composer, a conductor and a musician, with the goal of co-creating a beautiful piece of music. As a composer, they bring ideas to the table and offer intellectual and creative challenges. As a conductor, they aim to be attuned to what’s happening with everyone within the group and to help participants develop the skills that foster a healthy balance between meeting individual needs for self-expression and creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. As a musician, they are active participants themselves, modeling intellectual curiosity, how to learn, and respectful ways to engage, contribute to the group, and resolve any disagreements.
The facilitator is also like a "guide by the side" on the broader learning journey, working in partnership with parents and children to really get to know each participant and what makes them tick, and to use that understanding to help the young person develop their unique set of strengths and interests, while also helping them manage or overcome weaknesses that are standing in the way of them reaching their goals.
Our micro-academies are led by teams of two facilitators (once the group size exceeds five), who bring different personalities, perspectives and life experiences to the table.
A: Facilitators decide when a micro-academy cohort feels like it's reached full capacity; we expect that most cohorts will not end up exceeding a 1:5 ratio.
For à-la-carte activities organized by The Hub, the person leading each activity will decide the minimum and maximum size they believe will allow them to offer a quality experience.
A: Grade cutoffs are arbitrary and limiting. Individuals learn things (in a meaningful way) only when they’re ready, and no two X-year-olds are the same, whether they’re in the same “grade” or not. On the other hand, young people progress through similar developmental stages that start and end roughly around certain ages, and mixed-ages learning has many benefits, for younger and older children alike. Like human-development age ranges, The Hub’s age range is “ish”—it’s more about maturity level and maintaining good group dynamics, rather than calendar age.
A: The tuition and application process are described on the Apply page.
For a glimpse of what the program is like in action, you can watch these videos: tweens and teens (and near-teens).
Then, to gauge fit for an individual child, there are three options:
A: "The Full Story of The Hub" (below) explains how everything fits together and where we see things going. Get in touch if you are interested in providing grant funding (to subsidize tuition for families whose children would benefit from such programming, but for whom the full tuition is out of reach, or to help lay the groundwork for expanding this concept in a decentralized way), starting a hub of your own, or want to explore other ideas or share other resources.