What does it mean to be a “Homestay Family”?
At Breakthrough, we hire exceptional college undergraduates from across the country to teach limited opportunity middle school students in our award-winning Students Teaching Students summer program. While many of our Teaching Fellows live locally, we seek homestay placements for those teachers who are out-of-town and need a place to call home for the summer.
Our Teaching Fellows are always bright undergraduates, eager to make a difference in the lives of children and ready to grow as teachers and leaders. They are interested and interesting people. Please consider being a homestay family for a Teaching Fellow next summer!
Location:
The program takes place each summer on the beautiful campus of The Derryfield School located in the north end of Manchester. For Teaching Fellows without a car, we seek homestay families within 10 minutes of Derryfield. For those who have a car, homestay families may live up to 40 minutes away from the campus.
Dates:
End of June to Beginning of August
What homestay families provide:
Teaching Fellows need a bedroom to sleep, a place to work when they are home and enough food to keep them nourished through a whirlwind summer. They will share meals with your family if they are home; otherwise, they can reheat leftovers or make simple meals on their own. Homestay Teaching Fellows often provide care for plants and pets while homeowners are away during program weeks.
What homestay families don’t provide:
Homestay families are never expected to provide transportation for Teaching Fellows. Many bring their own car, but if not, the program organizes carpools among the other Teaching Fellows. Homestay families are not expected to entertain their hosted teachers, either. While you are welcome to invite your guest on weekend day trips if you wish, this is not an expectation. Indeed, they are often busy preparing for the next week or exploring the area with other Teaching Fellows.
Homestay behavior:
All of our Teaching Fellows sign an agreement which requires them to abstain from alcohol during Breakthrough, even if they are of legal drinking age. Recreational drugs are always prohibited. At Breakthrough, we believe that a healthy environment for young people requires healthy habits of socializing and connecting with others. We have a lot of fun at Breakthrough, but we are very serious about this expectation; failure to abide by this code of conduct is grounds for immediate dismissal from the program. In addition, all of our Teaching Fellows must receive a current, clean background check.
General Schedule:
You probably won’t see your Teaching Fellow much during the week. They work hard and are generally at school from 7:00 am to 6:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Several evenings each summer run even later. They will eat breakfast at the house, pack a lunch and will generally eat dinner or leftovers when they arrive home.
Please contact Deb McLoud, Breakthrough’s Executive Director, for more information about the opportunity to support an emerging, exceptional teacher with a homestay placement.
Deb McLoud – dmcloud@derryfield.org or 603-641-9426.
