Friday Feature: Urban Cottage Educational Collaborative

Colleen Hroncich“Kids are each unique. But in too many school settings, they aren’t allowed to need individual differentiation—the system tries to take their uniqueness out of them,” says Marissa Hess, founder ofUrban Cottage in Tampa, FL.Marissa wanted something different for herself and her children. “Even within my own three children, there were different needs,” she says. “Some were gifted and needed extra challenges. But we also had some learning disabilities that needed extra time. I wanted each of them to be seen for who they are, and that wasn’t happening.”A former homeschooler herself, Marissa decided to start educating her children at home according to her own philosophy that focused on their individual needs. The more she shared her approach, the more she found other parents who wanted something similar for their kids. She began doing educational consulting and tutoring.In 2015, Marissa launched Urban Cottage to help parents curate an education that fits each child ’s needs. She offers as much or as little support as families choose. Some only take advantage of her consulting program, where she designs individualized programs to meet a wide variety of educational goals. Urban Cottage even employs an educational psychologist, which was tough to find since Ma rissa wanted someone who understood the value of homeschooling and the importance of students’ individual learning needs.Other families participate in Urban Cottage ’s core sessions, wh...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs