Hello!

What a great a question and I am going to answer it using my different roles.

As a parent and ex-homeschooling mom, I do not like Common Core. I think having a national curriculum that teaches our students to study for standardized tests is wrong. I believe, with Common Core, non-English speaking learners, and non-traditional learners are left behind. And, it removes the creativity and fun in learning. Also, it has mutilated the teaching of simple math.

I am a homeschool evaluator for my county. Which means, at the end of the school year, homeschooling families come to me for evaluations. As a certified teacher, I have to decide whether to promote students. I see many families that say they left the public school system because of the way Common Core requires teachers to teach math. Parents are told it is better but don’t like seeing their kids cry while trying to master the math concepts.

I have always tried to make learning challenging and fun for my daughters. I had the freedom to make educational choices. I think we should all have freedom to make choices.

As an online high school teacher, I have many different types of students. Though, most of my students are in blended (hybrid) schools. As an online teacher, I do what any brick-and-mortar teacher does; I make the best of it. I try my best to use technology and other pedagogical methods to make learning more fun. I want to help students succeed, but I also need to feed my family.