Updated October 21, 2026

Welcome to PATH

PATH Collective is a secular, progressive Friday enrichment program for homeschool families in the East Valley, founded and run by two homeschooling mothers whose own children attend. We meet every Friday, 9:00 to 4:00, at The Grove Church, 2777 S. Gilbert Rd., Chandler, AZ 85286 (the southeast corner of Gilbert Rd. and Queen Creek Rd.). We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; the program belongs to the community, not to any one family.

This handbook replaces the Meet the Teacher slides. It is the one place for how a Friday runs, what things cost, and who to call. When a policy changes during the year we update this page and say so in the regular family email.

Your directors

Kaitlyn Redfield-Ortiz, 480-206-5290
Brooke Bentley, 480-695-6034

The office: pathcollectiveaz@gmail.com. Billing questions go to Ashley Boris, our bookkeeper, at pathazpayments@gmail.com.

What we ask of you. You remain your child's primary teacher; PATH is enrichment, not a school. Read the regular family email, keep the Family Portal current (pickup people, medical notes, contact details), pay on time, and tell us early when something is not working. Every PATH teacher is fingerprint-cleared, and both directors are present and moving through classrooms every Friday.

Your Friday, start to finish

Drop-off opens at 8:50 and classes start at 9:00 for every grade. The day runs differently by grade band, so find yours.

Kindergarten and 1st grade

Time	What happens
8:50	Parents park and walk their child to the homeroom door.
9:00–1:00	Homeroom with their teacher: monthly STEM units explored through projects, math games, and read-alouds, plus outdoor time, lunch, and recess as a class.
1:00	Period 5 elective (art, music, chess, or Nerding)
2:00	Period 6 elective (art, music, yoga, Sportball, or LEGO Science)
3:00	Period 7 elective (art, music, yoga, Sportball, or LEGO Science)
4:00	Dismissal in the gym

K/1 children are walked from room to room by an adult all afternoon and never cross the campus alone.

2nd and 3rd grade

Time	What happens
9:00	Period 1 (art, yoga, Sportball, or Math Lab)
10:00	Period 2 (Nerding, Sportball, yoga, or Math Lab)
11:00	Recess on the playground, walked out and collected as a class
11:30	Period 3 (Math Lab for 2nd, Nerding for 3rd)
12:30	Lunch, then recess on the playground
1:20	Read Aloud group or Crochet Club
2:00	Period 6 (art, chess, or robotics)
3:00	Period 7 (chess, robotics, Math Lab, yoga, or music)
4:00	Dismissal in the gym

Grades 2 and 3 are always walked between classes by their teacher or a line leader; nothing in their day is self-walked.

Grades 4–8

Time	What happens
9:00	Period 1 (Math Lab, Math Olympiad, robotics, chess, Nerding, or Empowered Communication)
10:00	Period 2 (Math Lab, Math Olympiad, art, robotics, or chess)
11:00	Period 3 (art, Sportball, yoga, chess, or robotics)
12:00	Lunch hour: eat in the art studio (until 12:25) or on the west lawn, then play in the gym, on the lawn, or on the playground (from 12:30); lunch clubs meet during the hour
1:00	Period 5 (art, Sportball, yoga, robotics, chess, marine science, or National History Day)
2:00	Period 6 (musical theater, Nerding, marine science, Sportball, IEW Writing, or National History Day)
3:00	Period 7 (art, Nerding, musical theater, History Detective, or IEW Writing)
4:00	Dismissal in the gym

Which of these classes a child can take in a given period depends on their grade (4/5, 5/6, or 7/8). Grades 4–8 walk themselves between classrooms on the quad, with teachers at their doors and aides posted along the way. Any group heading to the gym, the art studio, or the chess room is met by an adult at a marked cone, and at 1:00 students walk themselves from lunch to Period 5, where teachers wait at their doors. At lunch, food stays in the art studio or on the west lawn, the quad is a walkway only, and the coffee shop is off limits to students. Students taking National History Day or Photography also come on the 18 Wednesday dates in the calendar.

Drop-off (8:50–9:00). Enter from Gilbert Rd. and pull into the north lot and up to the gym doors, where staff welcome children out of cars. Students walk straight to their first class; teachers and aides are posted along the way. Exit onto Queen Creek Rd. K/1 parents must park and walk their child to the teacher's door. If you are walking any child in, park in the west lot so nobody crosses the drop-off lane.

Dismissal (4:00). Park in the north lot and walk to the gym doors. Inside are seven lines, sorted by family surname and staffed by an aide. Collect your children from their line and wait while the aide signs you out on their phone; until we know faces, you will be asked your name. Children are released only to adults on their registration or pickup list. Adding a new pickup person, or sending a child home with a friend, is done in the Family Portal before 4:00. If there is a custody arrangement or a prohibited pickup person, make sure we know.

Running late? Park in the west lot and walk your child to their classroom; you are always welcome to do that. Please also mark the tardy on the portal's Report an Absence/Tardy/Early Pick-Up tab so the attendance system knows they are on their way and nobody goes looking. Leaving early? Report it on the same tab and come to the west entrance of the church; an aide will bring your child out to you there.

Every child brings: a labeled water bottle, a packed lunch and two snacks (we are nut-free), a backpack with pencils or pens, shoes fit for PE and recess, and weather-appropriate gear for outdoor mornings. Label everything.

Kindergarten families: send a change of clothes every Friday.

Accidents, water play, and mud happen. A full change (including socks and underwear) in a labeled bag stays in the backpack all year.

Parents on campus. You are welcome to stay at Grove Coffee, on campus among the pistachio trees (free WiFi, indoor and outdoor seating). Please let your child go to class independently unless we have already discussed staying with them. Any parent who remains on campus needs an Arizona Fingerprint Clearance Card or a background check on file with us (SentryLink.com, about $20; email the result to pathcollectiveaz@gmail.com).

Calendar 2026–27

The year is 32 class Fridays in four eight-week quarters, each followed by a two-week break.

Quarter	Dates
Q1	Aug 14 – Oct 2
Q2	Oct 23 – Dec 18
Q3	Jan 8 – Feb 26
Q4	Mar 19 – May 7

No PATH: Fall Break Oct 9 and Oct 16 · Thanksgiving Nov 27 · Winter Break Dec 25 and Jan 1 · Spring Break Mar 5 and Mar 12.

Date	Event
Fri, Dec 18 · 4:30pm	Holiday Makers Market and Movie Night
Wed, Jan 13 · 5:00–6:30pm	Family Math Night (moved from Nov 6)
Thu, Mar 18 · 10am	Math Kangaroo competition (optional, grades 1–12)
Fri, Apr 2 · 5:30pm	Spring Showcase
Sat, May 1, 2027	Musical Theater performance
Fri, May 7	Last day of the year

Wednesday sessions (National History Day and Photography only). These two add-on classes meet on 18 set Wednesdays in addition to Friday: Sep 9, 16, 23, 30 · Oct 7 · Oct 28 · Nov 4, 11, 18 · Dec 2, 9 · Jan 6, 13, 20, 27 · Feb 3, 10, 17. Oct 7 runs even though the Fridays on either side are Fall Break, and there are no Wednesday sessions after Feb 17. NHD meets 2:00–3:30 (grades 5/6) and 3:30–5:00 (grades 7/8); Photography runs the opposite slots, so a student can take both.

Classes, add-ons, and lunch clubs

Included in tuition. Every child gets a full Friday of expert-led classes: 32 Fridays of seven hours, or 224 hours of instruction, for about $14 an hour. K/1 have a homeroom morning plus three afternoon electives; grades 2–8 have six periods across math lab, art, science, music, movement, chess, robotics, writing, drama, and more, chosen on the registration form. Your child's live schedule, teachers, and rooms are always on the Family Portal.

Schedule changes. Class schedules are set once the year begins, and we do not move children between classes without an extenuating circumstance. Stable rosters let teachers plan and prep for the whole semester. If something is genuinely not working, email the office and we will talk it through.

Class sizes. Sizes vary by subject. Hands-on classes such as K/1 art, writing, yoga, and LEGO Science run small, around 12 to 14. Gym, drama, and the Nerding maker classes run larger, with more adults in the room. Every class has a lead teacher and, where the size calls for it, an aide. When a class is full we keep a waitlist and call families in order as seats open.

Add-on programs (billed separately, per quarter, up front):

Program	Who	When	Cost
IEW Writing (Institute for Excellence in Writing)	grades 4–8	Friday afternoons	$120 per quarter
National History Day	grades 5–8	Friday P5/P6 plus the 18 Wednesday sessions	$20 per Wednesday session ($100 fall 1, $120 fall 2, $140 spring)
Visual Storytelling: Photography	grades 5–8	Wednesdays only, 3:30–5:00 (5/6) or 2:00–3:30 (7/8)	$160 per quarter

Photography students need a DSLR camera; used gear from mpb.com or Tempe Camera is fine and recommended. Sportball PE families complete the Sportball waiver before the first class.

Lunch clubs (grades 4–8). Every Friday, students in grades 4–8 choose how to spend their one-hour lunch block. Most clubs meet for part of the hour and everyone gets free play after. Pokemon Club meets on the coffee shop patio. Choices this year: Battle of the Books (grades 5–8, read the ten titles at home, compete in team quiz rounds, book list and reading calendar on the website), Dungeons & Dragons (two groups, 4–5 and 6–8), Crochet Club, Pokemon Club, The Collective Edit (our student yearbook team), drop-in Community Art in the lobby, drop-in Board Games Club at the west walkway tables, and Just Play. A few 2nd and 3rd graders join Pokemon Club after their late-morning class. Sign up or join a waitlist from the Sign up for something card on the portal's My kids tab.

Read Aloud (grades 2–3). From 1:20 to 2:00 the 2nd and 3rd graders gather in small themed groups (Wild Things, Brave & Bold, Magic & Wonder, Heart & Soul) to hear an exceptional book read aloud while working on handcraft skills. Groups are assigned from the top-three preference on the registration form.

Attendance and behavior

Report every absence and tardy in the Family Portal. We account for every child at the start of every period, and our attendance system pings our phones when someone is unaccounted for. Knowing a child is safe at home saves a phone call and real anxiety. We no longer take absence reports by text, phone call, or GroupMe. Reporting the night before is fine; one report per child per day is enough. If a child is marked absent and no parent has reported it, we call you.

Keep your child home with a fever, vomiting, or anything contagious. PATH is one day a week, so a missed Friday is a missed Friday; there are no make-ups, and tuition is not adjusted for absences.

PATH rules. Be respectful to everyone. Keep yourself and others safe. That is the whole list, and it applies to adults too.

An open campus. The Grove is an outdoor campus. Grades 4 and up move between classes on the quad without a line leader, with teachers and aides stationed to keep everyone contained. We have almost 50 adults working on a Friday, but we are not magicians. Please talk with older children about classroom transitions and about going straight to class. If a child is intentionally trying to go undetected, we will discuss with the parents whether this is the right fit.

Phones stay in backpacks. Students do not use phones at PATH. If a phone comes out at all, even at lunch or a break, an adult will take it and return it to the parent at dismissal. If you need to reach your child, or they need you, any adult will connect you. Children should not photograph or post anything from PATH. Parents who see a phone out may take it to Kaitlyn or Brooke.

Navigating the day. Each student has a backpack tag showing their schedule, and each class has an emoji that also appears on the sign outside its door. Please review the schedule with your child; 3rd grade and younger are always accompanied by a line leader.

Behavior concerns. Teachers handle small things in the moment. Anything larger comes to a director the same day, and we call you. Our teachers and aides work with families on supports for individual children; if your child has a diagnosis, an IEP, or a strategy that works at home, put it in the medical notes on the portal so every adult who has them can read it.

Tuition, fees, and payments

Charge	Amount	When
Tuition, monthly plan	$315 per student, 10 payments	Due the 1st, August through May
Tuition, quarterly plan	$787.50 per student, 4 payments	Due Aug 1, Oct 1, Jan 1, Apr 1
Enrollment fee	$80 per student, once a year	With enrollment; not refundable
Materials fee	$100 per student, per semester	Billed with Q1 and Q3
Add-ons	IEW $120/qtr · NHD $20/session · Photography $160/qtr	Billed with the quarter, up front

Why every month is the same. Annual tuition is $3,150 for 32 class days, which is $98.44 per class day. Fridays do not spread evenly across months (October has three class days after Fall Break, December two, May one), so the ten payments are an installment plan for one annual cost, not ten charges for ten months. From February on, you have received more instruction than you have paid for; May's payment settles a balance built up through the spring. A student who starts mid-year is charged by class days remaining, at $98.44 a day, with the start month carrying the remainder and the standard amount from the next month on.

Invoices. Invoices come from QuickBooks, addressed per student, on the 1st. Any family can pay by Zelle, and ESA families can also pay through ClassWallet. Please sign the Tuition Agreement on the portal (the Tuition Agreement tab) if you have not yet.

How to pay.

ClassWallet (ESA families): log in at app.classwallet.com, choose Pay Vendor, and pay the invoice total. ClassWallet's 2.0408% processing fee is already included as a line on your invoice, so the amount to vendor should match the invoice exactly. Funding delays on the ESA side happen; tell Ashley when you are waiting on funds, but please be mindful in your budgeting that our teachers' payrolls cannot wait for ESA funding.
Zelle (any family, ESA or not): send to pathazpayments@gmail.com with your child's name and the billing period in the memo. Scheduling a recurring $315 on the 1st is the easiest way to never be late. Save the Zelle confirmation; ESA families paying by Zelle submit it with the invoice to the ADE portal for reimbursement.
We do not accept checks or cards.

Receipts. Once a payment is applied, an itemized receipt appears on the Family Portal under Payments, dated the day the money moved. That receipt is what ESA families use for reimbursement, so tell us if one is missing.

Late Payment Policy (effective September 21, 2026). Tuition is due on the 1st. A late fee applies once an account reaches each stage: $25 at 14 days late, $50 at 21 days, $75 at 30 days. The fee reflects how late the account is when charged and does not stack (an account 30 days late owes $75, not $150). At 30 days the family has one more week to pay in full; after that, the student may not attend classes or activities until the account, including late fees, is paid. Attendance resumes as soon as the balance is paid. Things come up. If you need a payment plan, tell Ashley before the due date, not after.

Withdrawal. Tuition is settled by the number of class days your child was enrolled, at $98.44 a day. Payments already made are not refunded, and instruction received beyond what you have paid is still due. The enrollment fee and materials fee are not refunded. Tell us in writing as early as you can; circumstances changing is always worth a conversation first.

Field trips are paid separately and are non-refundable (see Field trips and events).

Where tuition goes. Nearly all of it goes to the people in the rooms: lead teachers, aides, and partner programs. The rest is rent for The Grove, insurance, materials, and events. We publish an honest account on the website's Tuition & Transparency page.

Billing questions go to Ashley Boris at pathazpayments@gmail.com. She can tell you exactly where your account stands.

The Family Portal

The portal is where everything about your family at PATH lives. Go to pathcollectiveaz.com, click Family Portal, and enter your email. There is no password: a secure login link is emailed to you. Both parents on the registration have their own login. On a phone, add it to your home screen so it is one tap away.

From the portal you can:

see each child's live Friday schedule, teachers, and rooms, and print a copy
find every teacher's contact information, so you can reach them directly
open each teacher's Online Classroom for syllabi, homework, and files
report an absence, a tardy, or an early pickup (Report an Absence/Tardy/Early Pick-Up tab)
see your child's attendance history
add a pickup person for today or for always, and see who is on the list
sign up for field trips, lunch clubs, add-on classes, and monthly I-HELP service from the Sign up for something card on My kids
find every invoice and receipt, including the itemized ESA receipts, under Payments
read and sign the Tuition and Withdrawal Agreement
update emergency contacts, medical and allergy notes, and photo permissions
join the PTO and, for members, see PTO events and the ledger

If a login link does not arrive, check spam, then email the office. If something on the portal looks wrong (a class missing, a receipt you cannot find), tell us; the portal reads live from our records, so a fix there fixes it everywhere.

Field trips and events

Field trips happen on Fridays and other days through the year: theaters, museums, gardens, science and engineering days, and more. Every trip is posted on the Family Portal with the date, cost, what to wear, and any waiver. Sign up there; spots fill quickly and a waitlist runs automatically when a trip is full.

Chaperones are required. A parent or another responsible adult attends with your child, and adult tickets are priced at cost. Sign yourself up on the same form.
Cost. Trips are priced at what the venue charges, with nothing added. Pay by Zelle to pathazpayments@gmail.com (family name and trip in the memo) or through ClassWallet; the invoice on the portal shows both amounts, since ClassWallet adds its 2% fee. Your receipt appears on the portal once you are marked paid.
No refunds. Trip payments are non-refundable because the venue has already been paid. If you cannot go, you may remove a name from your party; the seat becomes available for another family, but the amount stays.
Free trips still need a signup, so we have a headcount and the waivers.

Events are how PATH families spend time together outside of Fridays. This year: Family Math Night (Wednesday, Jan 13), the Holiday Makers Market and Movie Night (Dec 18), Math Kangaroo (Mar 18, optional), the Spring Showcase (Apr 2), and the Musical Theater performance (May 1). The PTO also organizes fundraisers, such as the Diamondbacks school night and otter-pop Fridays. Details and links land on the portal and in the regular family email as each one is confirmed.

Health, safety, and privacy

Nut-free campus. No nuts or nut butters in lunches or snacks. Please double-check before Friday. The Grove sits in a pistachio grove; if your child has a tree-nut allergy, check with their allergist about the protocols they want us to follow, and put them in the medical notes.

Allergies and medical notes. Anything an adult should know in an emergency, including allergies, seizures, asthma, ADHD or autism supports, and medications, belongs in your child's medical notes on the portal. Children with allergies wear a marker on their name tag so every teacher and aide can see it. We do not administer medication unless we have talked with you about it first.

Illness. A child with a fever, vomiting, or a contagious illness stays home. If a child becomes ill during the day, we call you and keep them with an adult until you arrive at the west entrance.

Emergency contacts. Keep at least one non-parent emergency contact current on the portal, with a phone number that answers on Fridays.

Who is with your child. Every teacher and aide at PATH holds an Arizona Fingerprint Clearance Card, and every parent who stays on campus has a clearance card or a background check on file. Both directors are on campus and moving between rooms all day. Attendance is taken every period, and the system pings our phones when a child is unaccounted for.

Pickup authorization. Children are released at 4:00 only to adults on the registration or on the portal's pickup list. Tell us about custody orders in writing.

Photo permissions. On the registration you choose, separately, whether your child may appear on the PATH website, on PATH social media, and in the families' GroupMe. Teachers see those choices on their class rosters and follow them. Students themselves do not photograph or post anything from PATH. You can change your permissions on the portal at any time.

Your information. Family contact details, medical notes, and payment records are visible only to you, the directors, the bookkeeper, and (for class rosters and medical notes) your child's teachers. Nothing internal is posted on the public website.

How we communicate

Need	Where
Weekly news, dates, reminders	The regular family email
Day-of updates and quick questions	The PATH families GroupMe (join link in your welcome email). Not for absences.
General questions, schedule concerns, anything for the directors	pathcollectiveaz@gmail.com
Tuition, invoices, receipts, payment plans	Ashley Boris, pathazpayments@gmail.com
Urgent, same-day	Brooke 480-695-6034 · Kaitlyn 480-206-5290 (text first; save both numbers)
Absence, tardy, early pickup	The Family Portal only
Your child's teachers	Contact information and each class's Online Classroom on the portal
Field trip confirmations and receipts	Automatic emails from trips@pathcollectiveaz.com

We read the office inbox every day and answer within a business day or two. On Fridays we are teaching and on the quad, so a text to a director is the fastest way to reach us during the day. Please save our numbers and text us your name and your children's names so we have yours.

We do not use the Facebook page much anymore. When a teacher posts to their Online Classroom, you get one email listing everything they posted. We keep family emails short and put the detail on the portal, where it stays current.

Our community

What we believe. Our goal is to give our children an excellent education and a supportive community. PATH is secular and progressive; we neither require nor expect ideological sameness from our families, and we welcome everyone through our doors. We do not discriminate on the basis of religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, or family composition in admissions, educational policies, tuition assistance, or any program. Service is woven into who we are: we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the program belongs to the community.

PTO. PATH's parent-teacher organization runs fundraisers, event help, and parent education, and keeps its own transparent ledger. Join from the portal's PTO tab; members see events and the running balance there.

I-HELP. Once a month, PATH families serve a meal to neighbors experiencing homelessness through the I-HELP program. The signup sheet is the first tile under Sign up for something on the portal. Children are welcome and encouraged.

Ways to help. Special-event setup, the Makers Market, Math Night, chaperoning trips, and the occasional otter-pop table. Every family has something to offer, and it does not have to be a lot of time.

Tell us early. If your family is struggling, whether with a payment, a class that is not a fit, or a child having a hard time, tell us before it becomes a crisis. We would much rather work something out than lose you.

Our educators and partners

Every PATH class is led by a credentialed or specialist educator, supported by a team of aides who handle transitions, lunch, recess, and the 4:00 lines. Your child's specific teachers, with contact information, are on the portal schedule, and the full Meet Our Educators page is on the website.

Directors. Brooke Bentley and Kaitlyn Redfield-Ortiz, co-founders. Both are homeschooling mothers whose children attend PATH.

Neurodivergence support. Our teachers and aides work across classrooms with children who need extra support, coordinate with families, and keep a log of parent conversations so nothing is lost between Fridays.

Partner programs teaching on campus:

Hot Potato Art Studio leads art for every grade, including drop-in Community Art at lunch.
Sportball runs PE in the gym.
Desert Sol Sound & Yoga teaches yoga.
Next Move Chess teaches chess, from K/1 through the older grades, and runs a chess league.
Nerding teaches the maker and science electives: 3D and Graphic Design, and Zoology and Space.
Illuminating Dyslexia brings the IEW writing program (Colleen Cubberley).
Amy Dangerfield, a documentary photographer ranked among the top 100 worldwide, teaches the Wednesday Photography program.
Music, Math Lab, Math Olympiad, marine science, robotics, LEGO science, musical theater, history detective, National History Day, Empowered Communication, and the K/1 homerooms are taught by PATH's own lead teachers.

All teachers hold a high school diploma or higher from an accredited institution, or certification in their area of instruction, as Arizona's ESA rules require (A.R.S. §15-2402), and all are fingerprint-cleared. Our host, The Grove Church, provides the classrooms, the gym, the garden, the playground, and the coffee shop that make a Friday possible.

This handbook was last updated October 21, 2026. Policies in it supersede the Meet the Teacher slides. Questions anytime: pathcollectiveaz@gmail.com · 480-695-6034 Brooke · 480-206-5290 Kaitlyn.