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Amazing Conversation About Education- helping families make educational choices work effectively for their children!!!
31 Plays11 months ago
Suzanne Brown & her husband Rex have been married since 1989 and have 7 children. Homeschooling since 1995, they live on a small farm in Travelers Rest, South Carolina.
Suzanne has degrees in education from Furman University and taught several years in the public school setting until their children were born. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Upstate Homeschool Co-op which serves almost 1400 students on a weekly basis across 3 campuses and started in the Brown home in 1997.
She serves on the state SCHEA board, State Education Superintendent Weaver’s transition team and Senator Tim Scott’s state Education Advisory committee, as well.
The Lord with His sense of humor gave the Browns no two children that learn alike. Her passions include working with developing young leaders, helping families make educational choices work effectively for their children, and being outside on her farm or in the woods.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Russell Jones Speaks' and Suzanne Brown, an educator and homeschool advocate
00:00:35
Speaker
Welcome to Russell Jones Speaks, where we explore big issues that matter to parents, grandparents, and kids. We tackle intergenerational issues. Everything that affects parents, grands, and children is on the table. That includes health and fitness, relationships, attitude, family unity, vision, adversity, God, and anything else that might arise. The goal is for you to take away something that you can use in your life immediately. Suzanne Brown and her husband Rex have been married since 1989 and have seven children. Homeschooling since 1995, they live on a small farm in Traveler's Rest, South Carolina. Suzanne has degrees in education from Furman University and taught several years in the public school setting until their children were born. She is the founder and executive director of the Upstate Homeschool Co-op, which serves almost 1,400 students on a weekly basis across three campuses
00:01:32
Speaker
and it was started in the Brown home in 1997. She serves on the State South Carolina Home Educators Association Board, State Education Superintendent Weaver's transition team, and Senator Tim Scott's State Education Advisory Committee as well.
Suzanne's passion for education and a thrilling experience with the Golden Knights
00:01:49
Speaker
The Lord, with his sense of humor, gave the Browns no two children that learn alike. Her passions include working with developing young leaders, helping families make educational choices work effectively for their children, and being outside on her farm or in the woods. So welcome, Suzanne. Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
00:02:09
Speaker
All right. That's awesome. And, uh, so yeah, let's, uh, you know, like we always say, like, let's start at the beginning. So, uh, okay. You know, born at an early age, you know, all that kind of stuff. all that good stuff Yeah. yes So are you originally a South Carolina girl or what what were your origins? I am. I'm actually a Greenville girl and went to Furman stayed here, went to Furman and then went to Atlanta to teach and met my husband there. And we went to Augusta for a short stint and then back to Greenville. Oh, wow. Okay. So yeah, you're you're you are truly a local girl. Yes. So the early years I'm talking about too, we talked about seven kids. Now, are are all of those kids yours?
00:02:56
Speaker
Well, of course they're all mine. I mean, where are you? Did you birth all of those kids? sorry I six of those children and one came to us when he was 15, a little bit later. And so he's, he's now 32 and just had his first child married and had his first child. So pretty exciting journey. Oh, that's awesome. Yes, that's awesome. Uh, yeah, that's, uh, that's one thing I noticed since we've moved down, here from up north is I think adoption is way more prevalent, um unless I'm just become more aware of it since we're down here. But it seems like families are really willing to reach out and and take in an extra kid or two if necessary. yeah I love to watch how God puts families together. It's it's always a unique journey for each family.
00:03:48
Speaker
Yeah. So, um, okay. So now one more question for you, because I saw this online and I, I just have to ask it, uh, when did you decide to start jumping out of airplanes? Well, it's never really been on my bucket list, but I had this awesome opportunity. um I was asked to be on the National Army's Educators Tour, and they take a small group of people from around the country and just really to help them learn more about the opportunities that the Army has, where the kids that we're serving and where that might be a good fit. And part of that opportunity came with the option to jump with the Golden Knights parachute team. and
00:04:32
Speaker
It was pretty awesome. ah but Pretty awesome. I'm still trying to process it. Okay. did it i mean I guess at whatever altitude, it it's harder to breathe up there, isn't it? 13,000 feet. and it was I guess I had a healthy sense of nerves, but I really wasn't freaked out. and Then we got on the airplane and the door never shut. So we went. all the way up. And I was pretty good. I mean, these these guys who were these parachutors, I mean, that's their job. They're so professional. And, you know, walked us through every step. And as soon as the plane takes the ground, um I was connected to him by one, at least one. And the theory is that if something were to happen to the plane, they could get you to the ground safely just with one connection. Not that anyone would want that to happen, but
00:05:28
Speaker
But then as soon as my toes went over that edge, I thought, what am I doing? But it was I was committed at that point. There was no turning back. so were you were you Did you look down? Oh yeah, the whole time. The videographer So this guy is hanging on to the side of the plane, which I cannot imagine telling your wife or your parents that this is your job, is that you hang on to the side of the plane and video people as they jump out. but Somehow they get all the physics worked out with weights and he's right above you. And he's trying to get me to look up and I was just, you know, it's it's the air's coming at you. I mean, it's 150 miles an hour pre-fall and they pretty quickly pull the small parachute, which slows you to 120.
00:06:15
Speaker
um And it was just, bonus it's just the air's coming at you so fast. It's a, it's a little hard to breathe, but it's just cause you're so dry. It's just coming at you fast. And so that free falls 55 to 59 seconds. And then when the parachute pulled, it's okay. Now you can really take in God's creation. yeah And I just can't imagine anybody having that experience and not believing in a creator. It's just phenomenal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe it.
Transition from public school to homeschooling and the rise of a homeschool community
00:06:48
Speaker
All right, so, all right, so your experience, so before children, um you're a teacher and educator, ah what was your field?
00:06:58
Speaker
I was elementary and then I had a minor in special ed at that point is what it was called, basically a focus in learning disabilities. So I taught in Atlanta and I taught in Augusta, Georgia, inner city, and it was a whole different experience. um ah That's where I wanted to be. um I just, I loved serving that community. And then when I had my first child, into year three, I thought this is, you know, i I just want to be home with her. So I have one girl and then six boys. And I had a dear friend who kept her for the rest of that school year. And I was pregnant again by the end of the year. And I never looked, never looked back, never looked back. Nope.
00:07:42
Speaker
yeah So, okay, so we you get to this point now your your daughter is gonna be school age and you're gonna Like how did how did you as a family come about deciding? Was she homeschooled from day one or did she go to regular school? No, they never went. um i just At that point, I thought, I don't want to send these children away. I love being with them. I love being their mother. I love doing day to day. um That was also my background. i mean i'm ah
00:08:17
Speaker
I'm a preschool person at heart and um I didn't really know about homeschooling. It was legal in South Carolina then but it wasn't really a thing um and I just started inviting people to do different little music groups or field trips or hikes or um and sort of built that like-minded kind of group of families and then we started a Well, I didn't know it was officially meeting at that point, but that first year we had five families and 19 children and they came to my house and we
00:08:55
Speaker
um We split up. One mom would kind of teach the older, the elementary kids. We'd focus on science and history, geography, Bible, and another one would keep the babies. And then somebody might have the younger group and we just traded every week. And that's really, that is really how it started. And then God did what he did and took it from there. It's grown a bit. Yeah. We had so much interest that first year. People say, oh, what are you doing? but Can I come join in on you with you? And we just kind of ran out of room in our house to really, and that was where we started looking at at churches to maybe host it and go a little bit bigger.
00:09:38
Speaker
Now, the other families that started out with you, were they coming from the same like mindset as you? ah I mean, they they probably did not have the same background as you in education, or maybe they did, but were they coming from that same you know um like mindset, or or were they just, you know like like what where were that what would they, their experience? And to say, like hey, I wanna see what this Suzanne Brown's doing. No, it really wasn't that. They were just my friends and who really were like-minded. One did have an education background and the others were just, two were neighbors at that point and um before we we lived in a neighborhood in Taylors before we moved out in the country and they were like-minded, staying home, wanted to be with their kids and were interested in taking this on and seeing where it went.
00:10:30
Speaker
so They stayed in. They all stayed in. ah cope then Eventually, one did choose you know a different type of education. Yeah, we um yeah we went we did homeschooling for a bit, but it was kind of you know after public school, after Christian school, um and it was kind of starting out as a thing. um we were We were just concerned about what was going on in in regular school.
00:11:01
Speaker
um and the lack of input for parents. In fact, I was thinking about it this morning um when you talk about family and and keeping close with the kids, especially during those developmental years. I remember our oldest daughter going to a local elementary school, which had a allegedly great ah reputation and everything. and um And we found out that, you know, they, they wanted parental involvement, but they only wanted parental involvement to, you know, for big sales and things like that. They didn't really want input as to, you know, what was being taught. And there was a, ah there was a thing back then, this was like 1990. I was trying to figure out, it was around 1990.
00:11:45
Speaker
And they're doing like a meditative thing for kindergartners and first graders ah called Pumsey the Dragon. And Pumsey was your best friend who you could confide everything into. And I remember like the early days, over there was a couple other families and we talked about how why wouldn't you be confiding in your mom and dad or your or your grandparents or whatever? And it seems like a lot of times education is takes away from family more than you know edifies and builds up family. Anything like that in your experience, of why people are coming to homeschooling?
COVID-19's impact on educational choices and parental empowerment
00:12:29
Speaker
I definitely think that's the truth in education these days and I have such dear friends who are public education teachers and they have such a hard job and they are definitely in the trenches, but the system, you know there's definitely an agenda. and um you know I think COVID really pulled that veil back for parents and they saw it. um And in in my opinion, if one good thing has come out of that, it's that parents have seen you really do have a voice in this and you better use it um because it is very quickly being taken away from you.
00:13:03
Speaker
um man and i'm i'm ah you know I'll say at the front, I'm a big proponent of school choice. um I think we need lots of different options. One size does not fit all, and that but that that mindset also helps support families who may be in a, maybe it is a failing school, maybe it's a health crisis for their child, maybe it's some you know with a certain ah district or there's all different reasons you know that people that people choose this option um and I you know I just it's my my life mission is to help support families to help them make um and a good educational choice and an individualized educational choice for their child. Sure yeah and I you know I know again ah you know up north
00:13:54
Speaker
The better educational systems, I mean, you paid those those municipalities, those towns, you know, the taxes were unaffordable to the average person, you know, and they had the top teachers, top programs. um But that wasn't accessible to regular folks living in, you know, middle-class or lower, you know, working-class areas and things like that. So um to your point about school choice, yeah, that's, it just seems to make so much sense. But again, ah you know, who's holding our money? Who's holding our money, right? But yeah.
00:14:36
Speaker
So, okay.
Joining Upstate Homeschool Co-op and choosing the right curriculum
00:14:37
Speaker
So is there, so let's go, uh, first time. Okay. I'm a first timer. Uh, got little kids and I'm all excited about, uh, upstate co-op. I heard all about it, fill out the paperwork, whatever. And then, uh, like, like, where do you, where did, where does somebody go lead, lead me through this process? I'm a little nervous about it. You know, um, we don't have a lot of money. Uh, you know, both of us work. How are we going to make this happen? You know, how's all that addressed? It's a lot of questions. They're all wrapped up into one. all Yeah, I'm sorry. jump let me right Let's just do our first timer. I do want to say something about you know the the taxes and and money just because money is not the answer to education.
00:15:26
Speaker
but um Competition is the answer because, again, you're turning it back to parents who get to decide, I want this for my family. These goals, these values are important. And if I can make that choice for my children, um it's not all about the school districts that have the most money. you know The establishment of education would like for you to think that, but um that is that is definitely not, you know you see, teachers and parents who are in poor districts and, you know, don't have, you know, are at that poverty level, but they're still reaching their children and they have a successful um journey of education. But I just wanted to make that, I wanted to make that point. But as far as our- I'm sorry, and I think too, I'm sorry, just to finish that too, is that I think in our experience in private school, private high school, um paying for that and then
00:16:23
Speaker
ah the the graduation rate is not the key thing there, the get into colleges, that's what you're you know that's what you're paying for. So values, what it's all to the test, it's all to getting into a fancy college. And um and the same thing with the the the more exclusive communities as well. But yeah, I'm sorry, I just wanted to, yeah. so it's great We can touch on that more if you want to. but yeah So as far as our program, we offer five different open houses during the year and people come there and they learn about who we are and they get to take a tour, do some observations. and That's a really helpful place to start. We also offer a beginning home school seminar. Wait, where is the tour? This is in your, you have a- During the school year. No, the location of the tour.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yes. on It's on one of our three campuses. Well, we actually do them on all three of our campuses, two in Greenville and one in Spartanburg. And so there are different days that people can sign up to come you know in those tours. And we usually have between 100 and 170 people at those open houses. um It's just, we're just really seeing, I mean, there the masses are looking for something different. and So um it is, but that's a great place to start to really see if this might be a good fit for your family. And then we offer this beginning homeschool seminar, which we start from
00:17:50
Speaker
everything And that's not mandatory, but it's a great place. I send that out probably once a day to people who have inquiries. um But it's it does kind of help you know, how how do you get legal? We have a lot of people moving to South Carolina right now, and every state law is different. Homeschooling is legal in all states across the US, but every law like every state is different. So sometimes they just need to come and learn you know how our laws, how that affects what you do in your reporting and all of that. um And then we have orientations coming. We do have a lot of people who are super nervous getting started with their little people. And you know I think what people want, it's
00:18:31
Speaker
Most families could educate their four or five and six year olds. But what they want is that community and they want somebody to walk alongside them in the journey, which we all want. You know, that's just how we're wired um wherever you are. So that is really how we try to help people get connected as they're coming in. Make sure you're coming to those we offer. goodness, we offer more field trips than should be allowed, which is a great, a great way to build community, you know, with different families who are, who are in our, um, in our co-op. Is there a a curriculum that upstate, um, co-op recommends or do you have your own curriculum or where where does that go? I remember, you know, we were like,
00:19:21
Speaker
We would mix and match things. yes I remember Rebecca. I remember Bob Jones. I remember a few of them that we were, well, you know this was good here and this was better here, or whatever. How does that work? The homeschooling curriculum has come a long way in the early years. you know It used to be that you didn't have many choices and now these poor mamas, they got too many choices and there they can get a little overwhelmed. ah That is one thing we walk people through in this beginning seminar is learning what your philosophy is of education. That's really important. So that kind of guides your direction for your curriculum for your child. And there are a lot of things to take into consideration there.
00:20:02
Speaker
But our when the students come to our classes, we have chosen curriculum. We're looking for curriculum that parents, we we call them the parent the teaching parent, that they are responsible the other days that the child is home. So we want curriculum that's easily used that way. We also, on our website, Up through middle school, we have started with lower elementary and then middle or upper elementary and then middle school, we have recommendations. It is not all inclusive, but it is different types of curriculum for those ages that we have found people to be successful with. so and Anyone can access those on our on our website.
00:20:45
Speaker
So it those are just some ideas from like grade to grade. Is there some kind of Standard test to determine readiness to go to the next grade?
Individualized education and addressing socialization concerns
00:20:55
Speaker
No, that is the parents job now will help have that conversation with you But we we don't want to step into that. you know We do tell our teachers, if you see this child struggling, let's have that conversation early. you know Sometimes first-time parents, and if they haven't had much experience working with groups of children, they may not.
00:21:17
Speaker
see, oh, this child is really going to struggle if they go into third grade. But that's the beauty of educating at home. as you can you know Maybe that child is a slow to read student, but yet they're they excel in math and science. you know so you can Again, the beauty of that individualized education plan is that I can take my child where they are um in this subject so that we very carefully pick classes for our elementary years we do not offer math and we do not teach reading and there's some very specific reasons for that because children are just so developmentally different at those ages and we want to empower parents and help them realize the importance of those two primary year courses
00:22:09
Speaker
to do at home one-on-one with your child. Oh well. Yeah, that's good. I remember. Oh boy. Yeah, not everybody was ready for the flashcards and, you know, the the stuff that went on, the pressure of stuff that went on in the classroom. And we were, you know, first, second, third grade, it was like, right, you know, right. no Yeah, that was tough. But yeah, that that's interesting. though So all right. So everybody comes in, and it's kind of a smorgasbord in a way. I mean, I mean,
00:22:44
Speaker
as they're younger, okay, there's those two areas that parents teach, but then as they get older, they can pick and choose, right? Whichever areas they want to go to. ah right um So how, the cost, okay, the cost versus say like private education. Um, like, how does that work? And again, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking this scenario of, you know, mom and dad, you know, we need two incomes at least in this crazy world that we're living in. Um, you know, so like, how does that all work? How does that, uh,
00:23:21
Speaker
Yeah. So our lower elementary, which is second grade. And andm so six, let me explain this six and down, they can choose one day option to come just one day, or they can choose two days. Once they get into 7th through 12th, pretty much every all high school classes are two days a week. So that does, of course, vary the cost. But those lower elementary classes, if you choose one day, it is $400 for the year. Or you just simply double that.
00:23:53
Speaker
okay Part of the reason we can do that, we have such excellent partners with churches. I'm a firm believer in that churches and Christian education should be good partners. you know they Most of them have buildings that aren't being used during the week. and we don't need them on the weekend. So it's just, um that's part of, um you know, my role is looking for those good partners and who really is a, and that's a top down, you know, that's a top down leadership issue in ah in a church. You have to have people who are who really buy into that mindset to help parents with Christian education.
00:24:29
Speaker
so Again, upper elementary is 450 for the year, or 900 if you have two days. Sixth grade is 720 for a one day, or four it just doubles if you do two days. And then once they get into middle school, its so it depends on if they're one or two days. it's a hundred At that point, it breaks down per class, seventh through 12th grade. So a student could come in and take one class with us. or a student could come in and take five classes with us. It just depends on what the parent needs support with. Yeah. All right. So, okay. I always have to ask this because my public school educator friends, and to your point, there are some really awesome teachers in public. Yes, there are. Yes, there are. They have a hard job. Goodness. They have a really hard job. Yeah, they do.
00:25:19
Speaker
So every once in a while they'll throw that whole, but what about socialization? And I'm sure you've heard that before. Yeah. So how yeah I'm the first timer. I'm i'm worried that my kid's going to be socialized, you know? And ah what do you say to that? Yeah, that's um that's ah such an interesting question. So I think our mindset was we wanted our children to be socialized with a variety of generational people, ages. We didn't want them just to be socialized with fourth graders or second graders who are their thinking is going to be in this box. But when you broaden their world and they're hanging out with
00:26:01
Speaker
you know They're learning how to care for the baby you know that's learning how to walk at their house, or they're at their grandparents and they get to see them during the day, or um they're they're building relationships as siblings. you know When you go to send your kids off for seven hours a day, they're not really growing up together. you know They're coming home and they're tired. and and Again, i i want to be I want to say, I know this is not for everybody, but there's There's so much that's happening with that that socialization that where they're not just in a class with same age peers, um and it is a beautiful thing to watch. you know In our program, we have our high schoolers come in, you know they work with the elementary kids, or they're doing the their high school student government is put helping put on events for the middle schoolers, or they're helping support teachers through different things that they do. All of that is
00:26:57
Speaker
I mean, real life is like that. You and I don't hang out with people who are just our same age. Thank goodness. um My age, it's hard to find people. thank so So it's just more of a snapshot of what real life looks like. Sure. That's awesome. And, you know, just going through your website, I see different teachers at different levels to where Where do you get your teachers from? Are they parents that are in the co-op or where do you get your teachers from? A little little bit of both. So all of our teachers, are they are either certified in a certain field or they are experts in their field. um For example, I have lots lots of teachers.
00:27:50
Speaker
four, I think five that have their doctorates that either have students or grandchildren or they have some time that they want to give back to students. They aren't done sharing their expertise. I have a retired mechanical engineer who comes in and does our our physics and he he's just passionate. He has like 40 patents and he loves coming. He teaches our drone class. We had one of the first drone classes for high school students in the state of South Carolina.
00:28:22
Speaker
and he comes in and he's written a curriculum for that. At the end of that course, they sit for their licensing exam and they walk out of that course if they pass with, they can go into the field as high school kids and and fly drones for people, work for people that way. So that's all we're looking for people who are passionate and have experience in whatever field. A lot of them are certified, a lot of them are, some of them are parents. um I love it when that happens because they have a different type of vested interest but our jobs are posted and um we get
00:28:59
Speaker
A lot of a lot of students or teachers that we're getting right now have been in a um a traditional school. They may have had their second child and they want more flexibility. They don't want to be five days away from their children. And this one or two day option is a great fit for them. So. Our youngest son, I remember I can't remember his kindergarten or first grade. I remember his first report card. And there was a little notation, I never see saw a notation like this on a report card before, um because he got his grades were all good. But there was a little notation that your son keeps falling out of his chair. And so, I mean, we laughed about it, we still laugh about it. But that was an indicator of
00:29:58
Speaker
um the energy level of this kid. And and he struggled with that all all through school. I mean, he you know, he figured it out eventually, um but it it just was not his learning style. And you had mentioned that, um you know, yeah all your kids had different learning styles. And so who evaluates that?
00:30:23
Speaker
Parents should be evaluating that and we are helping them with that. you know I think some of them come to us like, You know, my son or my daughter just, they can't sit still and they want to be talking. They want to you know be engaged and they're having a hard time. Maybe they've been in a traditional school setting, which is really hard to manage that. If you have 25 students, I think I have six of mine are boys and I think, and it's not just boys, but I think that the type of things that we're asking
00:30:56
Speaker
small young children to do in classrooms. is said it's a tough little It's a tough little mix there. Now, again, we have super gifted teachers in traditional programs, but we are firm. We ask our teachers to be in have engaging, active, classrooms. I love walking by my classrooms and they're up there on the floor. They're spilled out into the hall. I have to walk out of my office and step over children who are working over there on their engineering project or they're all up and down the hall, you know, in little teams doing kind of that. I love that. I want that. Um, so that is something we really strive to do. But you know, you think about a five day classroom for
00:31:41
Speaker
a lot of young children and especially boys, they're just not made that way. um Do they need to learn
Flexible learning schedules and physical education in homeschooling
00:31:48
Speaker
it? Yes, they do. And that's the beauty of this is that they are learning it one to two days. They're getting that little bit of training. They're learning to answer to a different authority. They're learning how to work with peers. um They're learning how to manage themselves in a classroom situation. but it's not so heavy. um That's a lot of the anxiety that our our kids deal with is walking into that five days a week, all day. It's a lot. Yep, yep, for sure. All right, so um one of the things that i is near and dear to me, working with people on all different ages and everything is in health and wellness.
00:32:38
Speaker
Just a traditional physical education would be called. um how do How do you address that? Is that a component of the homeschooling curriculum? Is that just up to the parents? Is there a group thing for that? How do you look at that? Yeah, we used to actually offer more of a structured PE class, if you will. But what we found years ago is that so because people have this flexibility, again, they're able to pick and choose what sports programs or different activities outside where they're getting support there. And I would tell you 90 plus percent of our students are involved in some sort of a physical education activity. um We partner, we have a sister.
00:33:26
Speaker
a group called the Greenville Hurricanes and they offer 20 plus different sports. They compete on you know all the way up through high school and that's an an excellent opportunity. I mean, even down to archery, you know which is they have a fishing, they're doing swimming besides all your traditional type sports. So there's just such um So many choices and there are different groups that are doing it better than we could do it. So we found that our parents really wanted us to focus on you know core type subjects that they couldn't go do. They couldn't find an outlet for somewhere else. Yeah, I think ah I was more concerned about the kids that just didn't feel compelled to compete in sports. Right.
00:34:14
Speaker
I'm more concerned about that foundation of of wellness and fitness right um you know for the artsy kid or the musician or yes ah you know whatever, the computer geek kid. Just you know that sort of foundational training. ah remember This was in my research, which was actually, I was alive then, but I didn't know about it. ah President Kennedy in the 60s, they had the president's fitness test, right? And and there was a ah school out in California, La Sierra High School, that was the model for that.
00:34:53
Speaker
And it wasn't it wasn't, I mean, they had athletes, of course, but it wasn't about sports. It was about personal fitness. And i you know and they they had a tremendous run for years and years until, ah well, I don't want to say what politics happened there. but But I just get concerned just looking at the general health of our country and, you know, and And I'm not in public school is not answering it for sure. Um, just that foundational, uh, you know, no one had to take care of your body sort of thing, but you're saying that you you guys just, uh, you're leaving that up to the parents. Well, we do have a, um, we have a ah health and wellness nutrition type club for our elementary students that they can do separate than just their school day. They could come early and do that. We do offer.
00:35:46
Speaker
ah You know, so our we have a um and health and nutrition class that we offer for high school, which definitely, you know, we have people who are super passionate about that. And that's a high school elective, science elective. We have middle school courses that are addressing, trying to help the physiology of that. But, and we also will help parents. I mean, if they say, we want to do this PE, we have to get that credit. How do we do that with our student who, like you're talking about? So we help them put that together. It could be walking. You can, there's different things you can add together to help. It could be health. It could be nutrition component. So again, helping build into that. But that really is a parental
00:36:30
Speaker
I mean, that's got to be pushed down to the parents and help yeah them understand the importance of that.
The role of nutrition and technology use policies
00:36:37
Speaker
and the um yeah and you just you know That was my next point, was nutrition too, because I've gone the full gamut on nutrition and you know and looking around and just I've just been, blessed I was blessed being a sickly kid because my mom got involved in the, you know I guess back then it was the health food nut thing because doctors couldn't help me. and But it just, you know there was a nutritional awareness that has kind of weaved its way through my whole life. And you you know I've gotten to, you know I keep listening about the food pyramid and all these things that they'll throw at you in a traditional school setting and it's, you know
00:37:20
Speaker
you know, you find out, you know, who built the food pyramid. And you realize that, you know, there's a God provided, right, provides for all of our needs, including nutritional needs. And I think we've, uh, you know, we've, we've gotten away from the way God made it. And we're, we're into this convenience thing and everything has just led to so many health problems, but I think it else also learning, right? we oh yes And so, you know, and that's a that's a big part of the budget today when you really, you know, get into, you know, just eating, you know, good food, clean food. um That's a big part of ah a family's budget today. I remember, you know, we would shop at five or six different places to, you know, and co-ops and everything else just to get get good quality food because that to me, that's a
00:38:17
Speaker
a big component in kids being able to learn and retain things focused. Well, if I'm having a conversation with a parent and they they talk about, you know, they they can't focus or they're having trouble with this or, you know, it's one of the things I ask them, what what are they, what's in the foods they're eating? Let's talk about the additives. Let's talk about the colors. I'm not afraid to have that conversation. um That was a ah huge blessing in my life when I learned that and helped me along the way with one of my children my own personal children and I learned a lot about 20 years ago along those lines and it's it's a huge component of learning and how students learn and how their brains are connecting so we we don't have an ah official but we're not having an official class on this but we do we're not afraid to
00:39:08
Speaker
step into that conversation with parents and just ask them. And I think a lot of our, you know, these young parents are very open to that, which is, which is good. I think the veil has been pulled back on that conversation a little bit also. Yeah. And, um, and I want to ask you too about devices, as they call them. Um, you know, I've had the opportunity the last couple of years to go into some of the, uh, mostly public high schools in the area. And, um, You know, I mean, I have, you know, I got a quote unquote smartphone, maybe the phone's smart, but it doesn't necessarily mean I am. But um but I just see like every possible moment the devices come out and they're, I'm just concerned about the reliance on them, the dependence on them, the addictive nature of them.
00:40:00
Speaker
um Like how how is, so you know, the internet, AI, all these things, do you have guidance guidelines for parents? Like when do kids get their, you know, allowed to get their phones or their, you or, you know, anything along those lines, you deal with that? Oh, of course we deal with it. we ah aren't telling but If someone asks me personally, I'm going to share my opinion, but we don't have an official stance on that. However, phones are not allowed in our classrooms and wait they're not allowed at all on the elementary level.
00:40:36
Speaker
and our middle and high school teachers. We use a bag system, kind of like what you might have hung over your door and put your shoes in or, you know, that old. um They're all numbered and when a student comes into the class. They have to put their phone, they're assigned a number and that phone has to go in that pouch. Now, there could be teachers who were doing some sort of lesson where they made a quiz and they put it on Kahoot or something like that and they allow the students to get those.
00:41:08
Speaker
But otherwise, we we don't have devices. We do have quite a few iPads that a teacher might check out. We have ah we teach a whole Lego class and a robotics Lego class in our sixth grade program. And they have their team of three is assigned an iPad, but they're creating the program for the robots, they're using it in a healthy way. But other than that, they have to put that phone in that pocket when they come in. Yeah, yeah, that's, I think over two years, I mean, I was going in maybe once a week, but I think I saw two classrooms in so
00:41:52
Speaker
that that actually had those things where you check your phone and it's just, I don't know. That's, well, that's a whole big other conversation and then not for today, but. All right. I also wanted to know too, are we joke about, you know, the ah us older folks joke about like the secret language that we would communicate in, we would be English, but we would write it in in cursive, in script. Do they teach that anymore? I just had this conversation with my elementary program director this week who happens to be my daughter. um ah where we are She taught in the public school here in Greenville County and then when she had her children she um was one to homeschool and she is does an excellent job managing that program for us. But um ah you know again, that's one of those that needs to be back to parents. Parents are going to have to decide if they're doing it. you know We don't have time, one or two days a week to teach that, but there are people who are passionate about that. And then there's also kind of the the group who's saying they're typing everything now anyway, anything they submit to an employer or
00:43:05
Speaker
anything anywhere, it's all going to be typed. So that's ah that's going to have to be a parent decision if you want your child to learn cursive or not. But it is, yes, it is a topic of conversation. Yeah. But I think it's like, to me, it's it's ah it's a motor skill too, right? Yes. and yes there's It's connecting different things. and and There's some good research on students that have, or people have dyslexia that it helps them just that whole motor um component of connecting things in the brain if they've learned. um But then you have students who also have that wiring, you know they struggle so much to put things from their brain onto paper. So that becomes an issue too. And again, that's where the beauty of this is pushed back to families. You've got to decide for your students
00:43:59
Speaker
Is that something that is important?
Graduation requirements and learning difference support in co-ops
00:44:04
Speaker
So okay so all right so we we go through, all right, we came here, our kids were kindergarten age, we've come through the co-op, it's senior year. Now, what are the requirements for us ah to graduate high school. is there I'm guessing there's state requirements. Yeah, there are. so we um The interesting thing is for home school students do not have to follow. You don't legally have to follow the state guidelines. I want to say that up front.
00:44:37
Speaker
However, we in our co-op want to be above that. So what we recommend, and we have a seminar that are if you're in our high school program, you have it's mandatory. And in that, we talk about you could choose if you're independently wealthy and you want to do whatever you want to do with your child, you have the freedom to do that in South Carolina. However, If you want to go to the military or go to a trade or go to a two year or four year institution, there's going to be some hoops you have to jump through. So we advise people just because your child right now may say, I don't want to do all those things to graduate. What happens when they grow up a little bit and they're 25 and they realize, Oh, I actually need that in order to get
00:45:29
Speaker
this certificate or this program or you know whatever that might be. so we do We make sure we meet one-on-one pretty much every year with our high school families before they enroll again for the next year to help make sure we're looking at their transcript, making sure they've got all the requirements that they need. We don't want to see Wait and it happens it happens every year we have students who've been somewhere else or they've been in a different program or they come to us. Summer of their going into their senior year and they're missing things that are going to be really hard for them to get so I have an excellent high school team and we work really hard.
00:46:11
Speaker
um working with them to make sure that they can graduate on time. We have an amazing graduation ceremony. We also have a partnership with North Greenway University who comes on to our campus and teaches. I think this year we're offering nine different college courses and they come and teach them on our campus. We have a partnership with Bob Jones. We're only, our Granville campus is so close to them. The students can go there and also earn college credit while they're doing, you know, if a student's ready, not all of them are ready for that. sure um So there's a lot of different things that are happening there, but we have an amazing graduation ceremony in early May. It's a, it's a beautiful, it's a beautiful ceremony.
00:46:54
Speaker
we Yeah, but it's come a long way since we gave a stab to it back in the early 90s, but but it sounds awesome. It sounds awesome. So okay, so what did I leave out? Is there anything else? ah I think as far as one of the other reasons that parents are leaving traditional schools is if their child has a learning difference that they feel like they're they're just falling through the cracks here. And most of those are going to be your bright kids who have some sort of
00:47:27
Speaker
like learning difference. The students who are severe, there's a lot of good programs that you know that are out there in the community that can help those families. Our lane is, and I'm pretty passionate about this because I have two of my own, um and our lane is those kids that are just kind of being lost in a traditional school. So we have a very strong learning difference program. We have in a learning um difference administrator on all of our campuses in elementary, middle, and high. and they focus on helping parents with those students to determine, is this a good fit? Can they handle this? Because our our classes are, they're they're strong, they're high academic. We're not lowering the bar, right but what we're doing is trying to help. you This class might work for your student, but they probably could not handle the pace of this type class. So we have a lot of interest in that every year.
00:48:25
Speaker
um We serve over 100 students in that program. um and it's um It's a beautiful thing to watch it happen because the average parent is not going to be equipped. They they may want to, but they um but I also tell them, you know God gave that child to you and he has equipped you. It may not feel like it, but just that one-on-one instruction where you're coming alongside your child, it is a There will not be, it'll be hard, you'll be hard pressed to find a more beautiful moment in the life of a parent child when that child, you know, who struggled walks across that stage for high school graduation. It's a pretty incredible, um it's a pretty incredible moment and to watch them flourish and but again, to build a program
00:49:13
Speaker
for that child, you know, that helps them meet the requirements they have to, but also is built towards their direction, their bent, the way the Lord made them. So, that's a pretty awesome thing that I think we do really well. Yeah, I think, right, and that's what education, you know, at its most fundamental, I remember a college professor had way back in the day and he would gave an exam and he still does it to today. He's been a professor for over 40 years and he preps you for the exam and then um he gives you the exam and then the grades are posted within a day or two. If you don't like your grade, you can retake the exam.
00:50:03
Speaker
And I remember asking, I said, how can you get away doing that? I mean, that just means somebody wasn't prepared. And he said, he said, I'm just so passionate about students learning the content if they don't know it today. i I'd rather them learn it tomorrow. and um And that, you know, the outcome is so important, you know, when when you have that attitude, I think that We want kids to succeed, every kid to succeed. and So yeah, good stuff. Well, let me let me tell you a better story than that one. So my youngest son is a dual sport athlete at North Greenville University.
00:50:42
Speaker
He has pretty severe profound dyslexia. And he had a course this past semester where the final ah project was gonna be a 15 to 20 page paper. And he was like, i there's no way I can do this. And he's very, he owns he owns the way he learns. He went to that professor and he said, you know, remember I had dyslexia, dysgraphia. Would you allow me to do a whole presentation, you know, a PowerPoint a presentation and hit all of those topics that are supposed to be in that paper? I'll present it to whoever, class to you, whoever you want me to present it to, you know, including the same information. And the professor said, well, I've never done that before, but um let's do it. I'll let you do it. And he made a high A on that. And that is, that is,
00:51:40
Speaker
That is number one, ah you know he was taught all along, this is how the Lord made you and these are your strengths and this is where you know you're going to struggle and he owns it and he's able to go talk that through and then to have a professor who recognized that and you know was willing to let him do that. That's an awesome example of that you know coming together. Sure. Yes. and Of course, it would happen for the child of the leader of the the greatest co-op in the the upstate, at least. so Well, I'd like to think that would happen to... for and you know The fact that he entertained that is was just... i That was a blessing. It's great.
00:52:22
Speaker
no it's great you know when you When, when your child had that, you know, they'd develop that confidence along the way. And, you know, just from years of encouragement and loving on them and good food. But, uh, I do appreciate your time.
Episode wrap-up and resources
00:52:40
Speaker
Uh, I know you got a busy schedule and now I know it's even busier than I thought. So anyway, that's a wrap. I hope everyone enjoyed today's episode and you got some takeaways that you can use immediately. Connect with Suzanne Brown through the you upstatecoop dot.org, U-P-State-C-O-O-P.org.
00:53:03
Speaker
as well as on LinkedIn. Please share this with your friends. And don't forget all my stuff at topsecretsofsuccess.com and russelljonespeaks.com. If you're a parent or grandparent or mentor to attend a 10 to 13 year old, check out our 60 day transformational interactive video series, Top Secrets of Success for Kids and Parents. It's amazing. It will equip and encourage parents and kids. Yes. Topsecretsofsuccess.com. Get on our email list. And in the words of the inimitable Hulk Hogan, say your prayers, take your vitamins, and you'll never go wrong. Then you can all go and make it a great day. All right, bye for now.