Mission Statement

Welcoming Inclusive Secular Education (WISE)

Planet Homeschool is an inclusive secular homeschool co-op in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Members work together to create a safe, welcoming space for homeschool classes and other activities for middle and high school students, ages 10–19.

In all that we do, we work to include, respect, and learn from individual differences. We embrace diversity in areas including (but not limited to) neurotype, disability and health experiences, gender identity and expression, sexuality, body size, age, class, race, ethnicity, religion, and national origin. PHS members practice a wide range of educational philosophies and styles. Everyone is welcome at Planet Homeschool!

Acknowledging that it is impossible to make everyone comfortable at all times, Planet Homeschool strives to center marginalized communities even when that seems inconvenient or challenging. We are specifically committed to creating a safe place to learn and thrive for students, instructors, and other community members who are neurodivergent, trans, nonbinary, recent immigrants, BIPOC, and/or at higher risk of health impacts from infectious diseases, allergens, and other environmental factors.

Planet Homeschool is a secular homeschool co-op for Middle School and High School students (ages 10 to 19 years).

Co-op is short for cooperative. Co-op members volunteer their time so that their children can attend group classes once a week, pool their finances to pay for the costs of those classes, and work together to find instructors to teach those classes.

Volunteering

Every member of Planet Homeschool is expected to help run our co-op. 

PHS Leadership Team

Members of the PHS Leadership Team are responsible for ensuring that all essential co-op tasks are completed. Members who volunteer to serve on our Leadership Team should expect to engage in conversations about co-op policies and practices regularly, and to communicate with the larger membership.

Support Volunteers

The Leadership Team is not tasked with doing all the work themselves but with ensuring the work gets done. In addition to the Leadership Team, there are typically many co-op members who volunteer to do specific tasks. Examples of Support Volunteer roles include: planning our spring open house party, welcoming/assisting new members, hosting our semi-annual large social gatherings, coordinating the Onsite Volunteer shifts, entering important dates onto our website calendar, etc.

Our co-op’s Leadership Team and our support volunteers may make general appeals for assistance at times.

Onsite Volunteers

All families who have students enrolled in classes, including Leadership and Support Volunteers, are expected to cover Onsite Volunteer shifts during our co-op day. Onsite Volunteers supervise the building/outside grounds (wherever students are present) during classes and lunch, as well as perform setup and cleanup duties.

Finances

The Planet Homeschool membership fee covers our co-op’s overhead costs:

• rent (~45%)
• liability insurance (~40%)
• this website (~10%)
• other miscellaneous costs (~5%)

Classes

All current members of our co-op participate in the process of selecting classes for the following academic year.

Suggestions for classes can come from any current co-op student, parent/guardian, instructor. This process begins in January.

Current members vote on these suggestions. Voting takes place in February.

While the Leadership Team strives to honor the preferences of members as shown by their votes. However, classes may not run if an instructor cannot be found. The members of the Leadership Team make the final decisions. The course schedule for the following year is generally finalized by early to mid-April.

Ages

Planet Homeschool offers middle-school and high-school classes for homeschooled students ages 10 through 19 years.

PHS is focused on providing a unique community with learning opportunities for preteens and teens that are often hard to find, and our age policy reflects this goal. To best serve our targeted community, we do not accept class registrations for any children younger than 10 years old.

Secular

Planet Homeschool is a secular co-op. We have no religious requirements or affiliations. We welcome members and instructors regardless of religious beliefs.

LGTBQ+ students, parents/guardians, and instructors are welcome here.

Classes at Planet Homeschool are secular. Religious content may be included from a cultural, historical, sociological, or anthropological perspective, but classes at PHS have no religious teachings or practices. Our science classes use curriculum that present scientific facts and theories as accepted by the majority of practicing experts in the field of study.

Planet Homeschool is not a school

At first glance, Planet Homeschool can appear to be a school that meets once a week, but we are not a school.

Planet Homeschool is a homeschool co-op. The instructors who teach those classes are hired/paid directly by the individual families whose children enroll in their classes, not by Planet Homeschool. 

While our members choose the classes to offer, each instructor sets their own curriculum. 

Member families are responsible for ensuring their children are meeting the compulsory attendance law on their own (Planet Homeschool does not meet this requirement), whether that is via homeschooling/online school/alternative school/etc. To learn more about Minnesota’s homeschool laws, visit the Minnesota Homeschoolers’ Alliance website.

Minnesota Secular Homeschool Enrichment Inc. dba Planet Homeschool (MSHE/PHS) is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational, and scientific purposes as specified in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, including for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

The purpose of MSHE/PHS is:

• To support and facilitate secular homeschool enrichment which are inclusive of all families and students regardless of ability, gender, culture, race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation or educational philosophy;

• To provide affordable classes for students as an alternative to traditional education;

• To include classes for grades 7-12 that are needed for a successful transition to their next step in life, whether that is college, vocational school or the world of work.