Siblings’ Dinner Table Conversations Enriched with TTU K-12

By Leslie Cranford, Section Manager

Like many families, when the pandemic set in in 2020, the VanderBush/Smith family went looking for online options to school their three children: Grady and Kaydence Smith (10th and 9th grades, respectively) and Serena VanderBush (first grade). The family lives in Vermont and all three are attending TTU K-12 for the first time this school year.

Starting out last fall, mom Penne was a little apprehensive about the change to the three being educated at home, although, she says the older two were no trouble.

“My older two kids are self-sufficient in their classwork and I really enjoy working through the lessons with my 6-year-old first grader,” she said. “I was wondering if I would be able to give her as much time and attention as it would require to oversee a happy, healthy first grader navigate a school curriculum. I work a full-time job from home and have obligations throughout the day to be on Zoom calls and complete work tasks.”

But Penne explained Serena shares a desk with her, and most of the time they’re able to work side by side quite easily.

“I’ll give her the instruction for the lesson while she’s working in her books or on her worksheets, and I’ll be going through my work tasks. She steps away from my desk during most of my work calls for “school breaks,” and overall, it works well.”

Of course, Penne explains that it’s not all “rainbows and unicorns!”

“We’ve had days where we don’t get a full day of schoolwork done and we’ve had days where the side-by-side arrangement just doesn’t work based on that day’s schedule. But thankfully the flexible schedule means we can get it done at another time and all is not lost.”

Penne explained that the work-at-your-own-pace flexibility has been perfect for their family, even allowing them time to travel together safely in their RV.

“We’ve been able to experience things we likely wouldn’t have made the time for otherwise. It’s not often you get to steal your children away from the world for several weeks and really enjoy time together without the stress of getting back at the end of the week because the scheduled school break is over,” she said.

And here’s where the dinner conversation comes in, when Penne talked about the course selection, and Grady and Kaydence’s table talks.

“TTU K-12 has way more courses to pick from than our local public school,” she said. “Our older two children took Entrepreneurship at the same time, and within the first couple of weeks our dinner table conversation was led by them discussing which international economic factors could negatively impact the example businesses they choose for the classwork. My mind was blown! This was a significant improvement from our past dinner table conversations that basically went like this:

• “How was school today?”

“Fine.”

• “What did you do?”

“I don’t know. Stuff.”

• “What kind of stuff?”

“The stuff the teachers said to do. Can you pass the…”

Penne commented about how much intellectual growth is missed when they’re in traditional school, especially with Serena.

“I genuinely get excited and feel pride when a concept we’ve been working on ‘clicks’ and I can see her confidently put her pencil to paper to complete an assignment or test with a newfound knowledge that I watched her achieve. There’s nothing like the feeling of watching your child grow before your eyes.”

For parents that are apprehensive about making such a change, Penne says it’s not as hard as they probably think it is.

“It’s not easy, but it’s not hard. The reward of the time you have with your children (especially if you want to travel a bit) and the opportunity to watch them learn first-hand is worth it. I would encourage people to try it, even if it’s for one school year to see if it’s a good fit for you.”

Penne also reminds parents that it’s not a permanent decision. And if they’re concerned about social life and friends, it’s easy, in a post-COVID time, to find plenty of social opportunities.

“In our local schools, kids who are ‘homeschooled,’ which my kids technically are, can still participate in school sports and other extracurricular activities,” she explained. “Also, my kids can still attend some classes in their local school under the same ‘homeschool’ provision. For example, my son will likely take a lab-based science class at his school next year. It not only provides more social interaction, but it saves my kitchen! You may find a hybrid approach like this works for you too.”