Compass Chronicle
Options Program | December 2021
A Word From our Interim Director, Karle Roberts
Hello Options Families!
As we are approaching our halfway point to our first semester, it’s been an absolute pleasure working with you and our supervising teachers as we all strive to meet the mission of Compass!
I see so many of our core values in all that we do! From the evidence of achievement in the amazing work products submitted, to communication through the deep learning discussions in connection meetings. Our staff has been working diligently to help support and guide instruction.
I hope you have tried to attend at least one of our live homeroom instruction offerings throughout the week. Some amazing things are happening there-if you need your supervising teacher’s schedule, please reach out and let them know. Let’s continue to work hard and work together to ensure a solid finish to our first semester!
Loud and proud,
Karle Roberts
What's Been Happening in Options?
With the introduction of AB 130, our Options teachers have implemented live homeroom instruction. Now is an excellent opportunity for your scholar to join other scholars in their course via Zoom and interact with their supervising teacher outside of their monthly connection meeting. If you need your teacher’s schedule, please be sure to ask them today.
In addition, some of our Options teachers have partnered with their fellow teachers to join a teaching cohort, so your scholar will be able to interact with differentiated teaching styles and possibly even see a familiar face or two from a Compass field trip or virtual scholar workshop!
What is new in Options?
Live Instruction
Teaching Cohorts
Work Samples!
Meet The Maldonado Family!
Pictured above, Aurora, 2-grade, Stella, 4-grade, and their younger sister, a future Compass scholar.
Our family has many hobbies and participates in many techniques to learn. We chose to learn from home to delve deeper into topics of interest, spend more time together, and excel at our studies.
Learning from home helps my girls achieve their goals in their education and music, and sports. We can spend time at the gymnastics center getting more one-on-one time with coaches, so our girls can further excel in the sport. Compass enables my girls the opportunity to learn to play the piano and the violin at a young age instead of waiting until middle or high school to learn their musical instruments.
A typical day includes our morning work, outschool flex classes, music lessons, and time at the gymnastic center, cooking school, or dance school. Other days we can create science experiments and take our time completing them for my girls' full understanding of the project. During our days, you will also find my girls reading between lessons. They love to read!
Often, people don't get to experience the pure joy of their child learning something new or completing a goal they have worked hard to achieve. I get to be with my girls and share this with them. I got to experience the joy they had when they learned how to read and fell in love with it. I get to see Aurora excel in gymnastics and overcome her fears and become so confident on the mats. I get to see Stella feel and understand the music in her dance class and perform in her recitals. These are all moments I would not want to miss, and I love being the one to help and guide them on their journey.
Finding the correct curriculum for my girls was intimidating at first. However, my supervising teacher, Laura Harvey, held my hand and helped me find the best fit for each of my girls step by step. She introduced us to different curricula and choices ranging from outschool classes to interactive notebooks and science kits from other vendors.
I was with a different charter school when my supervising teacher decided to switch schools. So it was a no-brainer for me to follow Laura to Compass. I trust her.
Compass has outstanding supervising teachers. I love mine. I know I can call her anytime, and she will help me, guide me, and brainstorm with me to help make my children successful. Without Laura, I feel like I would be lost.
I enjoy that Compass offers a wide variety of field trips and clubs. This helps us meet other families with things in common and build a community of learners. The clubs provide so many different topics, from Legos to cooking and the club advisors are so lovely and helpful.
Patience is key. We need to remember that our children all learn at different rates. My oldest child learned certain skills at a different time than my youngest child. There will be days where I feel like I didn't get anything done, but then I look back over my day and realize we actually did complete a lot of lessons or life skills. I also need to be patient with myself and not be too hard on myself since I am trying my best and doing the best for my children. It's easy to forget that and get down on yourself. Remember, you are a wonderful role model for your children, and they will never forget these times they get to spend with you learning and making memories.
We like to travel around the United States and to Europe. We were able to read about Paris and learn (still are learning) French. After studying for over a year, we took a trip to Paris and experienced it first hand. This was an amazing experience for my daughter. She was able to say things like, "I remember reading about this, and now we are here!" Trips like this truly make history come alive.
Pictured below, their supervising teacher, Laura Harvey.
Spotlight on the Muñetón Family!
¡Hola!/Hello Compass Charter School Community! We are a first-year homeschooling family and are thrilled to share our personalized learning experiences with you! We are Maggie and Anibal, parents of our first-grade SUN, Sol Huitzil Muñetón. We’re a family of three, committed to creating a dual-language personalized learning experience for our SUN that will honor his interests, talents, languages, and cultural practices. We welcome opportunities to engage with our community through meaningful learning experiences and find daily wonders and teachable moments within our natural world and its four elements.
Sol is a native Spanish speaker. As a family, we are also learning to speak Nahuatl as we honor our ancestors and indigenous practices through language and the Mexica Danza movement. Our personalized curriculum allows us to include Mexica teachings as part of Sol’s learning goals by integrating our daily family practices with Sol’s personalized educational journey.
Before enrollment at Compass Charter School, Sol’s preschool and kindergarten experiences, including all of his early literacy skills, were facilitated in Spanish. Transitioning into the Options program at Compass has allowed our family to continue developing Sol’s biliteracy and bicultural goals as we’re able to utilize Spanish learning development materials to meet Sol’s Spanish Language Arts goals while beginning to develop his English through daily class instruction.
In addition to Spanish & Nahuatl, Sol practices Capoeira at Capoeira Dance Fitness Center in Long Beach and welcomes opportunities to learn Portugués while meeting enrichment and physical education goals. Guided by Sol’s interests and with support from Compass, we can further develop Sol’s academic goals by extending our learning community to include a collaboration with various local, personalized learning sites. Our current learning community partners include Semillitas Learning Community, offering Spanish-immersion classes for children, Scholars Collective, a local Compass-approved vendor offering STEAM learning activities for children, Unidos Homeschool Cooperative, a grassroots-based learning community, Kalpulli Tlaltekuhtli, an LA-based non-profit organization providing Mexica cultural danza teachings for the community, and American Youth Soccer Association, a Long Beach children’s soccer league.
While designing our personalized curriculum may seem daunting to some, we choose this learning with our SUN to help foster his musical/auditory and tactile/kinesthetic learning styles, his spontaneous curiosity, his love for storytelling, his passion for dancing, his leadership skills, and above all, to make social-emotional and bilingual/bicultural learning all integral parts of his educational journey. We are grateful for the support from Compass Charter School as we have navigated through personalized learning with daily support from our supervising teacher, Stephanie Lee, and the Compass family.
Sol’s middle name is HUITZIL, which translates to hummingbird in Nahuatl. He’s our family’s messenger, and as a committed personalized learning charter school family, we learn from our SUN’s free-spirited, loving heart and curiosity every day.
Meet Robin McCarthy Options Supervising Teacher!
My job title here at Compass is supervising teacher. I just started this position on August 16.
Tell us your “why” for doing what you do here at Compass.
I wanted to work for Compass for the flexibility of working from home and to learn more about alternative schooling programs.
As an educator, is there a piece of advice you’d like to share with learning coaches or scholars?
My only advice as an educator is to keep learning along with your scholars. Learning is lifelong; it’s important to convey that to young people.
Is there a piece of advice you’d like to share with learning coaches or scholars?
My only advice for our staff is to continue asking questions and asking for help when you need it; there is no shame in that. I am so grateful that the Compass staff has been so helpful to me!
Share one thing about you that very few people know.
Very few people know I am an Army Brat and have lived in eight states and Germany!
What do you and your family like to do during your free time?
I have been married for 15 years and have four children. We like to be outside as much as possible. You will find us most weekends at the beach or in the mountains.
Spotlight on Corey Reynoso Options Supervising Teacher!
Hello, my name is Corey Reynoso, and my job title at Compass is supervising teacher. My responsibilities (in short) include hosting daily live instruction for my scholars, supporting learning coaches with orders and anything else they are having trouble with, and supporting my colleagues by collaborating, connecting, and finding solutions. I just started with Compass this school year, in August.
Compass serves so many amazing families throughout California, and I get to support these families and watch scholars grow and succeed. I feel that I can impact all grade levels and with all different types of families. I love that I can guide and support families as needed and help promote a love of learning. Compass also has a culture of care and support for its employees and the families we serve, which is felt throughout the organization.
A piece of advice I could share is to find what you enjoy. School shouldn’t be a chore or hardship. There can always be at least one aspect you find that you enjoy, which makes the rest easier. Knowing you enjoy one subject or practice opens you up to more!
One thing about me that few people know is that, as a child, I was the youngest in the advanced ballet class at my studio. I later stopped dancing to pursue playing sports, which I did through high school.
During my free time, my family and I love to walk around our neighborhood. We enjoy watching sports (go Dodgers!) and movies together. We also like trying new coffee shops and going to the beach!
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