The Sequoia Breeze

Rebecca: High school. Homeschooling High school is an intimidating prospect for a lot of people, but it offers a lot of opportunities for our kids. Today we're going to talk about that subject and whether you are just starting just thinking about it, or have been at this for a couple of years, you're bound to learn something today. So stick around and listen in.

Rebecca: Welcome to the Sequoia Breeze Podcast, a breath of fresh air for your homeschool. I am your host, rebecca La Savio. Thanks for joining me. Today we are going to tackle this high school topic as Linda Qian, director of high school for Sequoia Grove Schools, shares her story with us and tells us about her heart for high schoolers.

Linda: Hi, my name is Linda Qian, and I'm the director of high school for the Sequoia Grove Charter Schools. Pretty much whatever is high school related, I probably have my hands in it somehow. I do a lot of the background work, like collecting student data, which is so exciting to everyone, I'm sure, but just making sure everything is set up correctly in our systems, that we are able to be as flexible as possible. So working on course outlines, making sure the high school counselors are supported. So just pretty much if it's high school graduation, field trips, whatever, I'm usually part of it somehow.

Rebecca: That sounds like a lot of details to keep track of.

Linda: It gets messy. Like, you can tell I'm busy when my desktop looks like a mess. Like, there's just files everywhere. I'm like a squirrel. I know what all the piles mean, but it just looks like a mess. But that's how you know I'm really busy. But I have a great team of support, so there's just wonderful staff members here to help with the high school team. It's not just me, it's a whole group of people just making sure everything works.

Rebecca: One of the things that's always impressed me about the high school team is it throbs with energy. There's so much energy on the high school.

Linda: I think we were doing a workshop and then one of the participants just said, you know, it sounds like you guys really like each other. I'm like yes. I think that's why you have that energy, where we just genuinely like each other. We like each other as friends, as coworkers, and we just really just inherently trust each other. And I think you really need that for a strong team, especially when you're trying to take on high school and making sure that everything is reported correctly. And all of our families have all the resources they need and all of our teachers as well. So it really helps to have a phenomenal team.

Rebecca: And high school is such a huge topic. I mean, I've had a really hard time getting my head around how to even put it into podcasts, because which part do you grab and talk about? And there's so many details and they don't all apply to everybody. So there's really a lot going on.

Linda: Yeah. Which is why we're going to do a three hour podcast right now.

Rebecca: Well, I want to start by focusing a little bit on who you are as a person, as the director of high school. And a lot of people shy away from high schoolers teenagers. I don't want anything to do with it. What has brought you into that world?

Linda: Well, I can start at the very, very beginning.

Rebecca: Yeah, I want to hear your story.

Linda: Yeah. I had no idea I wanted to be an educator at all. So I always tell kids in high school, you will change your major five times, probably you won't know what you want to be. Although we do have some kids who start high school, and they're like, I want to be a veterinarian. And they do. They just pursue it, and it's amazing. And I always admire those kids. But for me, I had no idea. I think it really started for me. I came to America when I was three years old, so I was pretty, you know, was learning English as my second language, and then my first and second grade teacher just was so supportive. So she stayed after school every day with me and let me use the computer while my mom came from work to pick me up. And I'm sure it was very annoying for her because she wanted some peace and quiet. I'm sure, looking back as an educator, I'm like, oh, that was probably annoying to have a student in your class every day bothering you. But she was just the most patient woman, and she let me use the computer, really encouraged my exploration of things I loved, and so I think I really bonded with her. We are pen pals, and this woman is, like, 85 years old. She's retired, but we're pen pals. Like, I still write her a Christmas card every year, so I think she really had an impact on me, and I had no idea that that was what I would eventually pursue. But I think once I got to college, I studied economics. I majored in Economics and East Asian studies. So those are not related to education at all. But I started volunteering with organization called Project Wild. It stands for Project working for Immigrant Literacy Development. So since I'm an immigrant, I just really wanted to give back to the community and volunteer and just help kids on the weekends by tutoring them in English and math and any other subject areas. So that's where I really, I think, realized my teacher in first grade and second grade, shout out to Miss Sharon Tornberg. I still remember her name, but she really kind of, I think, made a deep impression on me as a little child of, wow, this person really cares about my curiosity and encouraging my exploration of everything. And so I think in college, I just wanted to do the same. And I realized I was into education once I started spending more time lesson planning and submitting grants and planning field trips for the kids than I did actually studying for my majors. So I think that was my clue of, I think you actually want to be a teacher, and I think you actually are really passionate about the field of education. So that was tricky because now I'm finishing up my major and graduating college, and I didn't major in education. I had no experience in actual teaching outside of just the volunteer work I did. So that led me to apply to I don't know if you've heard, but about the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program. It's called the jet program. So you're able to teach in Japan, teach English in Japan, without any background in education, a teaching credential or anything. So I signed up for that. It helped that I really liked the Japanese culture, and I was studying the language, so I thought it was a really cool experience. And it was. I was able to go and just teach for a year in Japan, and I just had a lot of fun. And I was teaching high school kids at this time, and I think that's why I gravitated towards high school. High school kids are just funny. I don't know, they're sassy, they're sarcastic, they're hilarious. So that's why I just never shied away from high school. I'm like, These kids are just they're on the press piss of just really big life changes. They're from high school to all of a sudden college or starting their careers, and they're just discovering what their interests are. And so I think just I've always gravitated towards high school. So when I came back from Japan, I'm like, okay, I need to figure out how do I teach in America? How do I actually teach in California? And so I got my master's. I went back to school. I thought I was done with standardized testing, but I wasn't. I had to take the GRE. I had to apply all over again. I thought I was done, but I wasn't. So I went back, I got my Master's in Education, I got my teaching credential, and I've just always wanted to teach in high school. I did dabble in middle school for one year. I taught Eigth grade algebra, and never again will I go back, tell people, you're going to figure out what grade levels you like, and I'm sorry, middle school is not for me. It was just so much a lot of hormones, a lot of emotions, and I'm like, I need to go to the high school kids where I can talk with them, be sarcastic with them, and really help them plan their future. So I ran away from 8th grade. I'm like, this is not for me. Definitely not. I know my calling it's high school, so I went back to teaching high school, and that's where I've been in high school this whole time.

Rebecca: So how did you get from a classroom to working with homeschoolers?

Linda: Oh, yeah, that was completely out of left field. That was not on my life plan at all. And I think that's what I tell all the kids, too, of you have a plan. You will be derailed from your plan with so many times. But honestly, I think life throws all these opportunities at you, and you eventually always end up where you're meant to be. So I always thought I would go and teach at public school and stay in public school because that's the system I grew up in. And it was always traditional, and it worked for me because I think I just fall in that box of, okay, you can take the standardized tests, you can take all the courses that the counselor tells you to take, and there's no deviation from that path. And it was really easy for me because with immigrant parents, they didn't know any better either. They just knew, go to school. And they weren't equipped with the resources to really explore every single learning style out there. So for me, it was always like, just go to school, do your thing, and come back and do your homework. And so that was what I was taught growing up, and that's what I thought I would want to do. Because you do what you're used to. I tried that. I taught at charter schools, which are a little bit more unique from public schools, but I thought that was what was meant to be. But I realized that the students were great. The teachers were always passionate, but sometimes the administration wasn't always supportive in that they clearly had benchmarks to hit. And everything was like, paperwork this, paperwork that. Which is ironic, because now that I'm in administration, I realize it is a lot of paperwork. It just felt like there wasn't that much support for just unique learning styles. It was really tough teaching in the classroom of 30 kids. I realized that you have a lot of accommodations that you need to account for. You have scaffolding that you need to account for. There's just a lot of different learners in one classroom, and it became really tough. I feel like the kids really needed more individual support, small group support, but with a classroom of 30, it was really hard to provide that as a teacher, even with all the formal training. I felt like the administration wasn't always in support of the teachers, too. They always wanted to have the teachers do everything they can, but they weren't seeing that. The teachers just didn't have that many resources and time to do what they wanted to do. And so that's what led patients in reality. Yeah, exactly. And that's why I wanted to go into leadership of, I really want to try to support the teachers and the parents because I felt like when you support the staff, you really end up supporting the families as well. It trickles down. Well, not trickles down, but it affects everyone. If the teachers aren't supported, it really affects the kids and the families. So you really want to have it's like a community and everyone's taken care of. And I felt like sometimes the teachers weren't. So it actually happened to just miraculously landed in my lap of a leadership position, opened up at an Independent study charter school, and I was like, what is that? What is homeschooling? Everyone comes with a preconceived notion of what homeschooling was. And it was so different from what I was used to. I wasn't sure, but I wanted to try out a leadership role, and I just took the leap. I decided, you know what? Let me dive right in. Let me see what I can bring to the table. I know just for me, I always want to do the best job I can supporting people around me. So I tried it. Lots of nights of sleeping at, like, 02:00 A.m., 04:00 A.m., just figuring everything out. But the more I mean, I've been doing this for eight years now, so obviously I really enjoy it. I thought just meeting the families and the students really changed my mind about what home school truly was, what Independent study charter school truly was. And I wish I had that. Growing up, I had no idea there was just another way to learn outside of public school because that's what I grew up with. So when I met all the students and the families, it was really clear that this model was really great for them. I just met so many different kids. And for some reason, this model the way we change the curriculum, the program, how we deliver the content, helps support so many different kids that I just saw wasn't happening in public school or even charters where the staff was really amazing, but they just weren't equipped with the resources or the time to actually implement what they wanted to. And so that's what really changed my viewpoint about independent study and home school and really made me think, okay, this is actually the future. This is really the way we need to teach our kids of we need to really find out what they're good at, what their interests are, and just change everything about the education system to fit kind of their way of learning, their way of just exploring. Because I think going back to my first and second grade teacher, that's what she did. She saw that I was really interested in this computer program KidPix. If any one of you guys know what it is, that kind of ages me. But it's a really old program that was on a floppy disk. If you know what a floppy disk is, the disc was actually floppy. But she has stayed behind and made sure that for me. I was really shy in class. I didn't understand the language fully, but she saw that in me, that I was interested in this one program, and she stayed after school to make sure that I had access to that program and that I had time to really explore. And so that's what education is all about, is let's pursue our passions and let's make sure for me on my end at the administration level, I'm like, okay, let me make sure I'm checking all the boxes, but not restricting the kids in the way they learn.

Rebecca: So before I continue on with my school questions, I just have a curiosity question. How many languages do you speak?

Linda: Well, just probably English is my best language. I speak Chinese at home with my parents, and I'm trying to teach my one year old Chinese too. And I don't know, she hasn't spoken her first word yet, or maybe she has. It might have been in Chinese and I just missed it, but really I can order from the menu in Chinese, so I think that's pretty fluent. And I studied Japanese in college, so it's been a few years since I've actually used it, so I think I'm very rusty.

Rebecca: Okay. As you're talking, I'm like, wait a minute, there's another language. Wait, there's another one?

Linda: Not quite. Well, one pretty well. I hope my English is pretty good, but English for sure, and then Japanese and Chinese could definitely needs a little bit more brushing up on. Okay.

Rebecca: I was curious if you were speaking Chinese with your daughter or not.

Linda: I am. I'm trying to introduce just other sounds and pronunciations to her at an early age. I tried an ASL book early on and I just realized, you know, that's not practical with a one year old when you're trying to figure out how to be a mom and teaching ASL. I'm like, okay, maybe I'll save that for a little later.

Rebecca: Do your parents speak English now?

Linda: My dad does. My mom doesn't very well. No, she speaks mostly Chinese, which is why I have to speak Chinese at home.

Rebecca: Yes. Well, and motivation for your daughter as well so that she can know Grandma.

Linda: Oh, yeah, and they do like, a Shanghinese dialect, so that's a little bit different from Chinese, too. So she's just learning all these different words.

Rebecca: Kids are amazing, though. Amazing.

Linda: Oh, for so cool. They're just little sponges.

Rebecca: I love that you're doing that with her. That was something I saw when we were overseas, is that often families that moved away only learned English, and when they'd come back, they couldn't really communicate with the grandparents, and that always made me sad.

Linda: Yeah, there are studies about just immigrant populations of once you get to the second generation, third generation, you really lose that home language. And that's where I'm trying to keep. I tell my parents, I'm like, I really wish you let me stay in Chinese. School. I hated it when I was a kid. I hated spending my summers and my weekends in an additional school. But now I kind of wish I'm like, you know what? You were right. Mom, dad, get me in there. It's a valuable skill.

Rebecca: So let's go back to homeschooling for high school. I think there's a pretty strong idea out there that high school is supposed to be these amazing years for kids, and if they aren't at the brick and mortar, they're really losing out. But before we talk about whether that's true or not, let's talk about what they're gaining by homeschooling through high school.

Linda: No, sure. There's just so much more flexibility. I feel like that's going to be the biggest word of the day, where I'm just going to say flexibility a bunch of times. You just get to really just fine tune your schedule of like, let me pursue the things that I'm interested in. Now at a traditional school, I feel like for me, at least, going through high school, it was always here's the prescribed classes you take in 9th grade and 10th grade, 11th and twelveTH, there's very little bit of flexibility, customization you can do with your schedule. And you're always kind of following, what classes do I need to take to get into a college? And that's what everyone did, and that's what I did. But I feel like at the home school level, you really get to explore, okay, my kid is just really loving all the sciences. They just want to take astronomy, they want to take biology, environmental science, every single one. And we can do that in home school. We can actually support. If your student is really passionate about one subject, we can just run with that and really customize a schedule around that. And I feel like the way you learn, it's not always online, it's not always through books, it's really through hands on experiences, too. Especially when you have your home school parents where they're your teachers and they know exactly what you need. They're able to just arrange amazing experiences. And I've seen kids where their parents take them on amazing field trips. They just go for like a week long, two week long exploration of instead of studying the history in a book, why don't we actually go to the actual history site? Let's look at the place, let's actually go there and have that in person, hands on experience. And I think you're limited in a traditional sense. And I think with home school, your imagination just can run wild and you can do anything almost. And that's what I love about home school. It is super flexible and there is no limitations, really.

Rebecca: You've seen kids follow specific academic paths, diving deep like astronomy or something like that. Have you seen kids who maybe are with homeschooling able to sort of tailor that to taking the academics they need, but maybe spending more time on a specific sport or instrument or art or something like that.

Linda: Yeah, let's see. Our course catalog is gigantic. Logistics wise, it's a nightmare for me, just making sure we have all the options out there. But we have over 15 different art courses and performing arts and music courses that our kids can choose from. We have over a couple, I think, like 200 elective options. So it's a lot. At a traditional school, you would have to have the teacher to teach that subject. So oftentimes, you'll see, a student can only take, for example, Spanish or French in the high school level. At our school, we offer Russian, we offer ASL, we offer Spanish, we offer French, we offer Latin, and so German. Yeah, we just offer so many different languages because we're able to we're able to find curriculum, find teachers, or sometimes the parents and guardians are the experts, and they know how to teach that home language that we were talking about. My parents could have taught me Chinese, and I could have gotten credit for that, but instead I had to take the traditional French or Spanish that was offered at the high school. It's very rare where you get to go to a school that offers so many course options, so our students are just able to thrive in that manner. Like, we have a student who wants to get their nursing degree later on, so they're preparing by taking an EMT class in high school. So how many kids in high school can do that? So it's really amazing to see students pursue their interests. I met a student a few years ago that wanted to be a vet tech, and she was passionate and really sure about this. And I'm like, okay, but it could change. But she was like, no, I know it. I've volunteered at Zoos already. I'm taking veterinary science. I'm taking animal science elective classes through your school. I'm like, oh, okay. That's amazing. And planned on graduating early and getting an internship at A Z. Like, she had her whole plan, and I was just amazed. And that's why I love our model, is that I can find students like this and really tailor the graduation plan to what she needs. She was interested in this subject. I can make sure those elective options are available to her and then that she can graduate early and actually pursue that. I feel like high school isn't just preparing you for a four year college. It is preparing you for whatever your interests are after high school. So whether that's career driven or it could be college driven, but we're preparing students for their future, and when they know what their future is, why not tailor their schedule in high school, tailor their experience in high school to meet that?

Rebecca: So we're talking a lot about kids who have a passion or who maybe excel in a certain area. What about the kid who high school is just not going well for and their parents are pulling them out of brick and mortar. Whether it's social, whether it's academic, or a mixture of both, how does homeschooling high school help that kid who's just barely scraping by and we need to graduate or maybe even have time to recover emotionally and academics are not our first priority right now.

Linda: Yeah, we'll be honest, it's heartbreaking to see that happen. But I do see it as a trend of more and more students. Just social media is just I know this is a podcast and I know we have social media accounts, but I do feel like social media sometimes really hurts our youth and it's hard to see there's a lot of bullying out there and some of our kids. I feel like there is definitely a rise in the numbers of students who need social emotional support. And I think sometimes just working from my past experience in public school, it's really tough sometimes when you have a large school, a large classroom, it's really hard to give that individual support. So I do see more and more students coming to us when maybe they are bullied at a traditional school and they come over and they're like, what is this? What is home school? I'm new to this. But they find that all of a sudden they're connected with so many staff members here to support them. And where our students are able to work at a self pace, kind of a self pace, they still have to finish their course in the semester, but they can self pace their learning. So if they need to take extra time in a specific subject area, they can. So when we need to slow down that learning within the school year, we can do that. We can really focus in. So there's a lot of creative things we could do at our school to support just different learners. So whether you want to accelerate and graduate early, we have options. And then whether you just need to take it slow for a little bit. So, for example, we've had students who graduation was the last thing on their mind. If some students have experienced homelessness, some were dealing with abuse, others were just really depressed and needed time to recover. And so our model, we were still a charter school. So that means we do still need to collect attendance, collect work samples, all of that. But there's some flexibility. And I think the important thing is there's compassion and understanding in our staff. We understand where the students are coming from. And I think the most important thing is the child's well being. It's not to push them through and get a diploma. It's really to make sure that they are taken care of. So we'll be creative of like, okay, let's make sure that maybe we're assigning some electives, some fun electives where we're still taking courses and meeting those graduation requirements. But we can slow it down a bit. Sometimes our students can focus for algebra. I know that's a really tough one for some students, but what we offer is we offer alternative math options like a consumer math instead of the higher level maths that our students have to take. Instead our kids can just take algebra, pre Algebra and Algebra and graduate. We can also kind of slow it down where well, not really slow it down, but I mean, make sure the schedule is balanced. Of students can take electives and then focus more time on taking that math rather than in a traditional school. You would take English, History, Math, and Science and maybe two other electives and you would be stuck in those classes. There would be no wiggle room for us. We can kind of be creative with that schedule. We can take courses out of order, some courses out of order. We can make sure that maybe algebra, if that's a tough course for a student, we can make sure that the other courses are elective. So we're really focused and we have that time. And we also provide so many resources. We have teachers who can teach directly. We also have tutoring services, so we have a lot of supports in that we can really provide and make sure the student understands the subject and gets that deep learning versus just getting by well.

Rebecca: And in addition to that, one of the advantages to homeschooling is if you're having a bad day, you don't have to get out of your pajamas. You maybe don't even totally have to get out of bed. Or if you want to hang out with your animals because that is relaxing to you, you can still chip away at algebra and never brush your hair. And so you can stay in that hopefully safe place and not have to worry about being dressed and what are you wearing and what is everybody else saying about that and how are you feeling about the people around you?

Linda: I know perks of working for our school too. I can also not rush my hair and stay in my pajamas, which sometimes happens.

Rebecca: Especially with a baby at home.

Linda: Oh yeah, no, I definitely do not brush my hair anymore. I can tell you that for sure. Yeah, it's amazing. I'm a night owl, so I would have loved to not get up at 08:00 a.m. To take a BioClass. I really would have loved to stay in my room in my PJs snacking all day and just like, working in the middle of the night, probably that's me. So it's really nice that we can kind of just support all that. Like, I don't need you to come in and go to class from eight to three. That's draining. It's really draining when you don't have a break. So it's nice that our kids can do that. And we have kids that are interested in so many extracurricular activities. So maybe some of. Them have a part time job and they can only study at night. We can accommodate that. Some students have swim practice or just.

Rebecca: Like help out on a family farm.

Linda: Yeah, or just helping with siblings too. And so sometimes they can't sit down and dedicate time to learning from the traditional eight to three. But then that's why our students are able to be flexible with their schedules. They can help on the farm, get credit while helping on that farm, and then do the rest of the coursework later on in the afternoon. So it's really nice to have that kind of flexibility.

Rebecca: So those are some pretty amazing ways that our kids gain by homeschooling. Like I said, I think a lot of people think, oh, it's high school, they're going to miss out. What would you say to that?

Linda: Miss out on what? I just say there's a lot of pressure to wear the latest outfit and always have just put a smile on your face and just interact with kids. We have that interaction. We have live classes. Sure, it's through Zoom, it's online, but you get to meet a group of classmates who have share similar interests with you and it's in a small group and you make those connections anyway. I feel like with all the technology out there, you don't really need the in person always for classes. At least you can get that interaction online. And you don't have to show up every day. Like our live classes, it's two times a week for a class, so it's not as rigid as from eight to three. You got to show up and it can be draining. So I think we still have that social aspect for kids who are like, what about graduation? Well, I just spent months and months planning our in person graduation at Memorial Hall. So I will say we have graduation every year and we do everything. We had a live band. All of our kids just looked amazing. We have those in person connections too. We have field trips, we're taking our kids to colleges and nearby, and then we also have prom. That was super successful. So the social events I think, is usually what our kids are afraid of missing out on. But honestly, you get those connections in a home school environment too, and it's a little bit safer. I would say sometimes now that I'm a mom, I worry, I do sometimes. Sending your school to a big public school, sometimes I'm like, okay, I don't know, I don't know all these kids. But just we have those social events and we have those opportunities to meet kids in other classes in a safe way. Even our community college classes, we have a dual enrollment program with Yuba where our kids are in classes with other high school in like you get that social aspect and you can even form study groups. And we have clubs as well, which is really amazing. So we have all those opportunities. It just looks a little different. And so I would always tell kids what's important in high school to you having the ability to pursue your interests and having those connections still, or do you really want to have that regular schedule and see your friends every day in class? It's really up to the student and the family what they want. But when they say they're going to miss out on everything, there's not much you're going to miss out on. We still have a lot of those really fun opportunities and we're trying to plan more because that is something that I know our students and families want and that's definitely something we're always trying to arrange for our families too.

Rebecca: And you've mentioned only the things that Sequoia Grove offers. But in addition to that, there's the opportunity through Sequoia Grove to participate in so many other things, whether it's karate classes or dance classes or Arc days or meetups or the parents are able to use that child's funds. To create opportunities for all kinds of things that aren't directly related to school, but that maybe are closer by maybe in person with other kids that are very interested in the specific interests that your child are interested in.

Linda: We have some kids taking in person courses through our vendors and they get that in person connection, but they might not want it for every single one of their high school courses. So that's the beauty of our program. We will support those in person vendors and your kids still get to make a connection there. And it's piecemeal too. You can kind of choose a little bit of here, take an in person class here, do a writing class over here, just participate in every single thing out there and make all of those different connections. And I feel like that even widens your circle sometimes. Like in high school, you saw the same people every day and you had to make friends with them because it's the same people every day. But you get to really choose all these different interests and meet people with the similar interests that you have. And our high school program pretty much supports all of those. It's pretty magical.

Rebecca: You can allow your extrovert to be out doing things all the time or give your introvert time to be home and recharge more often than they would.

Linda: Get to if they had to be.

Rebecca: At school around all those people.

Linda: As an introvert, I like to recharge my battery. I'm like, man, I really wish I had this opportunity.

Rebecca: If you are homeschooling high school and you've done a little bit of research, you know that there's lots of stuff online, there's dual enrollment. You probably know by now that Sequay Grove has virtual Academy classes online. You referenced at the very beginning the course outlines, and I think those can take a minute to get your head around. So can you talk to us a little bit about what the course outlines are and how that gives flexibility to families?

Linda: Sure. So we are an independent study charter school, and that means that big charter school part means that we still have to uphold standards, meet like state standards, meet Common Core standards, make sure that our classes are A to G approved as well. And that's my problem to deal with usually. So it's a lot of that paperwork that I said I'm not a big fan of, but now I'm deep in it. So a lot of just making sure I check all those boxes. But what that means is I want to then translate all that into flexibility for our families. I want to make sure our kids are still meeting all the standards and that the course is A to G approved, but which means that the course is just reviewed by the UC system. That's all that means is they've looked at your course and said it was okay to use when you apply to a UC or CSU. So that's the state colleges in the state of California, you have to meet A to G course requirements. And what that means is that course just had to have an additional level of approval. So that's my job is making sure all those courses are approved. And so what that translates to is a course outline for the families to follow. So because we are a school of choice, and we have all of these curriculum options that are available to our families, nightmare for me, but I want to make it as easy as possible for our families. So that's where the course outline comes in. Play of this course outline kind of details. It kind of outlines what a typical course would look like. So let's, for example, take US. History. So we want to hit these major moments in history. The units will be outlined, and then it'll list like, what are the standards that need to be covered in this unit? And then it will give some example curriculum or not curriculum sorry, some example assignments that students can submit to make sure that our course is still following all of those standards and also approved for college admissions. So it's still A to G approved, if you will. And so if a student basically that opens the door to whatever curriculum is out there. So our families can really choose what will work for their student. There's different learning styles out there. So maybe you want to take an in person math class. Maybe you want to take a college level science class. Maybe you want to just read novels instead of being online all the time. Maybe you just want a lot of novels and read out of a textbook like that. You can also do that. So there's so many different options out there. I can't even name all the curriculum out there so much. But the course outline kind of takes all of that in and kind of makes it. Here's a checklist of what you need to cover. And usually all the curriculum will cover that, but it's just a way for our school to make sure that we are also meeting standards and fulfilling that charter school part of, okay, let me make sure that everything is submitted correctly and approved by all the organizations that I need it to be approved. But that's really for me to worry about. So that's why those course outlines exist. It's kind of an easier way for families to use the curriculum they want, but making sure that they're still covering everything we need them to cover, state compliance wise.

Rebecca: And then allows parents and families and teachers and the HSTs to kind of have a common language as well that everybody HSTs know. These are the expectations of our high school courses. And everybody's working from the same template, correct?

Linda: Yes. And all the standards are kind of translated into I can statements, too, of our students are used to that from a very early age. So then instead of reading this really long, boring state standard, it's more of like, I can do this. So the students can really check off. Like, what can you do? And how do you tell me about that? How did you learn this concept? So it is a common language for our families and teachers to use. And there's a lot of flexibility in there. Like keyword again, flexibility. Flexibility. That's all I think about most of the time. So I kind of try to think of what are some opportunities, some assignments that our kids could do in this unit to kind of fulfill and meet that standard show mastery of this content. So I try to make sure that there is flexibility. If your student wants to use a curriculum and take a test because they're awesome test takers. Fantastic. That will be an assignment they can submit if they want more creative options. I also provide some descriptions. So there's ideas in there for parents who might not be as familiar with the home school world or who want extra resources and support in that specific course. And then there's also the option to kind of create your own adventure, which is like, whatever you are. I feel like sometimes I have a background in education. Well, now, it took a while for me to get a background in education. Very roundabout, but I got there. But I could not teach every subject out there. So I trust that sometimes the parents will find the appropriate resource. They might be experts in that field. They might even find in person opportunities or instructors that are really passionate about that subject area. And so sometimes you can have the parent and the teacher can kind of devise an alternate project. And so those course outlines have that kind of flexibility in there of you kind of read it's hard to describe in podcast form, I'm realizing, but then you kind of allow that creativity to happen. So every single unit has an opportunity for the student and the teacher and the instructor, whether that's the parent or someone else, to kind of really design assessment for the student.

Rebecca: Yeah. Having those means that we don't only have to choose from A to G approved curriculum, we can get really creative with the things that our kids are passionate about.

Linda: The A to G curriculum, it's like, kind of the scary thing of, like, what does that even mean? All that means is that I submitted the course to the UCS for approval. It's just an extra step on my part. So that's why I try to make sure that because we want to support as many curriculum options out there, I'm trying to make course outlines for the really popular courses. So for all of our core classes, like English nine through twelve, all of the science classes, all of the math classes you'll need in high school, those have course outlines attached just so that our families and students could really find the curriculum that works for them. It doesn't have to be, like, this one style of learning. It doesn't have to be just let me see.

Rebecca: You don't have to be online the entire day either.

Linda: No, that's what I hear from our families all the time. Like, I don't want my kids online. I'm like, I don't want them online all day. Like, we're trying to really enrich those learning experiences. So I get it. I know looking at the screen, my eyes are tired all the time, and I don't want that for kids either.

Rebecca: Yeah.

Rebecca: Is there anything else about homeschool with.

Rebecca: Sequoia Grove that you think our families should know?

Linda: Just that we're awesome. I'm biased. I'm very biased. But I think the key takeaways really, is homeschool is not for everyone. But I think at Sequoia Grove, our schools, we are in support of, let's find out if it is for you. And we have so many options that oftentimes it is, and I just love working with the staff because we're truly passionate about what is best for the student, and let's create that opportunity. So every year, it's not about like, okay, how do we meet this benchmark? It's how do we provide the resources to help our families, to help our students? And so we always look at all the information we gather from, whether it's tests or whether it's just graduation rates, all that data stuff, we look at it and we think, okay, how can we, as a school improve? How can we make a better program? So every year, you'll notice we add something else to kind of just enrich that learning experience of, okay, let's have course outlines. Let's now offer more course outlines. And then let's have a live, virtual academy to support the high school kids. And then all of a sudden we realized it was successful, so let's roll it out to the younger kids. Let's actually do all of that. Clubs were really popular, so let's now expand those offerings. Field trips are great, so let's make that experience easier for sign up. Let's give high school kids more opportunities to participate in those field trips. So we're constantly improving, and I think that's what I really love about our school is we take feedback from family, we take feedback from staff, and we take feedback from students, and we really try to evolve every single year, we try to improve that program. It's tough work, but I think that's what keeps it exciting. That's why I'm in this world of every day is different, every year is different. But I think that's what's really exciting about our schools.

Rebecca: And it's true. The staff is constantly working to deepen the opportunities that our students have. It's pretty cool to watch from behind the scenes.

Linda: Oh, yeah. And I love that we're not always like, let's just get to a four year college. Let's have our kids go to every single college. It's not for everyone, especially with how much student loans are. It's not for everyone, believe me. And so we hire people with that kind of mindset of, okay, your path will diverge, but let's get you to your goal. So let's figure out what your interests are. And so our high school counselors all have that mindset of, let's prepare students for their post secondary goals. Not just, let's get you into college. Let's apply, and let's fill out all these forms. Let's really take a look at what are you interested in? Do you want to play sports after high school? Do you want to start working? Do you want to get a AA while you're in high school? Let's really customize your graduation plan. So even if you look at the high school team, we always look for people who actually support that. And so I think our school just I don't know, it hums that it screams, like, we all support kids and their own individual just uniqueness. And that's what we're here for, and that's what I really love about this school, and I think that's why I'm here for so long doing this high.

Rebecca: School, we don't have a box. We are encouraging you to make your own shape.

Linda: Make your own shape. And they constantly challenge me every year. Believe me, every year it's like, well, what about this? Can we add this? I'm like, oh, that's a lot of work, but, okay, let's see if we could do it.

Rebecca: That's awesome. Well, Linda, I really appreciate you joining me today and sharing your passion for our high schoolers and all of the various opportunities that you really helped create for them. So thank you for that.

Linda: Yeah, thank you for inviting me. This is amazing. And, yeah, always feel free to reach out. I'm always here.

Rebecca: Thank you.

Linda: All right, thank you so much, listeners.

Rebecca: I hope that you were encouraged by this conversation with Linda Chen. And I know that I continue to learn so much about the high school program every time I have a conversation with somebody who knows what they're talking about. Before we go today, I want to tell you about a really exciting opportunity that is coming up. Mark your calendars, september 29 from 11:00 A.m. To 01:00 p.m.. Calling all students from Tk to twelveTH grades, families and friends, this is your chance to dive headfirst into the exciting world of language arts and our first ever schoolwide literature festival. There will be six different locations that you can choose from. Cameron Park, Elk Grove, Tahoe, Roseville, Chico and Ukiah. They will all be happening at the exact same time. There will be booths and activities that I'll tell you more about in the coming weeks, but you can check out in the Sequoia Scoop every Tuesday for all of the details. For now, don't forget to mark your calendars and start planning your favorite literary character costume. Hope to see you there. This has been the Sequoia Breeze podcast. I truly hope it's been a breath of fresh air for your homeschool. I'm your host Rebecca Lasavio, and I would love to hear from you at podcasts@sequoiagrove.org. Or you can go to any of our school websites and find the podcast page and click on a button right there and talk to me. Tell me what you'd like to hear. Ask a question. I'd love to hear from you. Bye.