Updated reviews of Hickman?
The positive reviews of Hickman (including its Shakespeare program) are a little old. Has anyone been part of it recently and can give us some quick pros/cons?
My husband was especially impressed that it had lot of in-person classes. Did you like the classes offered at Live Oak? Have you heard any talk that they'd move them from Live Oak.anytime in the near future? I know Live Oak has been renovating for a yr, but (weirdly conveniently for us) that year happened to be during covid anyway. The location would be a big plus for us.
We know Hickman offers less funding than other charters--we don't get many charter options anyway.
We're not even sure we'll get into Hickman. I've been hoping to find a part-time school option that would allow us to homeschool/do half-time in-person school.
If it matters, we're looking at third grade for 21/22. I'm also looking at Connecting Waters and all the local outdoor schools.
Parent Replies
We had two kids go through Hickman until this academic year: one starting in 2nd grade and the other since kindergarten. Hickman did really well by us.
The Shakespeare program is still absolutely amazing. It's a spring offering, and done to a level beyond even what one would expect in a private arts high school. It is clearly a passion-project for the person who runs it. This alone, in my opinion, is worth the difference in funding that one would get with other charters.
Hickman holds classes on Wednesdays in two sessions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Without knowing what you're looking for, it's hard to comment on their quality. Keep in mind Hickman is serving a full range of homeschooling families, from those who are very academically oriented (that was us) to those who despise academics and have no wish to put their own kids through that, to those who are on some other axis completely. Personally, I was grateful for the elementary school classes that involved things like papier-mâché that I hella wouldn't have wanted to deal with at home. In middle school, the spring Shakespeare classes (the play was the afternoon class, but one could dive deeper with the morning Shakespeare class, where they'd do period study, sword play, etc.) were really neat for my son and became the highlight of my elder child's entire education to that point (true for many in the program). That said, the other classes tended to be a little fluffy for our tastes, but I gather other homeschooling parents were enthusiastic. For us, the fall semester was worth it simply so that the kids could hang out with their pals before class, during break, during lunch, and after the second session. They went eagerly. The other kids became our community outside of Hickman -- soccer, orchestra, chorus, parent-taught classes, all kinds of shared other extra-curriculars, etc. Parents hanging out while our kids played together after school would exchange ideas, support, and information. Hickman was our homeschooling core.
It's just one day each week, so it won't be "half-time in-person school." For that, you would need to find additional solutions. That said, we found our Hickman "Educational Councilor" (every charter seems to have a different title for the same thing) to be very helpful in guiding us through managing our kids' subjects. In the end, both kids were happy throughout and both scored in the high 90s on the SSATs, so Hickman worked out really well for us.
Good luck wherever your family ends up!