0:14

Welcome to another episode of Sage Studio.

0:16

I'm Tiffiny Webster and

0:16

enrollment season is upon us.

0:21

So there is no better person to ask

0:21

about, enrolling in Sage Oak and

0:26

what it's like to join a charter

0:26

school than the parents who have

0:29

enrolled in the programs themselves. And so today I'm so excited to

0:31

bring to you Nancy Shaputis,

0:35

who is one of our parents. From the Virtual Learning

0:37

Academy, VLA program.

0:41

And she is going to

0:41

share her story with us.

0:44

And I think probably put

0:44

a lot of you at ease.

0:47

If you're in that enrollment process right

0:47

now, I'm trying to make good decisions

0:50

about your family and your future

0:50

and what program best works for you.

0:53

So Nancy, I'm going to stop talking

0:53

and let you introduce yourself.

0:57

Welcome to the podcast.

1:00

Thank you so much. I am very excited to be able to share

1:01

our journey and just what brought

1:06

us here and to be able to, like you

1:06

said, put a bunch of parents at ease.

1:10

That Sage Oak is really school to

1:10

enroll in and where you can have

1:16

community and have the choice to

1:16

make decisions for your own child.

1:20

I have two children enrolled in

1:20

the VLA program at the moment.

1:25

I have a seventh grader. and a first grader.

1:29

My seventh grader has been in

1:29

the VLA since the conception of

1:34

the Virtual Learning Program. She started in fifth grade and

1:36

is now in the middle school type

1:41

of Virtual Learning Program. And my son started kindergarten

1:43

after seeing that his sister

1:47

just loved the program. And now he's in first grade

1:49

and loving it as well.

1:53

So we really couldn't be

1:53

happier with the school.

1:56

Oh, that's so great. I'm so glad to hear that. And how cool that you've been there

1:58

since the start of the VLA program.

2:02

And you've watched it grow a little

2:02

bit and evolve and change over time.

2:05

And I love that, you know, you thought,

2:05

Hey, you know what, this is not only good

2:09

for one, it's good for two, let's get the

2:09

other one into the VLA program as well.

2:14

So I'm going to have you walk us back a

2:14

little bit to, you know what it was like

2:19

before the VLA program was in existence.

2:22

Where was your daughter before? Was she in the other Sage Oak

2:23

program or was she in a brick

2:26

and mortar neighborhood school? When it was time for her to go to school,

2:28

we originally went to a private school.

2:34

We Decided to go private because

2:34

the public school programs in

2:39

our community were unfortunately

2:39

getting a lot of feedback about

2:43

bullying and about just kids safety.

2:46

So we didn't want to put our five

2:46

year old little girl who was just

2:50

completely innocent and happy with

2:50

the world into somewhere where it

2:54

might cause some damage and even just

2:54

make her not want to go to school.

2:59

So she was in a private school.

3:01

She was going from 8 AM to 3 PM.

3:04

I was volunteering. And it was a lot.

3:07

I was pregnant with my son.

3:10

And it just started to become a lot

3:10

for me to where I thought, you know,

3:14

there's got to be another choice. So I started speaking to friends and

3:15

family what are the other choices

3:20

And I had a friend who I babysat for her

3:20

and her daughter was also starting school.

3:26

And she said, you know what, we're just going to. homeschool.

3:29

So for first grade, I put her

3:29

in a homeschooling kind of

3:34

religious background program.

3:37

What we found in that program was just

3:37

It was very much monotonous it was cookie

3:43

cutter you know, you have these books,

3:43

this curriculum, and this is what you

3:47

have to follow, here's what she has to do,

3:47

and very repetitive it was a good start

3:53

to our journey, but it was just missing

3:53

the fact that It wasn't adapting to her.

3:59

She was getting bored. She was getting tired.

4:02

They didn't have anything that

4:02

was reaching out parent to parent.

4:07

Nothing social. So I was having to find a lot of

4:08

things to do with her by myself.

4:13

And that's interesting. It was like missing the mark for

4:14

both her as a student, but for you

4:18

as a parent too, you weren't getting

4:18

that, that community and that support

4:22

that you were looking for as well. So through the wonders of Facebook, I

4:24

joined a group of moms in my community

4:30

and of them were saying, you know

4:30

what, try this charter school, try.

4:34

Sage Oak. It seems like they do more personalized

4:34

learning, but you get more social.

4:39

They actually have things

4:39

that are more involved with

4:41

parents and you get a teacher.

4:44

And so that spoke a lot to me.

4:46

I reached out and a lot of the things that

4:46

I was hearing was just like, okay, this is

4:51

different, but it's good different because

4:51

You have a teacher who is going to go

4:55

ahead and go through curriculum with you. They're going to go ahead and check

4:57

in with you monthly to make sure that

5:01

your daughter is hitting all of the

5:01

benchmarks that she should be hitting.

5:04

And you also get to go ahead and

5:04

socialize with a group of kiddos.

5:09

We have, you know, a list of kids

5:09

who are in your area who would

5:12

be more than happy to join you. We have field trips available.

5:16

we were able to through the Personalized

5:16

Learning, put her in swim classes and

5:21

dance classes and where she got to

5:21

meet not only the kids who were in

5:25

the same school, but also in the same

5:25

community, different types of backgrounds.

5:31

So the exposure was much greater than

5:31

what I could have offered her on my own.

5:37

So that was how we started with Sage Oak.

5:40

Then when we heard about the Virtual

5:40

Learning Program starting, it was

5:44

Oh, this is the best of both worlds.

5:47

Now why did the Virtual Learning Academy

5:47

why did that appeal to you so much?

5:52

Number one, we're really techie. We love our games.

5:55

We love computers. We know that obviously that is the future.

6:00

So it's have to know how to work around

6:00

a computer, a tablet, a, you know,

6:05

anything to go ahead and be able to

6:05

have access to that sort of thing.

6:10

Secondary was I had a toddler now

6:10

and my hands were more than full.

6:16

So it was the fact that

6:16

she was going to get.

6:20

a hybrid type program where not

6:20

only is she in a classroom with

6:26

the teacher with students her age

6:26

being able to do group projects,

6:30

but she's in the safety of our home. She's also if she's needing something.

6:35

I'm able to be right there. It's not a question of okay when I get

6:38

home I have to remember to tell mom,

6:41

it's literally, mom, let's remember this.

6:44

Okay. And so she gets. Support not only from a teacher, not

6:46

only from students her age, but from

6:52

her parents who are right there. So I feel like that's the best thing

6:54

that we could offer them is a bigger,

6:59

greater community than any one of us.

7:02

I loved how you were honest and saying.

7:05

Hey, you know what? There came a time where the seasons of

7:05

my life changed and I had a baby and

7:09

there was other things going on and

7:09

I couldn't commit to doing the heavy

7:13

lifting of all of the instruction.

7:15

And I needed to know that I could

7:15

count on a certificated, qualified

7:19

teacher to do that, but I still

7:19

wanted to be in the picture, right?

7:24

I wanted to have her home with me. I wanted to be in the background.

7:27

I wanted to be there to support her. So having her attend the program where

7:29

she could go to those live online classes.

7:34

a couple days a week and take

7:34

that pressure off because you

7:38

weren't the main teacher was really

7:38

what appealed to you about VLA.

7:41

So I think a lot of

7:41

parents can relate to that.

7:44

And I think that's the scary part, right? Like you think, okay,

7:46

everything's going to fall on me.

7:49

And I don't remember Math

7:49

as well as I used to.

7:52

And I don't know, you know,

7:52

certain punctuation things

7:56

or certain English terms.

7:59

And the fact that You get a teacher

7:59

who goes ahead and takes care of

8:03

that part for you, but you still

8:03

get to proofread your kids essays.

8:08

You still get to see the growth in them.

8:11

You still get to give them that

8:11

support of, okay it seems like

8:14

they need a little bit more help. So let's reach out to your teacher

8:15

and see what other things you

8:18

could be doing to help support you. I think that's really

8:20

what makes sure that.

8:23

No, no kid in the program

8:23

is going to be left behind.

8:26

Because although it's still virtual

8:26

learning and it's a classroom

8:30

setting, it's still very personal.

8:32

It's still very much. manageable for the teachers to be able

8:34

to say, you know what, Haley needs

8:38

a little bit of extra work on this.

8:40

And having that extra teacher

8:40

just gives the peace of mind

8:44

of, okay, it's not just my eyes.

8:46

It's actually someone who has been

8:46

trained and they are just wonderful.

8:51

I, Seeing them being able to

8:51

manage a classroom and the love

8:55

and the care that the teachers

8:55

really provide is just amazing.

8:59

And I honestly, the one thing that I

8:59

also talk about is our school counselors.

9:05

One of the greatest programs that

9:05

we did with the counselors was

9:09

their grief counseling session. And we had just recently gone

9:11

through losing a couple of really

9:15

big key people in our lives. And it just seemed to work right on

9:17

time, right on schedule to where my

9:24

daughter was teaching me how to be more

9:24

emotionally intelligent, how to go ahead

9:29

and work through certain processes.

9:32

So it's really a school that

9:32

doesn't just focus on, okay,

9:37

the academic success of a child. It focuses on their emotional intelligence

9:39

to be able to have children be ready

9:45

to be adults in the world to be able

9:45

to be productive and healthy and

9:50

happy in all ranges of their life.

9:53

I love the fact that she makes friendships

9:53

I talk about that very big with her

9:57

because she's in middle school So

9:57

how do you see your middle schooler

10:01

making friends in a virtual program?

10:03

How does that even work? So the good thing that the teachers

10:05

have access to is they set the kids up

10:11

in different groups at times of class.

10:14

Like even my first grader has certain

10:14

moments where his teacher will go

10:18

ahead and set him up with a partner. And so they are literally in a,

10:20

in their Zoom, in the classroom

10:25

setting, and then she sets them out

10:25

into what they call breakout rooms.

10:29

And so then it's just one kid with

10:29

another kid, and they just get

10:35

to go ahead and meet, and greet,

10:35

and talk, and learn together.

10:40

They make real lasting connections based

10:40

on what they really are looking for.

10:46

It's not I see you every day

10:46

and I sit next to you every day.

10:49

So we might as well get along. It's something that literally she has

10:51

formed from friendships with girls and

10:57

boys who different backgrounds, different

10:57

ethnicities, different communities.

11:02

Some of them live about an hour

11:02

away, but As parents, we make time

11:08

to go ahead and join together. She gets them to come

11:10

to her birthday parties.

11:12

They go to their birthday parties. They make friendship bracelets.

11:16

They are writing letters. It's actually using pens and pencils

11:18

and it's just great to see that like

11:25

she goes to the store and she thinks,

11:25

you know, there's a friendship bracelet.

11:28

I want to take this and

11:28

mail it to my friends.

11:32

So we're able to still bring

11:32

back the things that make a good

11:36

community and connection even through

11:36

all of the virtual aspect of it.

11:40

And it's just it's been amazing how just

11:40

naturally it flows through the program.

11:47

So if there was a parent who was

11:47

still on the fence and not quite sure

11:52

if a VLA program would be the right

11:52

fit for them, what's the one piece

11:55

of advice you'd give that parent? I would say just go with your instinct.

12:01

I think a lot of the times what happens

12:01

is we're scared that people will go

12:05

ahead and see us as, overprotective

12:05

or see us as someone who is choosing

12:12

outside of the traditional norm. I would say if you're already aiming

12:14

towards having your child doing something

12:21

more personalized, doing something where

12:21

you are able to keep them close to you.

12:26

I like to say that I'm preserving

12:26

my kid's childhood as much as I can.

12:32

Because right now, you know,

12:32

you, safety is a concern.

12:36

And that's physical safety,

12:36

online safety, emotional safety.

12:40

If you're thinking about it. I'd say go ahead and take the plunge.

12:44

You can, after about two

12:44

months, you will be able to see

12:49

the difference in your child. Not only in the fact that they are

12:51

engaged in class, they really enjoy the

12:56

things that are being presented to them. But also, you get to have the peace of

12:58

mind of they're right around the corner.

13:03

You get a computer, you get everything

13:03

that you need and you get people to go

13:09

ahead and help you every step of the way. You're not alone in this venture.

13:14

You're have more than enough resources.

13:17

To help you. And our principal is amazing in

13:18

engaging with every one of us.

13:23

The way that they communicate is amazing.

13:26

I've never had an issue where I

13:26

have reached out to a teacher, a

13:30

counselor, our principal, and I

13:30

haven't heard back in the same day.

13:34

So it's something that if you're

13:34

thinking about it, odds are your

13:40

thoughts are in the right place. I love it.

13:42

I love it. Nancy, thank you so much for

13:43

sharing your story with me today.

13:47

I am just so grateful that

13:47

you you really did share.

13:50

Some very meaningful, heartfelt sentiments

13:50

that I know are going to be very impactful

13:55

in the the minds and in the hearts and

13:55

in the decision making of other families

13:59

that are out there on the fence as well. Just hoping like you to do what's

14:00

right for them and for their kids.

14:04

We really appreciate you coming on the

14:04

podcast today, sharing your story with us.

14:08

We are so grateful that your

14:08

family is here at Sage Oak and

14:11

that these programs are working

14:11

out well for them, that you've had.

14:14

Such a great experience

14:14

in the VLA program.

14:16

And like you said, it always continues to

14:16

grow and evolve and get better and better.

14:21

So the best is yet to come. All right, Nancy.

14:24

Thank you so much again, and

14:24

we will talk to you soon.

14:27

Have a good one. Thank you.

14:30

welcome to another episode of Sage Studio.

14:32

I'm Tiffiny Webster. And this morning we have the honor of

14:34

speaking with one of our parents from our

14:37

Personalized Learning Program, Alexis.

14:40

Welcome to the show. Introduce yourself to everybody.

14:42

Welcome Hi, Tiffiny. Thank you so much.

14:45

So my name is Alexis Baxley. I have two wonderful children,

14:47

Harper, who is in fifth grade and

14:51

Winston, who is in third grade. And I also own my own business as well.

14:56

So I'm a busy mom, but this to me

14:56

has always been like kind of a dream

14:59

to teach my children and be part

14:59

of their life while they're young

15:03

and be involved and build those

15:03

beautiful connections together.

15:07

So that's kind of how we got

15:07

interested in the first place in

15:10

coming to That is so great to hear.

15:13

And I know a lot of moms can resonate

15:13

with that, that they want to be involved

15:17

in their kid's life and which is why they

15:17

look for an independent study program.

15:22

Sage Oaks that they can be involved

15:22

a little bit in the day to day.

15:26

I want you to kind of back it

15:26

up for us and talk to us about

15:29

when you were originally looking

15:29

for a school for your kids.

15:33

Did you know right off the bat that you

15:33

wanted to go into an independent study

15:36

style program or did you think that you

15:36

would just kind of fall into the brick and

15:40

mortar traditional neighborhood school?

15:42

What were you originally planning? So it's a lot.

15:46

I remember going back in my mind when my

15:46

daughter was young and I thought, okay,

15:51

we're doing kindergarten stuff by ourself. This is so easy.

15:54

This is fun. And then I thought shoot,

15:55

first grade's coming.

15:57

What am I going to do? Where do I need to put her?

15:59

Where's the best place to put my child? And I know that we all, we

16:01

struggle with that because.

16:04

Yeah. You know, and the biggest concern, I'm

16:04

gonna start with the biggest concern

16:07

because I know that every parent has

16:07

this interaction with another parent.

16:12

And it's always, you know,

16:12

what about socialization?

16:14

your kids aren't going to be social. And I always, you know, that's something

16:16

that I always like to bring up because I

16:20

don't think that's a fair assessment to

16:20

make because we get to choose with the

16:26

freedom we now have with Sage Oak, we

16:26

get to choose in which places our kids.

16:31

get to socialize. And I think that's such a

16:32

beautiful thing that's very missed.

16:35

So that's part of where my mind

16:35

was always in the beginning.

16:38

So I kind of thought I'm

16:38

going to set aside those ideas

16:41

and I'm going to go for it. With private schools, that was

16:42

another something I looked at, and

16:46

the cost was always kind of a factor,

16:46

and I don't think we were quite

16:50

ready for that at such a young age. I thought, I think I'd rather be

16:52

involved with my kids day to day rather

16:55

than send them off to school and then

16:55

figure out what I'm doing at home.

16:58

With Sage Oak I think the thing I

16:58

was most excited about was Okay,

17:03

there's a support system in place

17:03

and there's someone here to help me.

17:07

I'm not by myself. And I think another

17:08

concern is I'm all alone.

17:11

And what if I don't know what I'm doing,

17:11

or what if I don't know this or was

17:15

taught differently, the information

17:15

that I now have to teach my kids.

17:19

And I think that. As time grows, you grow and you

17:21

learn as well with your child.

17:26

And I just think that Sage Oak did

17:26

such a wonderful job providing the

17:31

support system of, okay, we have

17:31

someone you're going to meet with

17:34

who's going to help you keep things

17:34

structured and keep you on your timeline.

17:38

And for me, that was huge because. I'm very structured.

17:40

I like a routine. And if someone helps me create

17:42

something, I can follow that.

17:45

That was a huge factor for me

17:45

in how we ended up at Sage Oak.

17:49

And among other charters, I didn't feel

17:49

from the friends that I'd spoke to that

17:54

there was that much support involved. For me, that was kind of

17:55

like the selling point.

17:59

I think that's a important distinction

17:59

to make is that with Sage Oak being an

18:05

independent study school, like you get

18:05

to do all of the school at home, right?

18:10

But that independent study

18:10

component is that connection with

18:14

the teacher, the connection to

18:14

the curriculum, that support, and

18:18

that guidance to say okay yes, you

18:18

are doing the instruction at home.

18:22

but You don't have to come up

18:22

with everything on your own.

18:24

We have this credential teacher

18:24

who's partnering with you, who

18:28

is going to walk you through. Okay, here's what you need to do.

18:30

Here's how you need to do it. And what about like when you

18:31

needed to make adjustments?

18:35

Did you have a good enough rapport

18:35

with your teacher that you were able

18:39

to make adjustments along the way? What's been your experience with that?

18:41

I've been so blessed, and maybe it's

18:41

just a Sage Oak thing, but everyone

18:44

that I've met there has been phenomenal.

18:46

I've gotten two different TFs

18:46

from the five years that we've

18:49

been there, and both have been

18:49

incredibly supportive and helpful.

18:53

I mean, I could text them or email them

18:53

this isn't working, or we need to do this

18:57

different, or what ideas do you have here?

18:59

I think the biggest thing, too,

18:59

that's so impactful, a Sage

19:02

Oak, is the ability to pivot. As you're going through stuff, you

19:04

learn your child's way of learning and

19:08

their styles that are one kid is one

19:08

way and one kid is totally the opposite.

19:13

So it's not a one size fits all. And for me, that's another reason why I

19:14

love independent studies because You are

19:20

able to cater to the learning style of

19:20

your child and then there's the support

19:23

person who's Oh, yeah, we have something

19:23

that does this game we can play that's

19:27

this or we have this other resource here

19:27

that you can log into the online courses.

19:32

So if you know, if it's like

19:32

this, Math is different.

19:34

I'm she's struggling. We're struggling together.

19:37

Let's talk about a Sage Oak class

19:37

where she can do one hour a day and

19:40

have that support where I don't have

19:40

to teach that part, but she's getting

19:43

the support and we're on track. I just keep saying again, like the

19:44

ability to pivot because that's

19:47

kind of what it's about your brain

19:47

changes, the child changes they're

19:51

developing and you need to be able to

19:51

be like we got to switch this now and

19:54

they're just so great at doing that. I love that you just normalize that

19:56

for parents if they're working with

19:59

their kids, and all of a sudden things

19:59

start to go off the tracks, or their

20:02

student isn't grasping the concept,

20:02

or just needs to be presented with

20:05

the information in a different way,

20:05

like you said, they need something

20:08

more hands on, or they need something

20:08

online, or they need just another

20:11

teacher to provide instruction on that. You're not doing it wrong or you don't

20:14

have to feel like, Oh, this isn't working.

20:18

No, it's just a pivot. Just give your teacher that phone call,

20:19

let her know what's going on, let him know

20:23

what's going on and they can help you too.

20:25

I love that pivot personalized. And it sounds like you've been able

20:27

to tap into a wide range of the

20:31

things that Sage Oak offers, as far

20:31

as different types of curriculum, or

20:35

different types of programs, or even,

20:35

do you take advantage of any of the in

20:38

person offerings, like the field trips,

20:38

or socials, or chances to meet up?

20:43

In person at all. Yes, we try to do as

20:44

many of those as we can.

20:46

We're on the Ventura County side of things. I think Simi Valley is

20:48

one we'll try to get.

20:50

We've gone to many every social

20:50

that they've had every year.

20:53

We go to those the field trips like they

20:53

did one that was at the farm in Moorpark.

20:59

We did that. So anytime those are offered, we

20:59

definitely try to jump on that.

21:02

And that's kind of fun too. You get to talk to other stage of

21:03

parents and the kids get to talk to

21:06

other kids who are doing it the same way.

21:08

And that's, it's really fun for them and for me. Do you find when you are talking

21:10

with other parents that you share

21:14

in a lot of the same experiences? Yes, we do.

21:17

I love and it's also just fun to see what

21:17

when you do share like what they did and

21:20

I a lot of I think the time I had another

21:20

friend who had her two sons in Sage Oak

21:25

before me, and I would ask her like,

21:25

Oh, this is what's happening with us.

21:29

What did you do? And she goes, Oh, yeah, you

21:29

know, we did this or make sure

21:32

you talk to your TF about that. And it was just another great kind of

21:33

way to communicate and help each other.

21:37

It was really great. I love that. Okay you know, during this time when

21:39

parents are looking to enroll their

21:44

students for the next school year, and

21:44

they're looking into different options

21:48

like you did, they're looking into

21:48

private school because they like the small

21:52

environment, but they don't always love

21:52

the cost that's associated with that.

21:55

They like something that's close to

21:55

the neighborhood so that their Around

21:58

their neighborhood friends, but they're

21:58

also looking for something a little bit

22:02

more personalized where they can play a

22:02

bigger role in their child's education.

22:07

What advice would you give to parents

22:07

who were in that place and they

22:10

were trying to decide what type of

22:10

program was best for their kids?

22:13

How can they figure that out? It's a lot.

22:15

And I think in the beginning, I think

22:15

you kind of have to go with your

22:19

gut on knowing your children and

22:19

knowing how they learn their learning

22:23

styles and what you want out of it. So a lot of parents, another comment

22:25

I get is, Oh, I could never do that.

22:28

I could never do that. I'm like, you could do that,

22:29

but you choose not to do that.

22:32

And, or maybe it's difficult with

22:32

their schedule and their work schedule.

22:35

And I understand that too. That's not, it's not necessarily

22:36

for everyone, but it is a mindset.

22:40

And I think if you are going to put

22:40

your children in independent studies.

22:45

It's something you need to understand

22:45

that this is a, it's a relationship with

22:48

both of you how do I want this child

22:48

to grow and be and who are they going to

22:53

grow into because of what I'm helping them

22:53

achieve or what we're learning together.

22:58

And you end up learning a lot about

22:58

yourself as well through the process.

23:00

And that growth has been

23:00

invaluable for myself.

23:04

Because They teach you so much

23:04

while you're teaching them as well.

23:08

And the autonomy and the flexibility

23:08

that, and the freedom that independent

23:12

studies provides is kind of amazing.

23:14

And it's teaching them at a really young

23:14

age that, Hey, my workload for the day.

23:19

If I get this stuff done before the lunch

23:19

hour, I can have a lot more free time

23:23

where I can go read that book series that

23:23

I would really want to get started on.

23:26

And I don't have to just follow a

23:26

bell schedule because everyone else

23:30

has to, I understand how that works

23:30

for a large group, but when you're

23:32

alone, They're understanding like,

23:32

wow, if I do this now this is on me.

23:36

I can finish and do other

23:36

things that I really wanna do.

23:39

. And I think that's not necessarily

23:39

something that young kids learn at a

23:41

young age unless they're in sports. But there's just not a, if you're

23:43

not on your own in this way, that the

23:48

ability to control that is limited.

23:50

There's, the school is more like,

23:50

okay, we're gonna follow the school

23:54

routine and do what they tell us to do. This is really cool to teach them

23:55

autonomy at such a young age.

23:58

For sure. I think another question parents might

23:59

have would be like, okay, Alexis, what

24:02

does this look like as a day in your life?

24:05

Like you're managing multiple kids,

24:05

you're trying to work with them.

24:08

It sounds like in different ways that

24:08

are flexible for what each of them need.

24:13

You are kind of giving those incentives

24:13

about you know, how you can prioritize

24:17

getting your work done so that maybe

24:17

you can move on to other things

24:20

that you're more passionate about. It's what does it look like to you?

24:22

Do you follow a regular routine every day?

24:25

Is every day different? How does it go? So we create a weekly schedule for

24:28

each child and I pin it up on their

24:31

door so that they wake up, they can

24:31

see exactly what they're doing as

24:35

long as they know what day it is.

24:37

And sometimes that's funny, what day is it? But the cool thing is, so now I have

24:40

it down to a science after five years

24:45

now, it's okay here's everything

24:45

we're going to get through in the day.

24:47

We're going to spread it out over these days. And here's what you need to do.

24:51

And certain things like Math and Science

24:51

and our Social Science, we all do those

24:56

things, most of those things together. Aside from Math, actually.

24:59

Math, we have two different grades. But some of the stuff,

25:00

we'll play games together.

25:02

And so we'll turn that into something

25:02

we do before the lunch break.

25:05

But what I have found is, it can be very

25:05

overwhelming if you're not organized.

25:11

Once you understand what curriculum

25:11

you're gonna do for each child,

25:14

I definitely use the pacer. There's like a chart in the

25:16

beginning of the book and it will

25:18

kind of tell you like, here's

25:18

what, how you would pace this out.

25:22

So I have it scheduled and they can look

25:22

at that day and say, okay, I have to

25:26

do these subjects, these page numbers. And then when I'm finished with that,

25:28

then I get to do these things, which

25:31

could be a book or draw a picture or

25:31

whatever it is they're working on.

25:35

That's outside of. Just those the book work and that's

25:36

to work really well for them.

25:40

It's just a matter of understanding

25:40

again What works filling in those blanks.

25:45

One kid might be playing a Math game while

25:45

the other kid is doing a Math book and

25:49

then they'll switch things like that But

25:49

I think as long as you have it organized

25:53

in a way where you can all see it. It's pretty easy to follow that routine.

25:57

Yeah I could see that. I could see how it's really nice to have

25:58

a certain set schedule, but then you

26:02

also have a little bit of flexibility.

26:05

Because I'm sure those moments come

26:05

up at the table where all of a sudden

26:07

it's like you thought you would only

26:07

spend 20 minutes on a Math lesson, but

26:10

you found out you had to do some, re

26:10

teaching of some other skills first

26:13

and all of a sudden you're in there

26:13

for 45 and you don't want to have to

26:16

throw your whole entire day out the

26:16

window as a result of that, right?

26:20

So true. And that can happen. And so I feel like having that

26:21

structure at least is okay I know

26:24

when I finished this, I just have this

26:24

left or we can, some of the books too.

26:28

It's okay, we have more

26:28

wiggle room on this subject.

26:31

So let's move this one to tomorrow. And let's just worry

26:33

about this part today. So you can get to one of those activities

26:34

that you're looking forward to.

26:37

Yeah, something else you mentioned

26:37

that I think is really good too

26:40

is the fact that as a family,

26:40

you can work on things together.

26:44

There might be concepts in Science or

26:44

concepts in Social Studies where you

26:48

can work on that together as a family,

26:48

but then maybe you just differentiate

26:52

out the assignment or work based

26:52

on the grade level of the student.

26:55

Do you find yourself doing that often? Oh my gosh.

26:58

Yes. So many different exciting

26:59

things we have done that way.

27:02

So we got obsessed with here. I'm obsessed with Harry

27:03

Potter myself recently.

27:06

We went through the whole series

27:06

and my gosh, that's a lot.

27:09

I found this resource where I

27:09

could download some comprehension.

27:14

So after each week, after we do a read

27:14

aloud together, that was, they would

27:17

look forward to it was like, can we read? Can we read?

27:20

And I'm like, okay, we'll get to it. And then at the end of the week,

27:21

they would do like a little mini

27:23

test on those chapters that we

27:23

covered to be like, where are we?

27:27

And they could help each other. They could work as a team.

27:29

And I feel like from third grade to fifth grade. That's very cool.

27:32

They can bridge that gap together

27:32

because they're reading the same book

27:35

and she could help explain things to him. And it was kind of fun for me

27:37

to step back and let them like

27:39

teach each other and interact. That was really cool.

27:42

And then we also did an escape room

27:42

for, I want to say it was not good.

27:45

That was maybe a year or two ago for a

27:45

history lesson that they did together.

27:49

And that was like the

27:49

most fun they've ever had.

27:52

And I think they spent two hours

27:52

because it was so much fun.

27:55

That is so great. And you know, those are lifetime memories.

27:58

I've just like time together with family

27:58

let alone, you know, learning the academic

28:02

side of it, that bonding time that they

28:02

have with siblings and with you and just

28:06

being comfortable in their own homes. That's really cool.

28:09

That's will last a lifetime. I'm sure.

28:11

Yes, I think so too. It was fun. So good.

28:15

I appreciate you sharing your

28:15

story with us so much today.

28:18

I know that other parents that

28:18

are out there that are just

28:20

wondering do I have what it takes? I mean, it sounds like you don't have

28:22

to have it all figured out at first

28:25

that you can kind of evolve as you go.

28:28

Would you say that's true? A hundred percent.

28:30

And I would also say to rely on

28:30

the fact that Sage Oak is there

28:33

to help you in so many ways. It's not just the curriculum.

28:37

I think that's another saying

28:37

that maybe people who haven't had

28:40

enough experience with Sage Oak. I mean, there is so much support.

28:43

There are online classes that if you're

28:43

struggling or your child is struggling

28:47

in a subject and you finally, you realize

28:47

that by there, by getting there, you're

28:50

like, oh my gosh, this isn't working here. I don't want to hold them back

28:52

because I'm not teaching it right.

28:55

You have these resources. They are available to you.

28:58

They can log into a class with a teacher

28:58

in front of them and actually pick

29:01

up where you've left off and get that

29:01

support that's needed and I think for me

29:05

that was so impactful because you just

29:05

don't know when that is going to happen.

29:10

And so to know that's there. You're not left hanging on your own.

29:13

It's really. An incredible school and

29:14

support system that I'm just

29:18

very happy that I went with it. And I would really encourage any

29:20

parent who's looking for that building

29:24

that relationship with their child,

29:24

it's so worth taking the risk.

29:28

It's really worth it. Love it. All right.

29:30

For those of you that are listening

29:30

that want a little bit more

29:32

information about enrollment in Sage

29:32

Oak, you can always check out www.

29:38

sageoak. education for all the latest

29:38

updates on any upcoming webinar or

29:43

resources or contact information

29:43

to get more information about

29:47

enrolling in the program. All right, Alexis, thank you

29:48

so much for joining us today.

29:51

Again, we really appreciate your sharing

29:51

your story here on the Sage Studio

29:54

I appreciate being able to share it.

29:57

Always. All right. We'll see you on the next one.