Project SOME is newly-founded; the mission is not.

2,500 years ago, Aristotle made plain that an educated population is in the interest of all citizens, even if only for a reason still true here and now — we elect our leaders. Indeed, leadership is in the hands of every youth coming of age. Their critical minds and their well-being cannot be overlooked, not by any adult, and can exclude not even one teen. Humans are naturally interdependent; we stand as autonomous beings while only thrive in community. Community is an action verb and has no fringe.

Yet, still today, we have not realized the full impact of education. We have a public school system for which we are truly grateful, but such statewide systems may not fit everyone’s learning pace or needs. For most, the private institutions are a fantastic alternative but economically out-of-reach. Too, parochial schools have their place but interject metaphysical dictates, while charter schools bring new hope but are not always accessible or a right fit.       

Finally, we have the homeschoolers. The teens, as much as the adults in this realm, continue to face challenging societal perception:  “homeschooling” indubitably conjures presumptions of  ‘under-educated’ or ‘oddball’ or ‘parochial,’ all of which belie what it can be, and what it is becoming. Those negative views (many defensible, granted) will only continue to linger if we allow it. We can’t fix every program in decentralized learning, but our growing base pursuing their futures at Cornell, George Washington, NYU, and other institutions exhibit thus defend what Project SOME is doing differently, and that it’s working. 

Not being a school, we do not have a ‘curriculum’ while we might have something better — a group of independent professors with a shared pedagogy. We are mission-driven to never forget that our teens are humankind’s immediate next voters, leaders, artists, engineers, change-makers and shapers of the community for themselves and all of us. We take the ancient wisdom afforded to us, and we understand, above all, the important role of teenagers, and how those are hard years! We bring expertise for academic excellence and correlate it with a cultured, community-interested character. Our own passion for the subjects to which we have devoted our lives fill the rooms, not textbook blabber. We open the floor to discussions because learning without engagement is not just futile during will-building teen years, but boring. We refuse online because a distancing device in the act of learning cuts a necessary connection for the complexities encountered in h.s. years. In small groups, no one falls through a crack. Above all, we care about the whole human form. We ease their anxieties, uplift not shove down critical skills, and provide open doorways to independence. Learning never really has to be a stressor or a dread.

We bring back a love of learning as a multi-disciplinary exploration that makes sense when strung together.

With a strong offering in canon and core, we also agree there’s a humanistic approach to take without loss. We provoke critical view from a basis of expansive, serious scholarship. Score-achievement is only then an enticing reward. Character-building cultivates their voice, and puts pride in giving and keeping one’s word. And we do it all in master classes to free up enough time for reflection and response. No extremes here. No shame here. No rote, pedantic, or weaponized views. We hold “the adults” are obliged to offer all this equitably, and to model the fellow-citizen we want. When passed the baton, we run the lap diligently.

We might be ‘just a service’ but we take our end clients–the teens–as treasures, young adults poised at the gateway to their and our lives. Gingerly, mindfully, rationally, and with respect for them in the foreground of mind, we deliver our ‘services’ as a steady, sturdy, and responsive guided tour.  We’re changing outsourced coursework; SOME offers something akin to an ancient Greek-style school — at-will, for all, academics as intellectual virtues, character virtues by life skills. And we keep it affordable. We offer as much as we can in artistry, sciences (social & stem), philosophy, math, computer, business, and history as necessary empowerment. This program is not for everyone, but we’re here for some parents who might find our mission in line with theirs. Our consultation work, too, is committed to the same standards as our Project.

The power of and, not versus, is the humanist conceit we uphold, and we have united to change the power of community, this community, those not in a system predetermined but by determination.  We’re changing those negative views, and hope you’ll join us as an active springboard for some teens who will, in just four years, also trailblaze the future.