Photography courtesy Maria Casco
CASCO Learning co-founders Jenna Hill (left) and Maria Casco during a teacher development workshop in Chapala, Mexico in August.
The pandemic revealed to so many parents how much work it is to teach. Although some families eagerly counted down the days until children returned to the classroom, others made a full pivot to at-home learning.
The number of households that reported homeschooling their children more than doubled during the sixth-month span from April to October 2020, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. And for those families who determined homeschooling was the best option for their kids, the pandemic also illustrated how much help they were going to need.
Locally, Maria Casco watched families try to navigate these changes and decided she could help. Along with co-operator Jenna Hill, Casco founded CASCO Learning, a collaborative education community based in Chesterfield (17732 Edison). Now in its second year, CASCO Learning functions as a resource center for homeschooling families, offering support and personalized educational opportunities for children enrolled in non-traditional schooling.
“When you homeschool, it’s all on you,” Casco says. “But what if you could collaborate with a trained educator, along with other families? Now, you’re all working together for the benefit of your children. It works really well.”
To create the framework of CASCO Learning’s collaborative model, Casco—a Montessori-trained educator—says she’s pulled pieces from other models, including traditional K-12 schooling, Waldorf, Montessori, and unschooling, among others. Travel is also a major component of CASCO Learning’s approach to education, and the collaborative helps facilitate field trips to destinations near and far. For example, a child who’s interested in marine biology might embark on a research adventure that culminates with a visit to the St. Louis Aquarium. Casco says she’s also organizing a trip to the Yucatán Peninsula in May, pitching it as an opportunity for families to travel with a teacher.
“We like to say that we’re educators at heart and world travelers by trade,” Casco says. “We love to travel and we have so many stories from our own travels that we bring to the classroom and share with the children as part of the cultural lessons that offer perspective. We try to show that humanity is more connected than not. A lot of the time, international travel can be daunting with children. So we try to think about it as a guided experience with an educator.”
Most of all, Casco is trying to use the collaborative to show that there are new and innovative ways for parents to help their children learn.
“It’s a self-directed educational resource center,” Casco says. “We have parents involved in everything from committees and service and outreach projects, to teaching lessons as part of the collaborative. We think it’s a cool concept. And you know, it takes a village.”
