Redefining the Redefining of Homeschool

Last week, we hosted one of our Rhetoric Rallies, at which I unveiled the full brochure to 25 Upper School parents and students. In conversation after the meeting, a dad from our Central Campus asked about the cover of the brochure and wondered if there might be two different covers printed - Home|School Redefined and Education Redefined - so as not to limit our audience to only homeschoolers. The dad didn't think we needed to change any of the verbiage on the inside, just the cover.

We talked pros and cons (broader audience is good, but not if that audience isn't ready for what our blended model requires; then again, how does someone find out about our blended model if they don't read past the cover?) and I told him I'd think about it. I knew that cost would be prohibitive and we could only afford one cover, but I didn't want to limit anyone's interest in what we do, regardless of whether they chose to join us or not. Driving home that night, I prayed and decided to sleep on it.

Early the next morning, in response to my previous day's request for feedback on our Parent Partnership Association Facebook page, I had a message from a young mom at our North Campus who asked the same question and made the same point as the dad the night before. Interesting, I thought (and timely - I had to make a decision that day).

An hour later, I ran the change by one of our board members dropping her kids off for school; she agreed with the parents' thinking. I ran it by several of my Admin Team; they agreed. This felt like a conspiracy - but a good one - so, we made the change and I'm glad we did.

Indeed, we're redefining homeschool through our blended model, but ultimately the broader redefinition is of education itself. We're specific about how we do this at Veritas, but plenty of Oklahoma City parents are experiencing a need for change, so why limit their interest in our solution?

I'm grateful to our parents, board, and staff for their feedback. The new cover is below.