Homeschooling co-op puts emphasis on nature, away from the “old grind”

By Ben McCarthy

Just off Blue Ridge Boulevard in Grandview hides a gorgeous 5-acre property purchased a few years ago by Mighty Roots Academy, a co-op learning experience for homeschooled students. At a recent open house, a dozen families toured the grounds of one of the more unique nature-based learning co-ops in the area.

Business is booming and has been ever since the COVID-19 pandemic left local families disenchanted with what they saw in the public school response. Mighty Roots is already hitting capacity for the coming semester and has their biggest waitlist ever.

As of last year, estimates indicate around 4 million children in the US were being homeschooled (representing about 7.5% of the school-age population), up from 2.5 million kids before the pandemic. In Missouri estimates suggest about 1 in 16 school-age children are now being homeschooled.

Matt and Kristin Sandberg were one of the couples visiting the Mighty Roots campus, which, according to staff, often attracts other visitors such as foxes, deer, coyotes, and lizards.

The couple moved to Kansas City from Las Vegas last month, where Kristin homeschooled their oldest son. While Missouri’s hot, muggy summers and cold winters will be new, they’re familiar with what local parents saw during the pandemic–schools shut down for long stretches and enforced mask mandates.

“We knew we didn’t want to educate our children in that environment,” Matt Sandberg said. “This (pointing around the property) is the kind of childhood we want for kids.”

Kristin will continue to teach the kids from home and could be one of about 70 families bringing their kids to Mighty Roots this fall, where classes are in session four days a week.

Renee Bichel, Mighty Roots co-director and co-founder, stresses that she and the rest of the staff will maintain an emphasis on active learning in nature, versus “grinding” through textbooks throughout the day. The multi-faceted property also features a vegetation area filled with onions, garlic, and even a little rhubarb.

Most of the language at Mighty Roots feels very similar to vocabulary heard throughout the halls of public schools, with a few exceptions. There’s no mention of “recess,” but instead periods of “free play,” which will occur during lunch breaks and at the end of the day for the concluding 30 minutes of school.

On Monday and Wednesdays, the school’s Creative Options programs invite students to explore arts, theater, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) projects, and nature courses. Tuesdays and Thursdays cover core subjects, such as literature, math, history, science, anatomy, journalism, and the arts.

Co-director and co-founder Tracy Schroeder is the only full-time staff member of Mighty Roots, and lives on the property as well. She tells prospective parents that students will be outside in all kinds of less-than-ideal weather conditions, and to be prepared to invest in outdoor gear rather than overpriced textbooks.

There is a large property, perhaps 20 acres, adjacent to Mighty Roots on the east. The staff have had exploratory talks with the owner about a purchase that would allow them to expand.

“Covid was absolutely a springboard for homeschoolers in the area, and we have been inundated with interest we’d never seen,” Schroeder says. “We’re also talking about the demand up in the Northland, and how that might lead to us expanding there someday, creating a series of satellite campuses around the city.”

Schroeder adds that any new locations would have to adhere to the Academy’s mission of providing active “multiage learning in a nature-rich environment.”

A different point of view is taken by David Price, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers (AFT Local 691), who tells the Telegraph that they regard homeschooling ultimately as short-term thinking. He dismisses the post-COVID growth and success stories, saying the practice is something that only a small percentage of parents have the resources to manage.

“Over 90% of school age kids still attend public schools and we need (those kids) in order to make public schools strong,” Price says.

But Mighty Roots is not the only alternative campus experiencing growth. Jody White, founding director of South Side Schoolhouse, Inc. in Grandview, says families from all over the region are driving into South KC for homeschool co-ops like hers.

“Some families will drive from Liberty, Odessa, Blue Springs, Kingsville, or Butler,” White says. “What people saw during COVID with the ‘Zoom learning’ was a spark that made them want to get their children away sitting in front of screens all day and into hands-on learning, where the research shows we learn more through that sensory engagement.”

Molly Fisher, assistant director of Homeschool Christian Academy, says they’re now moving operations to First Church of the Nazarene at 119th and State line, having outgrown their old location in Overland Park.

Fisher says she wants to love public schools again, but the signs of decline, especially in areas of behavioral matters, were hard to reconcile. Then came COVID.

“Parents couldn’t get answers to what was going on, and then they weren’t even allowed in the building,” Fisher said. “Making the masks mandatory caused my phone to light up in August of 2020 – I was getting 10 calls a day, and the growth ever since has been off the rails.”

This fall she expects to see 250 kids in grades K-8th. Meanwhile, Sandberg at Mighty Roots expects to see 151 students when classes begin (after starting with 20 in 2019).

“Homeschooling is not for everyone, but it’s always been there,” Sandberg said. “It’s so much more mainstream now. It’s not a taboo thing anymore.”

Learn more at mightyrootsacademy.com and www.southsideschoolhouse.org.