Mission and Vision

Village Home is a dynamic, choice-based learning community creatively integrating family, education and real life to empower learners of all ages. The vision of Village Home is to be an empowering and engaging choice-based learning community.

Village Home, founded in 2002, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit learning community based in Beaverton, Oregon.

Who We Serve

The Village Home community learning environment is best suited for self-directed, intrinsically motivated, lifelong learners who actively participate in their educational plans with their families. All learners are welcome at Village Home Education Resource Center regardless of race, age, religion, creed, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, or disabilities. Village Home is located on church property, but is not programmatically affiliated with any religious organization.

Many Village Home families (though not all) consider themselves "homeschoolers". Ironically, many "home" schoolers find themselves away from home much of the time! If you're exploring the idea of "home" schooling, watch our interactive presentation, created in association with OHEN, called "Homeschooling: What is it? And does it work?".

To learn how Village Home can support homeschoolers (and others!) on their unique education path, a second Prezi, “Village Home: Dynamic, Choice-Based Learning”, is on the way. A short film about Village Home, produced in 2009, is also a great way to begin to see how our education model is changing people’s lives.

Organization Values

A look at the values of Village Home reveals the foundation "whys" of our learning community. These values, for the most part, have remained the same since our inception, and they are continually refined and reviewed by organizational leadership.

Unique Paths for All Learners: Choice and Flexibility

At Village Home, we recognize that each learner is a unique individual. Learners can customize their learning experience by selecting courses in a choice-based educational marketplace at Village Home.

Family-Centered Learning and Parent as Primary Educator

At Village Home, the family is honored in the learning community. We acknowledge that the parent is the first and the primary educator for a child. In addition to welcoming the parent in the classroom, Village Home supports families by making play space available for younger siblings and parents, offering multi-age classrooms where it is possible for siblings to learn together, and providing opportunities for parents and children to learn together. We believe that the family is the primary sphere of influence for education, and Village Home Education Resource Center functions as a secondary, supportive environment.

Self-Directed Learning

We believe that true learning happens only in the context of self-direction. Intrinsically motivated learners maintain their innate drive to learn by self-directing their learning. We encourage families to see their children as the authors of their own learning plan. In classes, instructors rely on the students to measure their own success, and hence there is no grading. Our learning environment centers on learning for the sake of learning.

Lifelong Learning

We value the spirit of lifelong learning. We provide opportunity for people of all ages to learn together and to learn from each other and encourage primary educators, the parents, to model lifelong learning for the children.

Peer-to-Peer Learning

We believe that there is tremendous value in peer-based learning for people of all ages. We create group-learning opportunities that facilitate meaningful peer interaction by offering classes with flexible age ranges.

Passionate, Focused Instruction in Small Classes

We believe that the most important thing an instructor can bring to the classroom is a personal passion and interest in the subject matter, and the most important thing we can do is keep their classes relatively small (eight to fifteen learners). Classes are multi-age groups and are non-credit and non-graded. Village Home also provides opportunity for exploration beyond the classroom walls by sponsoring field trips weekly.