What is a Microschool? (Part 1)

Welcome to Hot Topics! In this episode, we’re excited to have returning guest Tiffany Hernandez to answer the question: What is a microschool? This new trend among homeschoolers is changing the way we think about education.

Join us as Tiffany breaks it down:

1. Understanding Microschools: We’ll explore what microschools are—small, tailored learning spaces that focus on the individual needs of students, stepping away from traditional schools.
2. Defining Microschools: Learn how microschools aim to create personalized learning environments that nurture the whole child, going beyond just academics.
3. Controversial Nature and Structure: We’ll discuss the debate between microschooling and homeschooling, highlighting the flexible schedules that microschools often provide.
4. Learning Environments: Microschools usually have smaller classes, with 5 to 12 students, allowing for more personalized instruction and attention.
5. Curriculum Flexibility: Many microschools use project-based and hands-on learning approaches, focusing on creativity rather than traditional methods.
6. Locating Microschools: Tiffany shares resources like Kai Pod, Haskel Educational Network, and Homeschooler House to help parents find microschools in their area.
7. Rising Popularity: We’ll talk about why microschools are becoming more popular, driven by dissatisfaction with public education and a growing acceptance of homeschooling.
8. Assessment and Accountability: Learn about the different ways students are assessed in microschools, from standardized tests to observational assessments.

Tiffany offers insights on the importance of a well-rounded education that includes emotional, mental, and social development along with academic growth. Tune in for an engaging discussion that could change your perspective on education!

Who is Tiffany Hernandez?
Meet Tiffany Hernandez, a dedicated mother of three and the visionary founder of Tender Heart Ministries and Outreach. After graduating in Interior Design, she courageously followed God’s calling to homeschooling and ministry, serving her community with passion and purpose. Through her nonprofit outreach, Tiffany combines her love for education and faith, offering support and guidance both locally and online. As the host of "The Ultimate Homeschool Community Podcast" and through her coaching services, she empowers families to create enriching educational experiences at home and within learning communities. Tiffany inspires others to embrace ministry and nonprofit leadership with a compassionate heart and unwavering dedication to service, remaining a beacon of inspiration. Her story embodies faith, family, and the transformative power of answering God's call. Tiffany's commitment highlights the profound impact one person can have on a community, sparking a ripple effect of embracing one's calling with love and purpose. Despite adversity, she attributes all of life’s blessings to God's grace, finding strength in faith to serve with boundless compassion. 

You can find Tiffany Hernandez:
On the web: https://tiffanyhernandez.net/
On Facebook (personal): https://www.facebook.com/tiffany.lynn.5011
On Facebook (page) # 1: https://www.facebook.com/ultimatehomeschool
On Facebook (page) # 2: https://www.facebook.com/NatureExplorersHC
On Facebook (page) # 3: https://www.facebook.com/tenderheartministry
On Facebook (group) # 1: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1015732599611195
On Facebook (group) # 2: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1666328760883358
By Email: [e-mail]

Freebies in the store: https://stan.store/UltimateHomeschool

Tiffany has a podcast called "The Ultimate Homeschool Community Podcast." Listen and subscribe here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/338-the-ultimate-homeschool-co-126945250/

Watch this episode on YouTube:

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Alright, hello, hello everyone, Hello, hello everyone, it's your girl,
Gabriel al krisch Low. Welcome to a brand new episode
of Hot Topics. So this is the show where we
like to have real talk about real teens, you guys.

(00:50):
But as we are under a part of a step
ahead tutoring services, we do like to stay within an
educational type of scope, educational realm right, So we want
you to be well informed, more informed. We want to
teach you, we want to educate you, we want you

(01:10):
to learn something. So this is what we like to
do here on Hot Topic. So, like we've done so
many episodes about homeschooling, we've talked to other tutors in
the industry, artificial intelligence, self care, mental health, all of

(01:30):
that moshi gushy stuff, but all with the purpose of
educating you and making you better than how you were yesterday.
And today is no different. So I am looking forward
to today. So we have a brand new topic, but
a repeat guest. So I love it when the guests

(01:51):
come back to the hot seat. But let me tell
you what that topic is today. So the topic today
is what is a micro school? So we are going
to talk about that. This is a new thing that
has popped up for me in the past year, and

(02:14):
I am curious to learn more about it. So what
is a micro school? That is a question that we
are going to answer today. And then my guest who's
going to help me answer that question. She is a
returning guest. Her name is Tiffany Hernandez. So she was

(02:34):
on before in our homeschooling episode Homeschooling Part eight, that's
the title, So make sure you check that out in
our catalog. Make sure you check out that previous episode.
But she is back today, So let me just tell you,

(02:56):
or remind you rather about who she is. So who
is to Hernandez? So let me remind you right now.
So Tiffany Hernandez. She is a dedicated mother of three
and the visionary founder of Tender Heart Ministries and Outreach.

(03:16):
After graduating in interior design, she courageously followed God's calling
to homeschooling and ministry, serving her community with passion and purpose.
Through her nonprofit outreach, Tiffany combines her love for education
and faith, offering support and guidance both locally and online.

(03:40):
As the host of the Ultimate Homeschool Community podcast and
through her coaching services. She empowers families to create enriching
educational experiences at home and within learning communities. Tiffany inspires
others to embrace ministry and nonprofit leadership with a compassionate

(04:00):
heart and with a compassionate heart and unwavering dedication to service,
remaining a beacon of inspiration. Her story embodies faith, family,
and the transformative power of answering God's call. Tiffany's commitment

(04:20):
highlights the profound impact one person can have on a community,
sparking a ripple effect of embracing one's calling with love
and purpose despite adversity. She attributes all of life's blessings
to God's grace, finding strength and faith to serve with
boundless compassion. Beautiful, beautiful, All right, without further ado, I'm

(04:47):
gonna go ahead and bring her to the stage. Chello, Tiffany, Hello,
how's it going?

Speaker 2 (04:56):
It is going?

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Well how are you?

Speaker 2 (05:04):
I am good. It has been a busy semester.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
I can imagine soul, right, it's the end of the year,
all that good stuff. Yes, it's busy around this time.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Exactly.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
We just finished a homeschool bash and kids market last Friday,
So that was super.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
Exciting to have all the kids come out. They had
a blast.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Awesome, awesome, awesome, love it love, love it all right,
So let's let's let's jump to it, all right. So
let's start with a simple one. What is a micro school?

Speaker 3 (05:44):
I love how you say let's start with a simple one,
and micro school is a loaded question. So the definition
for micro school, and this you can check out from
the National micro Schooling Center. They call it an ecoss
a learning ecosystem. And what that means is really what

(06:04):
is the best way for your student to learn?

Speaker 2 (06:06):
What is the best environment for them.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
That doesn't always mean that public school or any specific
school is the best. It's just like which one is
the best one for your students. So micro school founders
have a vast array of ecosystems that they have created
to share education knowledge and their love for learning. And

(06:30):
several of these micro school founders are turning education on
its side. They are reinventing the classroom so that it
doesn't always look so stark. And yes, we know that
education has changed, but we have to understand that with
the Wave of the future an AI and all of

(06:50):
the ways that we are having to keep up with technology,
our education models have not been able to keep up,
and so it is a small movement, but it is
growing rapidly.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
And these founders are.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Creating these micro schools, which are basically small learning opportunities,
and we don't want to just say classrooms, we don't
want to just say schools, because they're creating environments for education,
they're creating a love for learning. It is a difference
of just getting told information versus experiencing the knowledge and

(07:29):
embracing it. So we have micro school founders that like myself,
we have nature programs that are more of an enrichment.
We have some that are doing hybrid schooling, so part
of it is online, part of it is in class.
And then we have some that you know, specifically deal
with a certain kind of learner. So maybe we have
some learning different learning abilities and we don't call them disabilities.

(07:53):
We just call them different abilities because just because they
might they might have challenges with one type of subject
doesn't mean that they are challenged in every subject. Maybe
they might be dealing with some social emotional skills and
that's more important, or maybe they need some character development.
And so we are looking at education from a different

(08:14):
standpoint and not just focused on the academics, but a
lot of these micro school founders are focused on the
whole child and their environment and embracing that with everything
that they do. In these quote unquote schools, Like I said,
there's enrichment programs, there's also learning pods. There's several different
categories of micro schools, and in several different states, if

(08:37):
you state that you are a quote unquote micro school,
they will try to categorize you as a private school.
And several of our founders are not private schools because
they don't actually operate like a typical school would, which
would be from you know, nine to three or whatever.
We have several that are meeting only Mondays and Wednesdays,
or only Tuesdays and Thursdays, or some of them just

(09:00):
meet once a week and the rest is online. Uh,
And they're focused on maybe specifics. So if you think
of that, it's like, oh, we're just focused on stem
or maybe we're just focused on reading and math.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Or maybe we're just focused on enrichment.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
So there's a vast array of micro schools that are
across the nation and growing rapidly.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
All right, fabulous, fabulous, So let's so let's I want
to get more into the setup of a micro school.
So so you said that they're because this is like
I said, like, this is something that came up for

(09:49):
me recently in my learning, is about homeschooling and it
seems to be controversial. So so I guess, let's let's
get into the setup. What does it look like? How
many students? All that good stuff?

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Right? Right?

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Okay, So there is a lot of controversy between micro
schooling and homeschooling, and that's because a lot of the
microschool founders are previous public school teachers. They have they
have a teacher certification, and so there's this prestige that
goes along.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
However, there are several that are from the.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Homeschool industry and are branching out into having more co
ops that are more structured in terms that you know,
they do have a set of students instead of just
their own. So most of the founders, I will say,
are ones that want to leave the school system and

(10:50):
want to keep their own children home, and so the
way that they can do that and still earn a
living is to create their own programs. So this can
range depending on your state in your regulations, Some micro
schools are as small as five students. I have a
client that's out in Florida and they are just doing

(11:13):
in their home, and so they're only allowed to have
five students that are full time. So it can be
as small as that, and you can start out very
simply like that in your own area. And then we
have some micro schools that are quite large and they
have upwards of sixty one hundred. We have several that

(11:33):
I know that are one hundred and twenty five hundred.
It's the atmosphere and it's the amount of students per class.
A lot of these classrooms are very small, so you
think ten to twelve students max. And at least one
or two teachers. A lot of them actually start out
as tutors and then they add the school portion to

(11:56):
it and have groups instead of just individual or one
on one tutoring. So there's a lot of different ways,
like I said, that you can get into the micro
school category or arena. It is really much like a
catch all for homeschool co ops, enrichment programs, tutoring services,
learning centers. There's a lot of ways that we have

(12:16):
categorized what is included because of a state regulations, which
have been quite a challenge, especially with school choice that's
going on. There's a lot of gray area that founders
are finding it difficult to find locations or how the
state or county is going to have them register as

(12:38):
a business. So we've had to find some workarounds for that.
But it really just depends on what it is you're
looking to create and what kind of environment you're wanting
for your students.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
So what is the in my because it's like in
my mid understanding is is it's it's how do I
how do I explain it? I guess it's it's it's

(13:15):
falls under homeschooling when it's not accredited, right. So that
there was a sort of like a private meetup that
I went to with with Schuliou that you you connected
me with, and it was it was a group of

(13:36):
people that start have started micro schools and we were
kind of uh swapping business advice. But you know, I
learned a lot from that. And there was one person
there that had hers accredited and uh she is technically
technically a private school as a post. So though the

(14:00):
ones who are not accredited that would fall under under homeschooling.
So how I guess how if you could elaborate more
on what would let me let me let me put
it like this, what would make a parent choose a
micro school over let's say a homeschool co op.

Speaker 3 (14:25):
So a micro school is really dependent on the founder.
And how like I said, they categorize it with the
accreditation versus non accreditation. There's actually accreditation.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
That is coming out.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
I think it's through the National micro Schooling Center where
you can get your micro school accredited.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
And this is for state regulations.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
So that way, there's a lot of educational savings accounts
that are coming out, and those accounts are requiring you
to have the fun be used in a certain way.
So what that means is if you want to utilize
state funding, a lot of times it needs to be
for accredited programs or they need to be a part

(15:12):
of the voucher program. So if a parent wants to
have their student in a micro school, a lot of
times it has to have or go buy certain regulations
and get approved to be on as a provider for
that stage to be able to accept the funds. So
I'm hoping that is making sense there. But there's several

(15:38):
different opportunities in terms of accredited or not accredited, But
like if a parent is wanting a micro school, there
are certain co ops like I said, that are going
more towards a hybrid program, so that means usually co
ops are one or two days a week. Some of
these programs and these micro schools are offering co ops

(16:01):
but all week long. So for instance, you might have
a class that's meeting Monday Wednesday, or you have a
class that's meeting Tuesday Thursday, and you can choose one
or the other, but you don't have to go to
all of them. So it's really allowing for a lot
of possibility and flexibility because even though there's some parents
that might need that full week because they want their

(16:24):
kids out of the public education system, but they still
want their child to have a enriched learning environment, and
so they're choosing these micro schools, which several of them
do run like a typical school day of nine to
three or nine to two, and then they have after
school programs that they offer as well. So it's really
just giving the parents that school choice option to get

(16:48):
them out of the public school system. For the ones
that are not accredited, because there are several that are
not accredited, and they are doing that on purpose because
they don't want to be regulated by the school board
or by the state. And this is where we're actually
finding some really challenging.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Problems because they fall in.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
Such a gray area that the state is trying to
figure out, well, if you're not a daycare and you're
not a private school, then what are you. So a
lot of these are just non public school schools, and
so there is a lot of the gray area that's like, Okay, well,
you're not technically a private school because private schools have

(17:34):
a whole different ballgame that you have to have regulations for.
And several of these micro schools, because they're so small
and they run on such small budgets, they don't have
the affordability to go for all the accreditations and regulations
and all of that. And this is where we run
into like some code issues with fire safety and all
of that. But a lot of them are meeting inside

(17:57):
churches and renting out, sorry, rent out facilities that allow
them to use those locations for just a portion of
the day instead of having to, you know, do something
for the entire time.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 1 (18:12):
I think so? Okay, So I think so I'm hung
up on the words school, right, So yeah, let's let's
let's dive into that a little bit. So does it
operate like an actual school in terms of like, is
it is there? Is it eight to three? Is there? Uh?

(18:37):
Is there a structured class curriculum? Is is or is
it just kind of whatever the teacher yeah, wants to do?

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yep, yep. Okay.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
So this is where micro schools really vary. There is
no rhyme or reason. Well, there is reasons a lot
of reasons for why they are not following the standard
school scope. In sequence, a lot of these microschool founders are,
like I said, educators that have been in the space
for quite a while and have seen what hasn't worked,

(19:11):
and so they're not trying to recreate the school system.
They're trying to create a system that is actually helping
the children to learn and enjoy learning. We see right
now the trend is not looking good for the education
of children in general.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
They're easily distracted.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
Technology has been a big challenge and there's ways that
it can be used for good, but a lot of
it has been on the negative side. So there's several
micro school founders that are not following the structured system.
They're not following a curriculum, and that's on purpose. I
myself have my own curriculum that I've kind of developed,

(19:51):
but it's very much fluid. It's more short lessons and
a lot of project based learn. So a majority of
these micro schools do use a project based immersive learning
opportunities for these children, so it's child led learning.

Speaker 2 (20:12):
And this is.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
All based a lot on Maria Montessori, which Montessori was,
you know, from a long time ago, we're talking like
eighteen hundreds, and she saw They did a lot of
research on how children are very much more capable than
we give them the credit for that they can learn
things and they actually really enjoy learning things from their peers,

(20:35):
not just from an adult to a child, and so
letting them showcase their knowledge to another student is also
another way. You know, when you teach the information, you
can learn it a much faster right. As well as play,
a lot of children are not getting enough play in schools,
and the school system is starting them so young and

(20:55):
so much rigor in academics that they're actually having There's
research that's come out that states that they actually have
more academic challenges later on in their educational journey because
of the rigor that they experienced early on when they
really needed to be getting those concrete you know, playtime
and emotional skills downpat and so later on they're having

(21:19):
issues with being able to pay attention, being able to
actually learn. You know, they're actually ending up having more
challenges with comprehension and all these other things because they
weren't given the ability or the time to do what
they needed to for their child development.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
So all this to say is.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
That, yes, there are some schools that use curriculum. I
can list a few off the bat, like Schoolio does
have a program, but it's very much at the child's pace,
and it's at the parents' discretion for this specific curriculum
to set it up for the child to pick whatever
they want or for them to get assigned things that

(22:03):
they need to do. You know your child best, you
know how they need to learn. And that's the other
thing too, is really allowing the learners to learn the
best way that they learn. You've got visual, you've got kinesthetic,
you've got auditory learners, and you've got multi learning styles.
You know, sometimes for just one child, and so depending
on what they need. A lot of these microscope founders

(22:26):
are doing a lot more individualized learning plans for these
children to allow them to flourish and learn the best
way possible for them. We also have some other programs that,
like I said, are hybrid, and so you have some
schools that utilize online programs like online curriculum, and then
they have an enrichment base. So part of the day

(22:48):
is academics or like core academics, and then the rest
of the day is all project learning, social emotional learning,
and just being learning how to be a part of
a community. And so with parents, you know, wanting to
get their children into the micro school setting, it's not
necessarily everybody gets hung up on the words school.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
We are.

Speaker 3 (23:09):
Yes, some of them are doing still more of a
school where you have a very structured schedule, but some
of them have more of a rhythm where it's like, Okay,
in the morning, we have a come together time, then
we have a core academics time, and whatever you're working
on is what you're working on.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Doesn't mean that we're working on every single subject.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
And then maybe we have lunch recess and then afternoon
as projects, and then we have after school programs where
it's in Richmond and we've got crafts or you know,
whatever the case may be, stem robotics. Some of them
are completely AI directed. So we have some schools that
are basically focused on AI robotics. Like I said, so

(23:51):
the for the parents to know what school is best
for their child, it really is going to be based
on their learning, their learning style, what they're interested in.
We're trying to focus on keeping that child interested in
the learning and wanting to learn.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
All right, beautiful, all right, So you have your own
micro school correct?

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Essentially?

Speaker 3 (24:14):
Yes, So mine is more of a homeschool co op
program because we do have the parents involved in the academics,
so the parents stay, so it's not some of these
micro schools are drop off.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
So that's why I'm just explaining that to. You know.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
Some of these are more homeschool co op based, so
the parents still come and help, and some of them
are drop off where you can just leave them like
you would at school.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Okay, So okay, so I guess take me to a
take me through a typical day of a micro school.
So so I'm a child, you know, you know, take
me through a typical day for a child out of

(25:04):
micro school. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Yeah, so depending on what your school is going to
look like will really depend on your schedule. Now, for
our schedule, we focus mostly on a.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
Subject, so our.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
Enrichment program is a nature based creation science program. We
do stem and hands on learning, so all of our
projects are outdoors. We don't actually meet in a building.
We have a meet up time at a park, so
parents bring their children to the park. We usually have
a little bit of playtime to make sure everybody can
get there, and then we start with a very short
lesson about whatever it is the topic for that day.

(25:47):
And a lot of times we have multi age So
this is another big thing within micro schools is that
the setting is not set up where you are broken
up into grade levels. Now, some are because that's what
the parents want in that area, and some are not,
and so you have multiage levels all together in one classroom,

(26:11):
which is also another Montessori principle of multi age learning,
because the olders can teach the youngers, the youngers want
to learn from the olders, so there's a lot of
opportunity that can happen when you have multiple.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Ages in one class setting.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
So for us, we have from fourth through eighth grade
all meeting, and then we have some younger siblings that
do join with the older students. So we usually have
an activity a little a smaller or less advanced activity
for the youngers, and then the older ones would get

(26:45):
connected to do their program, which is usually This last
semester was really fun. The kids enjoyed doing designs in nature,
so we had all sorts of art projects that reinforced
natural learning. The one that we really enjoyed was copper
wire and so we learned about trees, and we learned about,

(27:10):
you know, the importance that trees have. We did some
hands on experiments of just a bunch of different tree
you know facts, and they had to move around. It
was very immersive. And then we went into building our
copper wire trees and they had to figure out how

(27:31):
to do it. I gave them very little. I showed
them pictures of what some final products could look like,
but they had the they had the ability to just
use their imagination and come up with their own creations,
which I have to say, they came up with some
pretty neat models of copper wire trees.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
So it was it was a very fun lesson.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
It sounds like it was fun, so it was they
were outdoor. So the kids are outdoors for the entire day.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
So our class is typically a two roughly two to
three hours, depending on how long they want to stay
and play. But we meet at a local state park.
We set up at the picnic tables. There's a dock
close spy, so while everybody's waiting, they're usually playing together
out in nature.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
We get the lesson together. We are out at the
picnic tables.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Then we separate into you know, our youngers group, and
then the you find a spot at a picnic table
and you get started.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
A lot of times, you know, the girls will.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Go together, the boys will go together, they go with
their friends, and then after that lesson is done, we
have more free time to play. So it's a lot
of Yes, we're immersed outdoors. So we're physically going and
looking at the trees. We're physically going and looking at
the roots, and you know, we found a tree stump
that was cut, so we were counting the rings. We
were talking about the pieces or the elements of the

(28:59):
tree itself. And they're seeing these things in real time.
It's not like we're looking at a book or watching
a slide presentation about trees. You know, we're out there
experiencing it, and a lot of these micro schools are
all about that.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Okay, so you said, was it so it was one
subject that you just focused on, correct, Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Okay, But not all schools are like that.

Speaker 3 (29:26):
Some schools are full day and they have all their subjects,
but a lot of them don't do every single subject
every single day.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
So you might do you know, reading and math on Monday.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
And Wednesday, and then you'll do science and social studies
on Tuesday and Thursday. And a lot of times Friday
is an enrichment day, so they'll do more pe or
projects on that day.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Where they're doing arts and crafts or something like that.

Speaker 3 (29:52):
And several of these also have field trips that they
take together or they're going out to you know, exhibits
or explore certain elements within their states. So it's it's
very flexible and there's a lot of alternatives and hybrid
options that are available.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
So where where does one find a micro school? Right?
Because it's easy to find a homeschool co operight, Like
if you go to the HSLDA website, there's a whole
drop down list, right, So where where does one find
a micro school.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
Yes, so there's a couple different places that I can
tell you. So Kipod is one of the main catalysts
that's spearheading micro schooling and they have a list of
micro schools across the nation and you can go on
their website. If you type in kipod, it will show
up like kipod, I think if you type in kipod

(30:55):
and microschool it'll come up. But on their map you
can see where you're located and go to that specific
area and see if there's anything in your specific region.
There's also the Haschool Educational Network and that's h A

(31:16):
s K E. L Educational Network and they also have
co ops and micro school's other kinds of educational you know,
products and businesses that are on their website as well.
There's another one called Homeschool or House and that one

(31:37):
has more homeschool enrichment and co op programs. But you'd
be interested to see a lot of these are becoming
more groups. And so this is where that it's alternative learning,
it's hybrid learning, and that's really where you know, we're
not so much focused on the school element, but just

(31:58):
on the fact that we're doing learning in a different way.
So the first place that I would say to check
is definitely high Pod and then high school and then
Homeschooler House, and you can go on all three of
those and you should be able to find things, you know,
opportunities in your area. The other places to look is

(32:18):
that I've also started a Facebook group for networking and
finding out, you know, what's in your area.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Now.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
It's a brand new Facebook group, so we don't have
too many in there just yet, but it's growing and
we have micro school founders in there posting about their
programs as well. You can also search Facebook for Facebook
groups in in your state.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
At Florida's a very big one.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
That's a an Arizona those who have a lot of opportunities.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
The other states are starting to follow suit.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
It just has to do with you know, state regulations
and school choice programs. So but there is several ways
that you can find. Even if you type micro school
into Google, you will start finding some different opportunities.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Okay, so there's an actual so there's a there's a
few websites that people can look at. So I'll make
sure to grab that information from you. But yeah, so
is I guess my understanding because I thought it was

(33:38):
a new thing micro schools, but it's but they've actually
existed for several years.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, So.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
I guess my question is why now, you know, like why, why?
What is happening that they're becoming more popular and incent
in recent years? Right?

Speaker 3 (34:03):
Right, Yeah, that's definitely a great question because we're seeing
a shift in education. We're seeing a shift in the
way that parents are wanting their children to be educated,
and the public school system, unfortunately for some, I won't
say for all, but for some, is not working.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Out the best way for them.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Reading test scores are down, math test scores are down.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Why is that?

Speaker 3 (34:34):
Well, because the model doesn't work for everyone. But yet
that classroom setting is a one size fits all model,
and you either go with the flow or you get
lost and you just get kind of limped along and
you're not actually learning.

Speaker 2 (34:51):
There's a lot of history there.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
There's a great book by John Gatto, I believe about
the demise of the public school system, and I can
give you that resource as well. But I want to
say that micro schools are starting to get more popularity
because homeschooling is actually getting more popularity, but not everybody

(35:13):
has the ability to homeschool, and so these micro schools
are and these founders are giving these parents an alternative
education option to the public school without putting them in
an actual school model. So you've got the you know,
you've got these co ops that are turning into more
of a nine to two program every day of the week,

(35:35):
so parents can still work and have their children in
a homeschool program, but it's more structured. It's not sporadic
because with a lot of co ops, they are you know,
they are parent led, and some have found a great
work around where you know, maybe the parents come twenty

(35:56):
five percent of the time, or they volunteer at the
school certain times of the year, so there's still that
parent involvement. And that's the other thing is that parents
are getting more involved in their children's education because they've
seen the cracks in the model that we currently have
and it's becoming more apparent as time goes on, especially

(36:18):
with technology, you can see the errors and the issues
that we've had going on for quite a while that
haven't been fixed, except now we're really trying to do
something about it. So there's some micro schools that I
know that have been going on for the past decade,
and so you think like, oh, wow, it just came apparent,
you know, these last couple of years. But really it's

(36:38):
been going on for a while. I think it's just
all been coined as the micro school term, and it's
all roped under that umbrella, whereas before it was just
you know, oh, we're a.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Learning center, or oh, we're a.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
You know, we're we're a enrichment program, we're a tutoring service.
Now it's all getting roped under, Oh, we're all under
this micro school umbrella, and we'd have these ecosystems of
learning that are all hybrid and alternative to the public
school model.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
So there's a there's a it's becoming more.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Formalized ideally essentially, yes, well, and that's also because we
have state regulations that are paying more attention to what's
going on in the alternative learning world. And that's because
homeschooling has become more mainstream. Okay, when we had homeschoolers

(37:40):
in the past couple decades, it's been you know, you'd
get arrested if you were homeschooling, and that was illegal,
and you know, we have to monitor everything that these
children are doing. And make sure that they're safe. But
it's like there are more and more coming into the
homeschool world. But a lot of these parents maybe don't
actually want to homeschool, but they want their children to

(38:03):
have that opportunity. And so this is where you have
more formalization of Okay, well we're gonna make this a
place where you can come to a one room schoolhouse.
Those are popping up all over the place. Farm schools,
nature schools, forest schools. A vast majority of micro schools
are nature forest schools because people are understanding like, oh,

(38:28):
children learn better outdoors when they're immersed in their environment.
And so parents are taking notice and they don't want
the public They don't want the factory based model of
the one size fits all education for their child.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Right that they want more I mean, and that's the
I guess. The downside to a public school system is
there most of the time they're in a singular building
and it's a bunch of kids packed in there and
thirty students to one classroom, as opposed to a micro

(39:09):
school where they tend to be smaller.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
You.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
I mean, it can be in a building, but it
could also be outdoors and right, there's more flexibility in
terms of what.

Speaker 3 (39:21):
You can teach right, and a lot, like I said,
are not following the scope and sequence model of what
the states are saying, Well, these are the standards that
you have to pass for each grade level. They're like,
we're not doing grade levels, we're doing student ability and
if they're progressing, that's you know, we're going to have

(39:42):
these standards. Yes, maybe for a certain age range, but
we're not putting grade levels on this because that is
also not very accurate. We've got a lot of students
nowadays that have ADHD, dyslexia, autism, all these you know,
learning challenges or different abilities that are challenging for putting

(40:03):
into the box of the public school model. They just
don't fit. And then you've got special education classes that
are tapped out.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
They're not really.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Able to give them what they need in that environment,
and so they're coming. You know, these parents are searching
in droves for alternatives so that way they can have
their child still learning in a way that's better for them.
And when you know you have all these different program options,

(40:33):
it doesn't mean that everyone is right for every child,
and so you really got to you know, get in
get into the school, Go go take go, take a tour,
make sure that it works for you and your schedule.
These students that are making the impact of you know,
the school that they're at, we've seen some really interesting

(40:57):
opportunities for them. For instance, and one of the schools
is predominantly for high schoolers, middle school, high school, and
they're actually getting internships out in the community and that's
actually part of their grade or their credits is to
go out and find these internships. And they're able to
do the topic that they like. They're able to go

(41:20):
out and look for the industry that they like and say, okay, yeah,
I want to go try this out before they go
to college even and see what else there is that
they might have never thought about that they're interested in.
And so there's so many opportunities that are able to
come up. And it really is the educator that's opening
these schools of founders. They have so many creative ideas

(41:42):
that they're being stifled within the education model of the
public school system because they have to teach to a test,
they have to teach to a curriculum, and they don't
have the ability to really be creative and innovative and
so we are having leaders in education have that freedom
to really expand their students' knowledge base, you know, with

(42:06):
all these creative ideas.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
I see, I see. And then so now do you
guys do testing assessments? How does that work?

Speaker 3 (42:20):
So some states, especially if you're taking ESA funds from
certain states, there are certain tests that are required for
the state. So if you're getting educational spending accounts, I know,
for Florida, there is a certain test that you have
to take. But it's not to say, oh, you have
to get a certain score for you to stay out
of the public school system, although some states are like that.

(42:43):
You have to go in take their state testing and
then you know, get a certain score.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
It's ridiculous. But some of the tests are like the
MAP test.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
And the CAAT, which is I think like the California
Aptitude Test or something, and those tests do cost, but
they are worth the cost, especially if you're just wanting
to see roughly where your child is at with their reading,
comprehension or math.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Some of these micro schools do not do testing.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
They are more watching and observing and they do observations
which is more montessory based as well, where they don't
really do grades, so to speak, but they do say, oh, yeah,
they're progressing, or maybe they need to progress a little
bit more, Maybe we need to focus a little bit
more on this specific skill, and that's what they'll focus
on with the student. And this is where those individualized
learning plans come in and where you have more one

(43:38):
on one help and they have the ability to do
that because they have smaller class sizes, which is where
the micro part of this comes in, because most of
the classrooms, like I said, are anywhere from five to
maybe twelve students per teacher. So with our classes that
I run with my enrichment because we have the parents stay,

(44:01):
you know, each parent is helping their child, plus whatever
table they're sitting at, so we have multiple hands on
deck for the twenty plus kids that we have that
come and so it does get broken up. And when
when you have that one on one hands on you're
really getting to know the student. You're knowing, Okay, well,

(44:22):
maybe they have some anxiety with reading or math or whatever.
You can start working towards getting around those health you know,
mental health issues over education because a lot of these
kids have been unfortunately traumatized by the education system and
it puts a damper on them wanting to learn, and

(44:43):
so when you start talking about tests and all those things,
it can really it can be a scary thing for them.
So these founders are finding other ways to do that,
either with assessments or like an end of year project
that they have to showcase the skills that they've learned.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
Ah. So, I mean, depending on the state, some want
you to because I guess my thing is like, how
do you know that these micro schools are working? And
and I guess in general with homeschooling, it's like, how
do you know that homeschooling is working?

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Right?

Speaker 1 (45:23):
Like where's the where's the accountability?

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah? Which is the state's issue.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
I mean that's their biggest concern is, well, we need
to regulate and monitor everything. And my one my concern
with that is we have educated our children from before
they were in any of your educational programs, before they
were in school. We are their first teacher as parents,
and we are doing just fine. Why does the state

(45:51):
need to regulate what we're doing with our children? And
why is it that academics is of their concern? Yes,
they need to learn, that is my true that's my
concern as a parent for one and two like I
want the best for them in their life. I don't
want them to suffer. Now, granted, you have some parents
that shouldn't be parents, and that's where you know, cps

(46:12):
and dcs and all these things get involved because the
state is worried though, and that is the minority of
parents in each state that have these issues with their
children and shouldn't maybe be parents. But a vast majority
of the parents who are homeschooling just want to be
left alone. They just want to be able to educate
their kids, give them the principles, you know, they're all

(46:37):
of the principles and the freedoms that they have, and
to show them the things that they need to do.
And so there is like quite a controversy going on
with that, especially in the state legislations because they are
trying to crack down on regulation for homeschooling, and you
have there's just a lot going on with that. You

(46:58):
can you can go in and research all that's going on,
because there's several states that have passed some unfortunately some
very regulated laws for homeschooling and it's not helpful at all.
It puts a lot of damper on what we can
do and how we best see fit for our students.

(47:19):
So I do understand both sides of things. However, I
do understand wanting to have some kind of regulation because ultimately,
you know, we want the best for our students, and
how do we gauge that. I just posted in one
of my Facebook groups, in my networking group actually about
the Finland education model and how they actually have their

(47:45):
teachers paid as like doctoral professionals, and then the students
themselves have more autonomy, they have more freedom to explore
and be curious about learning, they have shorter school days,
and they're one of the top educational models in the
in the world. And why are we not implementing more

(48:07):
of these opportunities for children? You know, we need to
look and see what works and see what hasn't worked.
In all the regulations, all the testing, all the state standards,
they really haven't been that helpful to our students in
the long run.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
And so.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
That could be a whole another segment on just politics
and regulations for education in general, because it's really it's
it's getting some heat right now, especially with school choice,
because a lot of the public education boards do not
want to let go of their students because they think, oh, well,

(48:46):
then we have less resources for our teachers or for
our schools. And that's not actually been the case. It's
been a hot topic for sure.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
It definitely sounds like it, you know, and it's it's
I think I'm noticing that across the board. It's because
of all these changes to the school curriculum and schooling
in general, and the overpopulation, and it's also bullying and

(49:22):
you know, religious choice, and there's all these different changes
happening to the schools that is sending more parents to homeschooling.
Yes in general.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
Yes, yes, especially with the push for certain agendas within
the school and they're like, you know, not agendas that
maybe go with other more conservative viewpoints, and so you've
got very you know, posing viewpoints on principles that should
be taught character development. One of the one of the

(50:01):
teachers that I spoke to was a past client of mine.
She said, you know, they're not allowed to say anything
about social emotional learning, like that's a legal would be
sharing or talking about in the classroom. And I'm like,
why why are we so against the child having a
holistic approach to education. We're not just worried about their academics.
We're worried about their health, mental wellness, emotional health, you know,

(50:24):
just being a person in general. Like, they go to
school for how many year twelve years, and then it's
like so many of these high schoolers coming out, they
don't know how to balance a checkbook. They don't know
how to change the oil on their car, or manage
a bank account or you know, know how to apply
for credit cards or like, they don't have any knowledge

(50:47):
of any of these really important things to live life.
And then they have to go to the school of life,
and it's like, why is this not included in their
education time when they can actually focus on this and
be prepared when they come out in society and be
like a functioning citizen.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
It's just it's rough.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
It sounds rough. It sounds rough. Yeah, absolutely, But you know,
I hate to cut things short, but you know, we
gotta start to wind things down. There's just so much
to to dive into with micro schools and homeschooling and
school choice, and there's so much to dive into, but

(51:30):
gotta I gotta start to wind things down. So on
my show, I like to have my guests give words
of wisdom. So to me, do you have any words
of wisdom for our audience.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
I always have words of wisdom, but I would say
the one thing is education isn't everything, And we also
need to think about what's best are being as a
whole person. When we think about how we live our life,
we need to also think about how we are experiencing that.

(52:11):
So don't just experience it for getting something done, but like,
what is the joy that you can get out of
whatever that you endure, right, and so really thinking about
giving ourself that love and giving ourself that space to
go out and be joyful in the world to be

(52:33):
more productive.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. All right, Tiffany, thank you for coming
on Hot Topics once again and taking on and taking
on this topic. So let's let's do your promotion. But sorry,
before we get to that, I want to see we
could get those websites that you mentioned about where to

(53:00):
find a micro school, So if you would.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
I don't know if I can get them onto you
right now. I've got a blank screen again. But is
k A I p O D so ki pod? Is
K A I P O D.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
And if you search them on.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Google you will come up with uh their website and
when you navigate there, you should be able to navigate
over to find or a map to find a micro
school closest to you.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
And then see a Kai Kai pod Learning.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Is that it ki pod Learning?

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Okay, so let's get that. Okay, So you're not seeing
anything on the screen right now.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
My screen is blank again. I'm so sorry, but as
long as you can see you, we're good.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
Okay. All right, So all right, so let's just get
this here. So I'm just gonna have this all right.
So the website is on the screen, so kipod Learning
dot com. So that's one of the websites where you
can look for a micro school in your area. Okay,

(54:22):
so we have that on the screen. Okay. And what's
the other one?

Speaker 3 (54:27):
So I'm not sure of the actual dot com, but
if you search haschal Education or Educational Network, it's h
A s.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
K E L.

Speaker 3 (54:39):
And that's Hassool Educational Network or Education Network, one of
the two. And they have a registry or directory for
co ops and programs all across the United States for
different enrichments and programs and services for education.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Okay, I'm seeing high school, so we're mid googling, right,
I'm googling in the middle of this episode right now.
All right, So high School Education Network, So this one,
this looks interesting, Okay, so I think I found it,
all right, So let me get this website out here,

(55:22):
so I'll take this one down, okay, So you'll just
have to use your imagination right now, Tiffany, all right,
so all right, let me just get this bandit, okay.
So I have the website. It is high schooled dot com.
So that's another website to go to. That's another website

(55:49):
to go to if you want to look for a
micro school in your area. So this particular one.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Home school as well.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
I see looking for a tutor, class, co op or
sports team. How about a micro school learning center, field,
trip group, or book club.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
Oh, it's a lot, they's a lot, okay.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
So so that's the second website. So it's high school
h A S K E L E D dot com.
So that's the second one. And what was the third one?

Speaker 3 (56:29):
The third one is Homeschooler House and this one is
specifically for homeschoolers to actually find other homeschoolers.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
In their area.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
And there's also homeschool based businesses on there, so some
of them are co ops, learning centers, micro schools. They
also have businesses that homeschoolers operate. So if you think
of like all different kinds of services, whether it be
roofing or you know, construction or farming or landscape, you know,

(57:02):
these are businesses that home homeschool families run and that's
Homeschooler House And there's an app that he's building with
that one as well. And so you can type in
like your demographics and find who in your area is
most like you. You put in specifics like oh, we
use Charlotte Mason, or oh, we are a classical conversation

(57:25):
family and we're looking for other families that use this
specific curriculum. Or maybe we're Christian or we're Jewish and
we want some other families that are of the same religion.
You type in all these different things, or oh, we
have students that are elementary or middle school. So you
type in all these criteria and then it'll find people
in your area. And then there's also, like I said,

(57:46):
programs on there as well, so people are posting their
co ops enrichment programs and then their businesses as well.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
Okay, I'm not sure from seeing it. I see a
home schoolhouse. I don't know if that's what you meant.

Speaker 2 (58:04):
No, it should be homeschooler house.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
But.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
Homeschooler house. So bear with us. We're googling.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Okay, so I'll go to separate now too.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
All right, So we're we're just you know, we're we're
we're googling right now for our audience. I just want
to make sure that we get this information. So while
we're googling, I'm just gonna repeat those websites again. So
the first one is w w W dot kipod learning
dot com. That's k A I p O D l

(58:41):
e A r n I n G dot com. So
that's one website. That's one resource if you're looking more
to search for a list of micro schools in your area.
And the second one is high school e ed dot com.
That's h A S K E l e d dot com.

(59:03):
So that's another website to go to to search for
micro schools in your area. And we're trying to find
this third one.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
Yeah, I'm not finding it. I'll have to send it
to you. You can put it on maybe your Facebook page.
It's a new one too, so he might not have it. Up. Okay,
all right, could still be in beta, but I know
we've talked about it for the last couple of months.

(59:36):
But it's gonna be an interesting app for sure to have.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Okay, all right, so we please get that information to
me when you when you have it, I'd love absolutely
share it. But all right, so let's do the promotion,
all right. So Tiffany Hernandez, thank you for bearing with
us audience, by the way. But yeah, so promo time,

(01:00:05):
all right. So, uh so you have a lot going on,
so let's let's get to it, all right. So you
have a website which is your name different Tiffany Hernandez
dot net. You have your personal Facebook page which is

(01:00:26):
Tiffany dot l y n N dot five zero one one.
You have three Facebook pages right now. You have three
Facebook pages. Uh so, one is the Ultimate Homeschool, the

(01:00:48):
other one is Nature Explores HC. And the third one
is Tender Heart Ministry. So all this information right now
is at the bottom of the screen scrolling below. But
my podcast listeners, it's in the description to make sure
you check it out. As I'm telling you all these things,

(01:01:09):
but I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say them so
you have your three Facebook pages, and then you you
also have your groups. Let me just make sure, Oh
you have two Facebook groups. Uh, so you have two
Facebook groups. So those specific links are on the screen

(01:01:32):
and in the description, and you also have your email address,
so if anyone wants to communicate with you via email,
it is Ultimate Homeschool at gmail dot com. So all
that information, of course is on the screen scrolling below
in the scrolling marquee, and it is also in the description.

(01:01:54):
You guys, to make sure you check it out. So
you also have have a freebie. So you have a store,
a stand store, and you have some freebies that you
are giving out. So the link for that is stand
dot store slash Ultimate Homeschool. So tell us about your freebies.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Yes, okay, so one of the freebies, well I have several, right,
So one of the freebies is a home school resource
and so that's like a curriculum resource. There's some book
up opportunities on there to check out. And then I
have another one that's a journal. So for those of
you who maybe don't really like to keep records, but
are like I just want to journal what I'm doing
instead of keeping grades and all of that that is

(01:02:40):
in there, so you can write about field trips or
book reports or things that they just like did that
was fun. So that way it's more of like, oh,
look at all this stuff we can look back on
from our homeschool. Then I also have a launch roadmap,
and this is for micro school founders because I help
micro school founders to get started, to launch our co ops,
to launch their enrichment programs, or if you're doing like

(01:03:04):
a full a full enrichment and core academics program, I
can help you get started with that. So there's a
launch roadmap for you. Now I have to get that out.
That is a special link, so if you want that,
be sure to email me. That is not on the
main website page. However, if you go to my website

(01:03:27):
Tifney Hernandez dot net, you can connect with me there
and you should be able to register. We have a
launch challenge that you can join the newest thing that
we have, which I don't know if you're ready for
me to talk about the book or not.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Uh, you know, go ahead, let's let's let's get into it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Okay. So we're.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
Super excited about this because because microscooling is becoming more
of a.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
It's more of a movement.

Speaker 3 (01:03:59):
We are coming out with a book this August, and
there's a conglomerate. We've got ten, eleven, twelve micro school
founder that are going to be our contributing authors, and
we're talking all about education and inspiring parents, encouraging teachers,
and then guiding founders.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Into the micro school world.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
So that will be coming out, like I said, in
the first of August, and maybe I'll come back on
then and share more about it. But we're super excited
for this because we're sharing experiences. These founders are also parents,
so they're sharing their experience with their own children as
well as you know, coming out from the public school
system into a totally new environment and how they've navigated that.
So there's a lot of hands on that we're going

(01:04:45):
to be getting. There's a lot of you know, solution
driven experiences that are going to be shared.

Speaker 2 (01:04:49):
So we're super excited.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
And is is where can we get this book?

Speaker 3 (01:04:59):
So this book is going to be on Amazon and
we will be launching that roughly around August third through fifth,
somewhere around there. We are still working on title and
cover page, so just be sure to keep back in
touch and there will be a there'll be a landing

(01:05:19):
page for that as well, so that way you can
learn more about what's included. But all the authors are
very experienced and we're really looking forward to having them
share their.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Whole take on microschooling.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
All right, looking forward to that, so we will keep
an eye out on that when it comes out, so well,
I'll definitely keep tabs on you on that. And you
have a podcast called The Community Homeschool No, the Ultimate
Homeschool Community Podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:05:57):
Tell us more about that, yeah, so on the we
actually have several micro school founders that have come on
shared their experience of running a co op, running an enrichment,
how they've integrated it with their own family. We also
have other products and services specifically for homeschoolers like curriculum
and behavioral help.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
Yeah, as well as authors and artists.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
It's been quite a vast array, so it's really a
resource for homeschool families and a community. We're also talking
about how you can start your own and create your
own village to also be able to benefit your family.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
Fabulous, fabulous And you can hear the podcast wherever you
get your podcasts. And I was a guest on your podcast,
so that's you, remember that, but yeah, so please check
out the podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. Yes, out

(01:07:00):
you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:07:01):
Yes, And Gabrielle's planning on coming again very soon, so
I'll have to be putting that out there as well.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Yes, yes, I gotta, I gotta get back on it.
So much to talk about, all right, Well, Tiffany, thank
you so much for coming back on Hot Topics, and
thank you for sharing all this information and putting yourself

(01:07:30):
out there. And yeah, thank you for all the connections
that you've given to me. So thank you. Thank you
for supporting the cause.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
Absolutely thanks for having me on. It's been such a
pleasure as always of course.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
All right, so I will put you backstage now, all right,
you guys, my voice is going all right, So we
have reached the ending of yet another episode of Hot Topics,

(01:08:07):
So let me get my information up there. So let
me just take this moment to remind you that Hot
Topics is a production of my own tutoring company, A
step Ahead Tutoring Services. And as we're talking about homeschooling,

(01:08:31):
you know to uh, we are available you can use
us as a resource for your children. So if you
are homeschooling right now? You know, there's there's many ways
that you can homeschool, homeschool your child. If you have
officially registered, well, I guess signed your do you register

(01:08:54):
or do you sign up? Or But if you have
officially started the homeschooling process, yes, and you don't necessarily
want to do the teaching yourself, you can reach out
to us and we can do the teaching for you.
So we're not We're not a micro school. Let me

(01:09:17):
caution you on that. We are more of a supplemental resource.
So I don't know. Maybe maybe we'll start our own
micro school in the near future, who knows. So we're
not a micro school right now. So we are more
of a supplemental resource. But and maybe, but we could

(01:09:39):
still be helpful to you, and I believe that we are.
So maybe you you're homeschooling right now. You don't want
your child in the public school system. You can't really
afford the private school system. You want more personalized attention,
You're not really crazy about how schools are being run

(01:10:01):
these days, and you are looking for alternate educational options.
Let us be a resource for you, so let our
tutors help you. So sorry, I'll just like text messages

(01:10:23):
coming out. So let our resources help you, right, let
our tutors help you. So you can learn more about
what we have to offer by going to our website
A step Ahead Tutoring Services dot com. So we do
one on one tutoring, We do test prep, we do
college counseling, we do collaborative editing and proofreading. We do

(01:10:49):
a variety of virtual workshops as well, so we cover
a lot of different subjects and we do a we
cover a lot of different grounds. And let me just
preface this as well that in terms of in home tutoring,
it's only for our local area, which is New York

(01:11:12):
City and Nasau County of Long Island, so not all
of Long Island unfortunately, just Nasau County. So we have
our in person services there, but for those of you
that are outside of those services, sorry, outside of those
areas or in those areas, we also offer virtual tutoring

(01:11:32):
as well. So we do in home tutoring for our
New Yorkers, New York City people, and Nasau County, and
we also offer virtual tutoring as well, So we have
all of those options available to you. So if you
are looking for that supplemental instruction. You're looking for more

(01:11:56):
one on one, more private tutoring. You can be homeschooling
right now, and you don't want to do the teaching yourself,
you don't have to. You can outsource the teaching. So
if you want to outsource your teaching, hit us up
our website www dot a step ahead tutoring services dot com.

(01:12:18):
And I also encourage you to follow us across our
multiple social media platforms, so make sure you follow us
on social media as well. You could also follow me personally,
Gabrielle Crichlow on social media. I am on Facebook and Instagram.
It is gabriel dot Crichlow, so I encourage you to

(01:12:40):
follow me there, and I'm also on LinkedIn, but it
is Gabrielle hyphen Crichlow, so make sure you catch those
different punctuation marks. So again, gabriel dot Critchlow on Facebook
and Instagram, but on LinkedIn it is Gabrielle hyphen Crichlow,
so make sure you get that as well. So follow

(01:13:03):
my company, follow me, stay in touch with both of us.
All of that information of course on the screen right now,
and for those listening on a podcast, it is in
the description, so make sure you stay in touch with us.
And before I run, I want to encourage you guys
to leave your feedback about today's episode. So, whether you

(01:13:26):
are watching this on YouTube or Facebook, or you're listening
on a podcast like Spotify or Apple Podcasts or good pods,
you know, wherever you are taking in the sound of
my voice, I'm asking that you leave your feedback in
the comment section. So the more feedback that you give me,

(01:13:50):
the more that this episode will circulate. So that is
how the algorithm works. So that is how the work.
So they reward popularity to be frank, So the more
you comment, the more this episode will circulate, and the

(01:14:13):
more that people will see this episode because of the comments,
because of all the feedback, because of all the popularity.
So I'm trying to be popular, you guys. I'm trying
to be popular, so please make me popular. So leave
your comments in the comment section. Please give me your
feedback about today's episode. Did you love it, did you

(01:14:35):
hate it? Do you have questions? You know, maybe you
want to tell your own homeschooling story, whatever it is,
Please just take like five minutes every time and leave
your feedback, leave your comments, give us a rating. Help
us out, you guys, help us out, all right, you guys,
And that is it. Thank you again for joining me

(01:14:59):
on another episode of Hot Topics. I look forward to
you joining me on the next episode. It's been I
believe this is six seasons. So we've been writing hard
for six seasons. I believe we are approaching our fourth
year of Hot Topics. So we are writing hard and

(01:15:20):
we're gonna keep on going. If you keep going, I'll
keep going. So we're keeping keeping on. We're keeping on.
We're gonna keep going and you know, continue to We're
gonna continue to ride this train, you guys. Uh So,
thank you again for joining me on another episode of
Hot Topics. I look forward to you joining me on

(01:15:43):
the next episode. Thank you, guys, and now I am
signing off. Bye.

Speaker 3 (01:16:00):
W