The Hub's part-time, online micro-academy brings homeschooled tweens and teens together, and empowers them to soar further than they could individually.
It focuses on:
Essential Details:
Ages: 10-16 (each cohort spans a three-year age range; cohorts age up with participants).
Group Size: Maximum eight, plus two adult facilitators.
Meeting Frequency: Twice a week, for four hours per session (including breaks).
Meeting Time: There are several cohort options; please scroll down to the "Cohort Options" section to see their schedules.
Format: Participants work together on interdisciplinary activities and projects sparked by their own interests.
Dates: Fall term runs from mid-September to mid-December; spring term from early January through late May. (Exact start and end dates are listed on the Apply page.)
Tuition: Tuition for each term can be found on the Apply page.
Additional Details:
Activities and projects are jointly chosen by the participants and facilitators, so they can look different for each cohort, depending on their interests. Examples include collaborative art and storytelling; puzzles; purposeful games; discussions; show-and-tell presentations; student-led workshops; video, e-zine, book and/or website production; and multimedia worldbuilding. There are also occasional guest speakers and field trips.
Facilitators actively participate in activities, bringing different life experiences, perspectives, interests, ideas and personalities to the table, and modeling intellectual curiosity, learning, and conversation. They use the Socratic method to encourage deeper thinking, and help the group members to grow as individuals and work together as a high-functioning team.
To get a visual sense of the general vibe you can expect, check out this video showing highlights from an open house "sample mini-session." For a sample breakdown of the day, and to find out more, please scroll down to the FAQs.
Cohort Options (in ascending order, by age):
Cohort #1:
Ages: 10 to 13
Days and Times: 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays
**NEW ** Cohort #2:
Ages: 11 to 14
Days and Times: 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. U.S. Pacific Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Cohort #3:
Ages: 12 to 15
Days and Times: 9:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays
(Note: if more than one cohort could work for your child's age and schedule, we can help you select the best fit. Also, we expect to launch one or two more cohorts (for the Americas, Europe and beyond) in September 2025. To express interest, or to be notified when additional details are posted, please get in touch.)
A: Our online micro-academy caters to young adolescents (primarily established homeschoolers) who are open, intellectually curious about the world, "play well with others," and would enjoy an intellectually and personally stimulating group program with a consistent cohort and a socially healthy culture. As homeschoolers, they may be using any method, ranging from unschooling, to an eclectic approach, to following a set curriculum, or worldschooling.
Although designed primarily for homeschoolers, it can also work for anyone whose schedule is compatible with attending the sessions.
The micro-academy is set up for ages 10 to 16, but we will also consider mature nine-year-olds. Good group dynamics are very important for our program, so in all cases, an individual must be a good fit for a cohort, and vice versa.
Participants can be located anywhere in the world, as long as the schedule works for them.
A: The micro-academy is designed to broaden intellectual horizons by exposing young people to new ideas and bodies of knowledge, in an organic, interdisciplinary way that is driven by their curiosity. 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.
Time outside the micro-academy sessions can be devoted to acquiring specific skills and knowledge to meet other objectives (see Resources page for ideas).
A: We have a unique combination of intentional culture, format, and approach, driven by curiosity, collaboration and community. 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. The majority of participants return year after year. Hear directly from some of these 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 session ends.
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.
45 minutes: Setting the foundation
15 minutes: Break
45 minutes: Purposeful activities
15 minutes: Break
60 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: Because these are jointly chosen by the participants and facilitators once a term gets underway, and can be anything that interests them and fits into the format, they can look different from cohort to cohort.
But for example, some popular shorter activities have taken the form of discussions; purposeful games (such as a geography guessing game, or "history showdown," in which selected historic figures are researched and evaluated on how they might carry out a task such as throwing a party); Wikihunts (finding ways to connect seemingly unrelated entries on Wikipedia in as few steps as possible); collaborative art or storytelling; and show-and-tell presentations on researched topics of interest (which can range from music theory to chemistry to dengue fever).
Longer projects can span weeks or months, and involve research, discussion, skill building (hard and soft skills), creation, and project management. Examples include world-building (which involves exploring elements of culture, history, geology, biology, governance, taxation, defense, etc.); books containing compilations of collaboratively written and illustrated short stories; e-zines; and video productions.
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," getting to know each participant and what makes them tick, and using that information to engage their curiosity and to help them develop useful personal and interpersonal skills.
Our micro-academy cohorts 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 1:4 ratio.
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 is listed on the Apply page.
For a glimpse of what the program is like in action, you can watch these highlights from a "sample mini-session" portion of an open house.
Then, to gauge fit for an individual child:
A: Get in touch if you are interested in providing scholarship funding or want to explore other ideas or share other resources.