Today we continue on with special highlights from our 2021 – 2022 Family Business Meeting. We have two Parent Stories to share with you. First up, Jaime Hendrickson shares her experience homeschooling with our hallmark Hybrid program. For a transcript of the video, please see below.
Hybrid Parent Story: Jaime Hendrickson from SLO Classical Academy on Vimeo.
I was enticed by the Hybrid schedule before I even really considered homeschooling.
Now in our fourth year I can look back at our second (year) when I relinquished my visions of frolicking afternoons in nature and discovered a new connectiveness through immerson in the History cycle and from the full breadth of the grid.
I tell friends we do school big; our home days are long, but oh so rich. Our days are not always gentle.
I remember our first month at SLOCA wondering if there was a crisis hotline!
Just last week we had to step away from the routine as things misfired and we needed a reset.
I took my son to his favorite place and allowed him to lead me barefoot into twelve inches of tidal muck.
We shared in the solitude. Covered in drying mud we sat while we finished our Grammar and Spelling, restored for the moment.
The success of this homeschool endeavor will not be measured in days or weeks but by trimesters and years.
Our eyes are fixed beyond the horizon, some days get a little foggy, but the beauty is always there.
~ Jaime Hendrickson
Next up, we have a Parent experience from long time SLO Classical Academy teacher and parent, Jennifer Perneel, on the new Full Time Hybrid Program. For a transcript of the video, please see below.
Full Time Parent Story: Jenn Perneel from SLO Classical Academy on Vimeo.
Hi everyone! I am Jennifer Perneel. I am a longtime Primary teacher but I am also the mother to two SLOCA students. My son is a junior and has been at SLOCA since kindergarten. My 12 year old daughter is in 7th grade in the full time program and has been here since SLOCA’s very first preschool classes!
Since joining the full time program, I have found we can still take advantage of all SLOCA has to offer without being the main homeschoolers. Every Sunday, I print Brooklynn’s grids. Together, we review upcoming projects, reading she will be doing, and how to space her work over the week. After full time program days, we review what she finished and go over anything needing attention. Having the grids has allowed us to stay completely involved in her education as well as with the community.
Brooklynn has absolutely loved the full time program. She is motivated to complete her work and enjoys her time with her friends and teachers. As a very busy family, this has allowed us to focus more on the “fun” parts of school at home. Dinners are spent talking about Latin translations, Greek gods and goddesses, and logical fallacies. My husband is enjoying helping her memorize a recitation in Spanish. We love reviewing her work she brings home.
Our family was fortunate to have a smooth transition from the hybrid into the full time program. I will say we do have to be diligent in making sure we check in during busy weeks. The teachers have done such an amazing job at helping her finish all her work that sometimes our focus can fall to the wayside!
I also have the unique position of being both a SLOCA teacher and a SLOCA parent, and I know that many of you in the room tonight are also SLOCA parents and staff. I can’t tell you enough how much both of these enormous responsibilities have impacted my family and I. I have lived this life for 12 years as a parent and since 2006 as a teacher. I know how hard it can be to do both! But as a parent who is nearly on the other side, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, I would never trade this life, even the hardest of days. If you have or had children come through Primary, you will see the beauty of the education my children have received from the teachers in levels above me as I weave what I have learned from them into what I teach in Primary.
~ Jennifer Perneel
Thank you Jaime and Jennifer for sharing your insight with us! Check back next Friday for two more stories from a new parent and SLO Classical Academy High Schooler.
