The Sequoia Breeze

Rebecca: Welcome to the Sequoia Breeze podcast, a breath of fresh air for your home school. I am your host, Rebecca LaSavio and I'm so excited that you chose to spend some time with us today. Before we get started, started with today's episode, I want to pause and say thank you, listeners. We have over 4000 downloads in just three seasons. So many of you are clearly very faithful followers of the Sequoia Breeze and I can't thank you enough for that. This is genuinely a pleasure and a joy to create this podcast for you. And I'm so blessed and excited to see that you're finding it useful. You're finding it helpful. And because you keep coming back because we wouldn't hit 4000 downloads if it wasn't for a really faithful group of people who continue to listen each time a new episode is coming out. So thank you so much. And when we hit 5000, you'll know it because we'll shout it out all over social media. But it's really incredible to me how quickly those numbers are going and that's so exciting to know that you are enjoying the Sequoia Breeze. So thank you listeners. Today I get to have Sara Greco here with me. Many of you know her name, if not the person because you will always see her sending out the Sequoia scoop and moderating things on our Facebook page and in so many different places. She is our head family liaison and leads our team well and I'm excited to have her, the knowledge of all things of Sequoia Grove sitting with me today. So thank you for being here, Sara.

Sara: Thanks for having me, Rebecca. This is super fun. As not only child, the oldest child, I can be a know it all and know everything. And so I'm happy to share all of my knowledge.

Rebecca: Two of us in the booth at the same time get us in trouble.

Sara: Okay.

Rebecca: Today Sarah and I want to help you make the most out of your Sequoia Grove experience. We know there's lots of information out there, lots of opportunities, lots of websites and addresses to keep track of and we hope that after today you will see that as opportunity instead of confusion or availability instead of chaos. So stick with us as we try to help you organize and help you know a little bit what is out there and how you can find it. Did I summarize that well?

Sara: Yeah, that's perfect. Just homeschooling in general has so much information and so much information we are happy to help direct and guide and suggest as much as we can so that families are equipped and feeling supported.

Rebecca: And just to summarize a little bit, just in case people haven't really paid attention to this. So a family liaison, there are seven of us on our team. Yes, there are seven of us spread out throughout the various areas that the schools serve. Lakeview, Ukaya, sacramento area, oak Grove, eldorado county amateur county. We're spread throughout. Did I miss anybody? So, yeah, we're around. And our job is to help you parents, is to help you home school, is to help you connect with the various resources that our school has, to help you connect to various homeschool, resources that are out there. We try to keep abreast of what's going on and between. Our seven brains can usually come up with a solution to a problem or a good curriculum recommendation.

Sara: Too many ideas.

Rebecca: That's who we are. And so we are here today to try and put a bunch of that information in one place. Yeah.

Sara: Yes. We want to make sure that you know that the information is out there. We're not trying to hide anything. And the schools are so ready and willing to just give you all that you need. And so we want to be able to give you those tips and tricks to find that information.

Rebecca: One of the purposes that I have for this podcast too, is that listeners will start to understand more thoroughly, more intimately, that the Sequoia Grove schools are not a machine. They're not a bunch of people sitting in an office who are completely unaware and out of touch with all of our families. Every time I get to know somebody else within our organization, I'm more and more impressed. I find wealth of information, energy, ideas, excitement, enthusiasm. So I hope that at the end of today, there's a little better feeling that the people in our schools are here to help and that it's not just a machine clunking out flyers.

Sara: That we do cover such a large territory. But at the same time, we are personal and we support families in their homes and we want to be able to personalize this information that we talk about personalize education. And so many people really value community.

Rebecca: I think some families already have community established and they may not need more relationships, but others are new to this world and they've just stepped out of the community they had. And now we need a new tribe. And Sequoia Grove works pretty hard to provide that.

Sara: Yes, for sure.

Rebecca: Where should we start? I think that the very first piece is like when you enroll, the first thing that happens is you wait for that call from your HST. Your home school teacher is your main point of contact. So let's talk about that HST relationship a little bit.

Sara: Yeah, you get assigned to an HST right off the bat. They reach out to you and start giving you all the info. And some of you might already have a relationship with your HST, which kind of makes things all the easier. But those new families will have that initial getting to know you stage. And ultimately your HST is there to hold your hand through it all. And then you can stay holding hands and have that tight relationship, or you can kind of start going out on.

Rebecca: Your own, lie on your own. Yeah. If you're ready. Yeah. And I think, too, that I don't know if parents realize that there is a community goal within this Coy Grove schools. The HSTS are a support, a friend, a help, not a police. They're not there to lay down the law. They're there to help and support and encourage and lift you up. And that is an expectation. So contacting your HST is not an annoyance. Inviting your HST to watch your kids perform and see things that they do is acceptable, like building a relationship with your HST is a community standard, I think, within our schools. Now, if you've done this for many years and you don't have time for that, great. Your HST is still there to be a help if you come up with something. But the Sequoia Grove schools do desire a culture of HST and family relationships that are supportive and encouraging.

Sara: It really is at the heart of our school. We are able to serve families because of this teacher family relationship. So that's kind of where all of it begins and starts through your teacher. Some teachers might even send out their own newsletters, weekly newsletters or communications to families. They are a great source of information to be able to have a starting point for each family.

Rebecca: Families should also probably know that their HSTS aren't just flying solo. They get to be part of teams.

Sara: Yes.

Rebecca: And so we have got HSTS who homeschooled all of their own kids, and they have been HSTS for years and years and years, and they've been around the block and know what they're doing. And we have others that are maybe still figuring out some of those ropes, but they have a support team to help them learn along the way and an administration that is working hard to train them. So if you have an HST who doesn't know an answer to a question, they don't just have to guess. They absolutely have a team they can go back to, as well as a team leader who can help them navigate some of those new things, either whether that's within our schools or whether that's helping you find just the right curriculum and those kinds of things. So not only are you, as a family supported, your HST is supported as well.

Sara: Yeah. There's a huge push for collaboration, whether that's between parents and teachers or teachers and teachers and staff, that they're able to work together and pool their resources with everything that they know because there's too much to know sometimes. But they all are able to work together and share their experiences because they all have such a wide variety of experiences.

Rebecca: I think after meeting your HST, the thing that we family liaisons will tell you over is to make sure that you are getting your Sequoia scoop. This is a weekly email that comes out that has all of the most pertinent information and it won't all pertain to you, but after you've read it for a few weeks, you'll start to realize like, okay, this part applies to me, that part doesn't, and I need to pay attention to this. And you'll be able to kind of skim it, but it's really important at the beginning especially to read that squish scoop and pay attention. And if you're curious about anything, where park days, what's happening, what's coming up, that information is all there. If you're not getting it, check your spam folder.

Sara: They always come out on Tuesdays between 10:00 A.m. And noon, so you can be sure to check your email. If you are overwhelmed with emails, as I know many of us are, if you know to look at the date for Tuesdays between ten and noon, you'll find it. You will usually find it. Families can expect to find the Sequoia scoop in their inbox on Tuesdays, always Tuesdays. Sequoia scoop. Rhymes with Tuesday. That's how I remember it. It comes on Tuesdays between 10:00 a.m. And noon. So you can search your email inbox. I know it can get cluttered in there, but families can always know that it's there. I don't remember. So if you're like, I'm not getting it. First of all, check your spam or junk folders because lots of times our school emails automatically go there. And then if you find them, you can just save us as a contact and then you're able to just receive it in your regular inbox. If you're still not seeing it, shoot us. An email. Info@sequoiagrove.org is a great way that families can get in contact with us and say, hey, I'm not receiving it. I get emails like that all the time, and it's like, oh, we need to change your email in your student information system, or we need to update this, or oh look, your email box is full, or something like that. So there's lots of reasons why an email won't be delivered to you. I know it's kind of, some people might say outdated way of communicating.

Rebecca: It's still efficient though. I mean, we all still need our emails, so I know. And the info@sequoiagrove.org box is monitored by all of the family liaison, so any questions that you have can go there. If your HST doesn't know or it's unrelated, it has to do with something else. You can always email that. When we do orientation meetings with new parents, we always tell them, watch for your Sequoia Scoop and bookmark the home school helper. The homeschool helper address is a little funky, so it's hard to remember sometimes how to find it. But if you bookmark it or just open it often enough that your browser will remember it, because everything's on there and right there on the front page is that school calendar. And so we put everything on there, park days and clubs and all the things. Yes, when learning period dates are ending and you need to get samples and attendance and all that kind of stuff. So that's all on the calendar. And that's right there at the beginning of the Home School Helper. So families can find I really don't know if there's a question that you can't find on the Home School Helper.

Sara: It's got a lot of information and.

Rebecca: It'S constantly being updated.

Sara: Yes, that's the important thing, is that rarely you'll find outdated info on. There one reason why it's such a long email address, because it's a Google site. It's super user friendly. So Google website loves Google, right? The Google calendar. And that's what that calendar you're talking about is super easy. You can add it to your phone and have it on if you wanted.

Rebecca: To know everything that's happening at this time.

Sara: I use the calendar a lot. I probably should do it more often because my kids have missed Adventure Academy classes because I didn't have it on my calendar. So another plug for using the calendar.

Rebecca: Right. So we can also tell families about there's various academic enrichment opportunities. And we're not going to go into curriculum, we're not going to go into HSVA, which is actual classes. We want to talk about academic enrichment ways that you can add to the curriculum that you are already using or the classes that your kids are already taking, because we have quite a few really cool opportunities for that within Sequoia Grove.

Sara: So whether it's an Adventure Academy class or a club, which are not year long programs, they're sessions. So there's generally a few sessions a semester those are going to be changing and updating. And so that's where it's easy to have things fly by you, and you're like, oh, I forgot about that.

Rebecca: And so the Adventure Academy classes, when I see what's offered, I'm always every time I'm like, we have teachers that know, so have all this different expertise and enthusiasm and creative ways of teaching things I would never think of. They teach all kinds of stuff. And it goes from Tk through 8th grade for Adventure Academy for all of these different and sometimes they're, they're usually virtual, but sometimes they end in a field trip that people can get together. And that's pretty I know, Sarah, that as a slightly unorganized parent, I struggled for a long time to keep track of all the places. So if we want to do Adventure Academy, how do you find that?

Sara: So clubs have their own catalog, course catalog and calendar that are advertised either in the Sequoia Scoop or on the Homeschool Helper. You can find Adventure Academy information on the homeschool. Helper. When the classes are open to register or they're just about to open, they will be listed on the Sequoia sign up, where you sign up for field trips. There's also a section for classes, and then there's a separate section for events, which has other community type events on there. But the classes is generally Adventure academy classes.

Rebecca: And you were telling me earlier, Sarah, that you keep track of all of this stuff and find it for your own kids that are home schooling by going to the home school Helper. When you need to know something or find a link to something, you go to the home school helper. I have found that the way I saved my own sanity with the various websites for signing up for field trips or the ordering website, the attendance, a parent portal for attendance and all those different sites that we need for different things. I put in one bookmark folder on my Google browser, so it's sitting right there and it says School and inside that folder is a list of all the links that I need to go to those things and it actually transferred to my phone. So that saved me. So there's a couple of different ways that if you're like, I can't remember where to go for what. You can either organize yourself or you can do it Sarah does and go to the home school helper and just keep track of that one website and the links for everything else will be in there.

Sara: So yeah, I think the most used one on the Homeschool helper is either the lending library because I'll go there to link to the Destiny Discover, discover to log into that and check if something's available, or the ordering page which has the list of available community partners. So I'm constantly checking that one. And then it also has all of the surveys for requesting a new vendor or community partner or checking to see the status on a community partner to see where they're at in the process. So that's probably the one I use the most, aside from the home page which has all of them with the community. And in high school, I always use high school and the dual enrollment, I use them all.

Rebecca: Well, you have five kids in school, right?

Sara: Yes.

Rebecca: And one graduated. Yes. All the different ages and stages, adventure Academy or classes that add to your academic learning that you're doing. Clubs can have academic have a lot of learning involved. It may or may not be as academic, it may not be standards based, but it's got really great experience experiential learning and community building activities and clubs you don't have to pay for or sign up. Summer in person, summer virtual. There's just all kinds of great creative ways for kids to get to know other HSTS, other kids ways to build up, whether that's here kindergartener. You can be in this club for an hour on Tuesdays, and that gives me a chance to work with a different kid and focus on some math or whatever, or whether it's my kid is super excited about Legos and there's a Lego club and they just really want to do this. There's all kinds of opportunities and then I think our other academic enrichment opportunity is one that most people are pretty well aware of. Field trip trips. Our parents like these field trips so much. We now have a field trip department.

Sara: It's amazing. They are doing such a great job in offering so many different types of field trips and trying to accommodate everyone.

Rebecca: On all the field trips and in all the different areas too. There's so many.

Sara: Yeah, it's so fun too. Just to see. I was at Sutter Sport yesterday and there were families from all over that have driven down to attend this field trip. Just a fun story, seeing kids meet each other the very beginning of the day at 08:00 A.m., and then by the end, at 08:00 P.m., they're hugging goodbye and like, they just met that day. It's so cute. So being able to foster relationships through field trips is awesome.

Rebecca: We were at the Exploratorium last week and met was it a field trip? It was a field trip. Yeah, it was really cool. And met my brother's neighbor.

Sara: That's funny.

Rebecca: Who knows who I am? I think we've met briefly and then they listen to the podcast. Field trips are really and I've also noticed, I think our family has a tendency to pick a certain type of field trip. So we're starting to see some of the same families that also tend to pick that same field trip. So on the one hand, you can just go and do your thing. And it's often with field trips. You may or may not interact with others, or you can, but you also start to recognize some faces. And you get to know you get to meet some other teachers and sometimes other staff and put faces to names and realize that while you may not know another clerksville or Feather River or Lakeville family, well, there's lots of people out there, and they're pretty cool.

Sara: It helps make this giant homeschooling world a little bit smaller. So that's where we are doing our best to connect people and to encourage families and students.

Rebecca: Last year, just as the random kind of getting to know you and getting seeing people. My kids were in a theater program and then my daughter participated in the virtual 8th grade graduation and oh wait, we know there were like three other kids that had been in the theater program that were graduating and we'd met through that and they were recognizing kids. It's a virtual thing with kids from all over Northern California and yet, wait, we've known them, so that was pretty cool. It doesn't have to be this sort of big nebulous organization of people you don't really know. You can get to know people.

Sara: One thing about clubs is the nice thing is they're free and you can find a club where you're like, oh yeah, my kids are really into Legos. This is awesome. Or you can find a club that you or your kiddos have no idea about what it's about, or interests but you can attend and check it out and be exposed to those different ideas.

Rebecca: What about weaving or felting or something one time? Like there's just I can't even remember. But there's been several different things that wouldn't occur to me personally. There's all kinds of or introducing instruments to kids, or letting them tell the other kids about their own instruments. There's all kinds of stuff, right. Walking clubs, anyway, they don't need to get sidetracked on that. But there's so many different clubs. I haven't even looked at the latest one to see what's out there.

Sara: And we had a conflict. There was a book club one, the Novel Study or Novel Book Club, that is at the same time as our Adventure Academy class. I'm like Darn.

Rebecca: Yeah, well, and that's there's too many, right? These Adventure Academy and clubs have grown so much that you you certainly can't do it all. You really do have to pick. And it's just cool because there's something to fit all the different schedules. While we're talking about aspects of the schools offerings that we have that contribute to the academic enrichment, as you can hear, a lot of that bleeds into the next part we want to talk about, which is the social aspect in the community. And I think we all know home schoolers don't really need more socialization. They do quite well for the most part. They may socialize differently, but there are some real advantages to some of it. They can talk to adults. They can talk to kids that aren't only their own age. So we've been talking about academic enrichment and the things that can contribute to your child's experience and that can add to the curriculum that you're using. But also, as you've heard, some of those offerings bleed into the realm of social and social experience and community. So clubs obviously can help build community and help get to know other kids as well. But then we have our park days. So we can't offer a park day in every single area that we serve, but we try to cover a lot and to really have some options.

Sara: Another thing about looking at the calendar, you can look at the lending library calendar and see when your local library is going. Sorry, your local park is going to have a library van visit. And it's just a good opportunity to head to the park. If it's not an organized park day, you can just go and meet people, hopefully meet people there.

Rebecca: You could even post on the Sequoia Grove Community Facebook page that you're going to be at the park at that day. And if anybody else is in that area, they can come and join you. And it sometimes can take a couple of times, but you really might get some families that other families like, oh yes, I've been wanting to meet some people.

Sara: Some families just need to get out of the house. And so even if they're like, we need to get out of the house to run around at the park, then awesome. But it's just one of those ways that you start. Like you said, you see the same people at the same field trips. You start finding your people and your kiddos are side by side learning and a relationship is built.

Rebecca: And even if you didn't order anything from the library van, you can always ask them if they have a free box that day, because sometimes they have some resources that they've got mini copies of or they just can't store. And so they'll bring a box on the library that families can look through and see if there's anything in there that's helpful for them. Take that home with them that day.

Sara: Yes.

Rebecca: So I mentioned our Facebook group, but how do you stay informed about all these things? The main way is the Sequoia Scoop and your HST, the information that you will get from them. But you can also, if you haven't joined the Sequoia Grove Facebook page, that's a really great place for announcements, information, asking questions. Hey, what do you love for fourth grade math? You'll get lots of other parents to.

Sara: Help you, especially this time of year when people are starting to consider, what.

Rebecca: Am I going to do next curriculum next year?

Sara: That's a good question to find there.

Rebecca: Or as you're realizing, hey, this worked this year, but this other thing didn't, and I need to change some things up. You can get ideas from other parents and stuff or find out if there's people in your community who are also wanting to meet up, even if it's not a school organized event, things like that, or something you're excited about.

Sara: That's why we love to share stories about the good things that are happening or even the challenges that you're having, and to know that you're not alone with your kiddo, forgetting how to read something like that, or your middle schooler having an issue, a middle school moment or something like that. Being able to share that together is helpful.

Rebecca: We have Pft testing this week, and I don't know what to expect. Can anybody tell me how I can help prepare my kid for what it's going to be like or those kinds of things? Parents can explain to you what's going on and also Instagram. So if you're like, I'm really trying to stay off Facebook, I'm not interested. You can also follow each school has an IG page, so you can follow clerksville, feather, river, or lakeview. Keep abreast of all of the things that are going on. And there often there will be pictures of a field trip that just happened or an event or something. It's just fun to see what's happening.

Sara: To share stories about what's happening in our home schoolers lives. And so here's another plug that you can send us your info or your great stories about how your kiddo has achieved something or learned something new, gotten over a hurdle that send them our way. And again, it's so encouraging for other families to see homeschoolers succeeding like that. And so that's where we love to share those stories on Instagram and Facebook, our Facebook group, and then even our Sequoia Grove News, our YouTube channel. That's always a great place to share fun stories like that, too.

Rebecca: I also want to go back to the community part because we talked about park days and field trips, but we didn't talk about if you're paying attention in your Sequoia Scoop, you'll see some special opportunities for high schoolers. So there was a prom coming up.

Sara: Is your daughter going to prom?

Rebecca: I don't think so. Not this year. She's only a freshman. We'll see. Yeah, but those kinds of there will be an in person high school graduation. There's things like that as well that are also special events that may not happen monthly or all the time, but there's those kinds of things you can keep your eye on if you want to go and support kids and attend the graduation, or if your kids might be interested in a prom or are your kids going to prom.

Sara: I don't know yet.

Rebecca: Okay.

Sara: Another nice thing about the Facebook group is that you can ask questions or get suggestions on things to use your funds to order. Yeah, that's always a fun thread to read through. People will share their favorite items.

Rebecca: Or eyebrows through looking for a guitar teacher in Roseville, or I need a voice teacher in Lakeview, or I need a math tutor in Chico. You can ask around and get some advice from people, too, people that they've enjoyed or have found helpful.

Sara: Yeah. I also wanted to talk about our school boards. We always encourage families for different boards that need filling. Yes, we have three of the school boards and then the CSO Sequoia Grove Charter Alliance School Board, they have regular meetings. They're always listed on the website, and it's always just good to stay in the know for any school. If your kiddos are at your local public school, it's just always good to know what's happening at the school board level, where kind of some of the major decisions are made. If there's an opening, if you're not really sure about it, you can attend a school board meeting and just kind of know what the layout is.

Rebecca: And they're still virtual at this point.

Sara: Although they are going back in person. But they will have a virtual element, so anyone can listen or watch it. So that will be somewhat easier to yeah, but that's all on the website. The school websites have a school board page, and so all of that info, the packets have all of the info, and you can browse through those three days before the actual meeting.

Rebecca: And the dates are always announced in the Sequoia scoop. You can always find those there. And any. Links for any virtual stuff will be linked to that as well. So I'm sure regular listeners are not shocked to hear me say that I often have too much going on. And so I can look at Adventure Academy classes and all the clubs and get really excited and there's park days and there's all these things to do on field trips. Each family needs to find their own balance, and sometimes less is more. But if families are looking for something, there's so much out there to help build up your kids, give them opportunity to meet new people. So Sarah, what are some of your family's favorite things to take advantage of out of all of these things we've talked about that Sequoia Grove has to offer families? You get pretty pumped about field trips.

Sara: I do like field trips. I feel like February has been our field trip month. My mom takes the kids on field trips as well. We do a lot of theater trips together and so that's always a good option too. Is using your family or community to adventure out?

Rebecca: Yeah, we got to take my dad snowshoeing with us.

Sara: Oh, that was pretty exciting.

Rebecca: Yeah. And my mom often has gone with us to shows and things. Every once in a while, my husband will take the day off so that he can go do something with us.

Sara: Depending on what it is.

Rebecca: But yeah, I've been working on getting better at finding the right. Like, we want adventure and we want to do fun things, but we can't do that all the time where we don't get through our other things and sometimes just quiet. Stability is really a beautiful thing, but what my high schooler is available for and what my kindergartner are available for are very different. So sometimes we can do a club or something for the little guy that we can't maybe pull off for the older kids. I hope that our families have seen today the vast variety of opportunities that our Sequoia Grove kids have. I think that that makes us a little unique in the home school charter world. I don't know. I don't know all the other schools well, but we really value community and we really value helping our families feel supported and helping our kids explore their interests and talents. And not in a way that takes over the parents ability to educate their own kids, but just simply gives lots of opportunity and opportunity for relationships as well, not just academic pursuits.

Sara: There are a lot of people working behind the scenes to provide all of these things. And so we love to see full park days, full clubs, full field trips. We love to be able to just know that kids are getting excited and families are getting excited, and it's always exciting.

Rebecca: We talked about there's a whole team of people putting field trips together. There's a whole team of people that put the Adventure Academy together there's a whole team of people that are working on clubs and all of these different plus your family liaisons that are a team of people. So you have all these teams that are rooting for you as families and we really want to see you succeed and not just exist but thrive. And home schooling is not always easy, but we do think it's always rewarding and worthwhile. And so if you feel like you need more people, you need to find a good tribe of people to support you, just reach out, try a few things until you find that right fit.

Sara: Yes, we are happy to brainstorm. We love finding solutions to problems. So we're here.

Rebecca: Listeners, we hope that you were encouraged today by all the things that are available to you and all of the ways that the Sequoia Grove schools are here to support you. If you need anything, as we said, please reach out to your HST or you can always email info@sequoiagrove.org. And as always, I would love to hear from you at my podcasts@sequoiagrove.org address and I would love to hear your favorite thing to do outside of your house. What do you love to do when you get out? And whether that's a family hike or some really cool field trip, tell me and I'd love to hear all about it. Thank you, Sarah, for being here today. It's always great to have you to talk and thanks for inviting me. Pick Your Brain thank you for joining us today on this episode of the Sequoia Breeze Podcast, a breath of fresh air for your home school. I am your host, Rebecca LaSavio.