FAQs
Democratic education distinguishes itself from traditional education in the way that power is distributed in the classroom:
- Together teachers and students determine what is important knowledge;
- Educational authority is shared;
- Commitment to diversity and inclusivity in the classroom;
- Classroom membership and diversity is open and accepting;
- Students share in the definition and availability of rights;
- Students participate in decision-making that affects their lives;
- Equality is honored
- An optimal learning environment is made available to all students.
Democratic education can benefit all students because students have a voice and steer the direction of their learning.
Democratic education:
- Builds self-confidence, initiative, perseverance, and life satisfaction;
- Protects students from the coercive nature of traditional learning, which can be damaging;
- Caters to a wider range of student interests;
- Reinforces collaboration
As a home-school partnership we provide flexible options to keep The Pearl affordable. Students can take 1 or many of our courses.
- Courses that meet 3 hours/week cost $825 USD for the term (~20 sessions/term).
- Spanish meets 4 hours a week and costs $1100 USD (~40 sessions/term)
- Courses that meet 1 hours/week costs $275USD (Foundations).
At The Pearl Remote Democratic High School, our vision is to revolutionize education by preparing young people to create a more just, sustainable, and equitable world. We are committed to making democratic education accessible to students who have been marginalized in traditional schools.
To complete our vision, we believe it is imperative to make our home-school partnership accessible to students and their families regardless of their economic situation. The cost of The Pearl depends on the number of courses students enroll in each term. Some families choose to keep costs low by supplementing their homeschool curriculum with only a few of our courses, utilizing online sites such as Coursera or Udemy, and tapping into local resources. However, we want students to participate in any courses that piqued their interests. Therefore, we also offer a limited number of sliding scale scholarships each term. The amount of the tuition is reduced based on a family’s ability to pay and can range from 90% to 10% of the full tuition amount. We are a small grassroots organization and want to keep our process easy, therefore for now we are utilizing a short form. However, in the future, we will likely need to partner with an organization that specializes in calculating student financial aid.
If you are in need of tuition assistance, please contact our director at drharwick@thepearlhighschool.org.
Pearl students who meet the eligibility requirements benefit from guaranteed admission to
Evergreen State College
Some prestigious colleges that welcome homeschooled students include:
- California State University (CA)
- Loma Linda University (CA)
- University of California (CA)
- Biola University (CA)
- University of Dallas (TX)
- University of New Mexico (NM)
- University of Arizona (AZ)
- Lee University (TN)
- Rhodes College (TN)
- Vanderbilt University (TN)
- Florida State University (FL)
- Sarah Lawrence College (NY)
- Davis College (NY)