We were SUPER excited to have the opportunity to host Elmarie Hyman from Learn Beyond the Book!
Learn Beyond the Book is a community learning and resource center for homeschooled and hybrid schooled students and their parents, with physical locations in Santa Clarita, as well as the San Fernando and Antelope Valleys. The founder, Elmarie Hyman is an experienced homeschooling parent with over 21 yrs of homeschooling experience that she enjoys sharing with her students, families, and the greater homeschooling community, too!
Learn Beyond the Book focuses on nurturing a love of learning in ALL of their classes, for ALL of their students:
We want our classes to cultivate the enjoyment and love of learning, which is so natural for children and we work hard on establishing that with loving, kind, respectful teachers, who care about each child. We employ discussions with students to see what they’re interested in learning about and focus on helping them grow in true inner happiness by equipping them with skills that can only come when teachers truly love and care for their students and work as partners with the parents. We are intentionally inclusive, and teach kindness and respect for all people throughout all of our curriculum - in all our classes. We treat each individual as a unique human being, with dreams, talents, ideas, and challenges and work hard to nurture them into well-rounded young adults by paying attention to not just academics, but also social and emotional well-being.
-- from their About Us page
RECORDED PRESENTATION
What is the Teaching Philosophy at Learn Beyond the Book?
They practice the Socratic way of teaching, which focuses on mastery, with an emphasis on critical thinking and a deep understanding of the concepts studied. They employ projects, games, and other innovative and play-based methods in their classes to make learning relevant and facts come alive.
Learn Beyond the Book is committed to the education of the whole child. One of their main goals is to ensure that their students will graduate as self-aware young adults, filled with empathy and understanding for everyone in their world. They strive to foster self-motivation and self-directed learning to develop graduates who will change the world by pursuing what makes them unique. They guide them to discover their best contribution to the planet.
What Makes Learn Beyond the Book Unique?
They offer hands-on, fun, age-appropriate, and engaging classes while still ensuring that real learning occurs. Sometimes classes for homeschoolers are advertised as “fun” and hands-on, even project-based, but the students don’t learn much or don’t remember what the relationship was between the subject matter and the projects, but at Learn Beyond The Book they connect the learning to the projects.
Their class sizes don’t exceed 12 students to make sure everyone gets a high level of interaction with the teacher and the teacher understands each child’s needs. They work really hard on creating a physically and emotionally safe environment where everyone can grow and learn at their own pace. They do not tolerate bullying and actively encourage kind and positive behavior.
Learn Beyond the Book takes great care in selecting highly qualified, caring teachers and mentors. Each teacher is an expert in the field that they’re teaching. This way their passion spills over to the students.
The feedback they've received is that parents love the fact that they can pick specific classes that they feel their student needs or topics they don’t want to teach themselves and they know it is taught by a passionate and caring teacher. Parents also love that there are NO registration fees or materials fees in addition to tuition costs. It is an all-inclusive price and makes it financially more viable, whether students enroll in just one or several classes. Please visit their website to find out more information.
What kinds of classes are offered at Learn Beyond the Book?
All the core classes for different levels (Language Arts, Math, Science & Social Studies)
Tons of enrichment courses, such as:
Music classes (Piano, Ukulele, Voice, Drums, and more!)
Technology classes (Technology, Programming, Video Game Design, 3D Modeling, Graphic Design)
Performing Arts (Acting, Improv, Theater Games, and Readers Theatre)
Fine Arts (lots of Art classes, even cross-curricular, Art History, Ceramics),
Home Economics (Cooking, Sewing)
Film Genres
Public Speaking and Debate
PE
2nd Language (Spanish, Japanese, ASL) and more.
Please visit their current Class Schedule page for more information.
Learn Beyond the Book offers so much more than just classes!
Dual Enrollment Community College Courses for High Schoolers
Tutoring in various subjects
Private Music lessons –
Guitar
Piano
Violin
Voice
and more!!
Homeschool coaching
Academic coaching
College and career counseling
Fieldtrips & Social Events
Proctor for BYU exams
Testing site for the CHSPE
Used curriculum store & sales
Please visit their website to learn more information. Contact them today or follow along on Instagram & Facebook.