Hello everyone!
It was my intention to write a blog post to encourage everyone to resist the urge to stress because you may be looking at the school year calendar and thinking you're behind.
Unfortunately recent events have tipped my hand!
On what should've been a "Good Friday", the owners of Power Homeschool (aka Acelleus) chose this weekend - with 45 days left in the academic calendar for most families who use this curriculum - to send the homeschool community into hysterics and full on panic mode.
Without warning they blocked and erased all progress for students exclusively using the tutor mode. Their explanation was essentially that they never intended tutor mode to be a full curriculum, but as a supplement for students receiving instruction elsewhere (although they were well aware that homeschoolers have exclusively used this curriculum for years). The founders even went as far as stating that their decision was made in part because people were cheating by using the tutor mode and then switching to instructor mode at the end of the year to obtain credit. They collected payments from families on Friday and pulled the rug from under them on Saturday. All customers using tutor mode lost access and have been funneled to a website called 2tor.online.com. What's worse is this information was relayed via a FB post instead of official email correspondence to customers.
This is another example of people benefiting from the dollars of homeschooling families, but neither being invested in uplifting our community nor fully understanding how homeschooling works, as many homeschoolers (myself included) used tutor mode because it allowed homeschool parents/students to chose to jump around the curriculum and only assign material that our students hadn't yet mastered.
While the saga (and battle of words) continues, I wanted to interject with a homeschool coaching moment to remind you all that POWER HOMESCHOOL (nor any other textbook, boxed set or workbook) is not the curriculum, your children are!
Once we firmly grasp the understanding that our children's success doesn't hinge upon finishing or excelling in a set parameter the less overwhelming homeschooling becomes. I would also like to point out that most curriculum designers view the marker for success at an 80% course completion rate. (Did you catch that?! Pretty please don't make my little friends start a new curriculum!)
So Mama, don't stress! The idea of being behind only exists in our minds. Your kids are doing GREAT!
If you are using Power Homeschool and need assistance, would simply like to walk through how to successfully complete the school year, or you need guidance on what to do next school year please feel free to reach out to me.
(PS I had an insightful conversation about this topic a few months ago on the Friends of Cabrini podcast
Listen here: https://bit.ly/3l6pAqG)
Signed a reformed curriculum obsessed Homeschool Mom!
Yalonda
BHOB Co-Founder