My Tech High is a lot to navigate year 1, but it gets easier! Just a slight learning curve to adjust to. When I first started I wished I had access to see the process from beginning to end before I committed to the program. So below I have broken it down to how I used My Tech high in its simplest form.
My Tech High is basically a online public school program. What makes it different is it's student-tailored flexable learning. You choose your classes, submit weekly learning logs and receive funding for each course your children take.
Its like Jr high/High school schedules. 6 periods, you choose 5 of those. If you choose a 7th class, you will receive less funds… I don’t reccommend choosing a 7th class.
Period 1: Homeroom. This is your dashboard. They offer a bunch of free learning resources to go alongside your child's at home learning. Your Learning Logs will also be through Homeroom. You will also have a homeroom teacher who will be provide support and grade your learning logs. (More about what learning logs are below).
Period 2: Math
Period 3: Language Arts
Period 4: Science -OR- Social Studies (you only pick one per student)
Period 5: Tech & Entrepreneurship
Period 6: Elective -OR- Core
Period 7: *Select None* Or you will receive less funding if you put a class in here.
There are 3 types of classes you can apply to each period and funding varies according to which type of class you choose.
MTH Direct: You take an online class through MTH. $No Funds given
Custom Built: You are all incharge. $250 per class
3rd Party Provider: You pay a 3rd party for your child to attend. $300 per class.
Now I know the $300 per class sounds more tempting but there is less flexibility so if you need this option and it works for you- great! We have always done “custom built” classes and we have more flexibility that way which works for us.
The flexibility custom built classes gives you is funds can flow between children if they are custom built within the same Subject. They also can flow between all Core & elective classes.
Examples: (Pics coming soon)
Reimbursements: Less Receipts is better- go for the stuff you normally wouldn't buy or buy larger learning resources.
In addition to your class funds, each student receives a TECHNOLOGY ALLOWANCE.
*withdrawing early or failing to demonstrate active participation (up to $350/course).*
MTH has their own "Is this reimbursable? form" This gives an idea of what things are covered and what is not. I also use the MTH facebook page often to look up what other people have used their funds for or what classes covered what. There is a lot of helpful information in this group!
Remember you only have so many chances to turn in receipts so plan accordingly.
I usually do
1 in September when it opens with anything i've already bought.
2. I sumbit anohter one in Januarys with all the learning items I bought as Christmas gifts.
3. I sumbit my last one in March with anything left I need to spend extra funds on. Usually this incudes a qucik amazon trip to buy some games, smaller manipulatives, or restock of paper, pencils, glue, etc..
I dont ever push to use my 4th submision.
Best tip: Do 3 weeks at a time and only get on every 3 weeks. Set a weekly reminder on Friday to submit the logs. They are due on Monday so it gives me the weekend to get them done. As kids get older, this can be part of their contribution is they have to write and turn them in.
Helpful tip for me is to pre write these when I am planning out my year. Then I can copy and paste and then I just add a excerpt from my child’s experience that week.
Learning logs can also be turned in as a vlog, or a link to a blog if you do weekly journals.
Testing: Before choosing your schedule, you are directed to a testing page that shows what testing is required for your kids grade level. On this same page you can choose to opt out and that is what we do. I choose to opt out for a few reasons; one, so I don’t have to stress about getting to a physical location or tuning in online at a certain time to take it. There are plenty of free testing resources out there, so that is an alternative option to test on your timeframe.
Second, The first year we homeschooled, I had my oldest take a test to see where we was at. About 3 questions in I realized it was testing him under Common Core standards and I do not beleive in Common Core. So we stopped the test immediately and have never looked back.
Because we use TGATB for Math and Language Art, I am confident that if my kid is doing well in those workbooks and their assessments at the end of each unit that they are grade level or higher than the public schools and that works for us.
From TGATB FAQ's website "Our curriculum does not follow Common Core standards, but it does match or exceed most national public school standards. We believe that children who work on The Good and the Beautiful curriculum consistently each day will find that they are far above public school standards."
My Tech High will accept applications year round, however there are deadline to when you will be accepted.
Full Year Program(August-May): Accept applications until July 15th.
Mid Year Enrollment (January-May): Accept applications until November 1st.
If you are still thinking about it, just apply. If you decide MTH isn't the right fit for you, you have no obligation to enroll.
My Tech High offers LIVE parent support calls. https://www.mytechhigh.com/parent-information-sessions. Look at their schedule, write down a list of questions as you funnel through their webpage and then jump on a live call and be ready to have lots of questions answered! I've even jumped on without any questions and just listened to everyone else and learned many things that way too.
A tech savvy mama create this form to help keep track of reinbursments. Many have found this google sheet helpful in keeping track of expenses, submisions and reimebursments. Mai Tech High Form.
Because my kids are close in age and we do all custom built, I have a different layout that helps me better balance all the flowing funds between kids and classes.
How I plan our MY TECH HIGH Schedule based on what WE want to learn for the year, and how I implement the reimbursement process during this phase.
There are a few tips and tricks when planning your MTH schedule that will help your school year and reimbursements go smoothly. This is how my brain works to plan the school year, organize the materials and plan out the spending of the funds. I feel more on top of it throughout the year when I know what the game plan is and know whats covered. Even if we adjust a unit or change directions during the school year, knowing most of it is planned and prepped makes it easy for me to go back and tweak my personal planning form.
Consider what you want to use funds for- what you want to teach your kids and what the kids want to learn- then pick your schedule accordingly.
Example: This past year I was feeling strongly about driving into history and adding more geography. So those two are on my list. My kids usually pick their elective class, sometimes they don't care so i try and find things that supplement their personalities, create hobbies and helps them develop natural skills I've seen in them. My two oldest have been loving their piano lessons and I often catch them singing together. Coming from an athletic family, this is foriegn to me. But they are showing lots of interest in so they will be diving into music for their elective.
Off those above answers I now have most my schedule set.
Math- TGATB
LA- TGATB
Social Studies- history/geography
Tech- TBD
Elective: Exploring fine arts (music)
Now I choose curriculum! I probably spend the most time on this section. Im very intentional about what comes into our home. I don't want to buy just because we have the MTH funds, I want them to be things that last, that we use and that aren't just an idea sitting on the top shelf of the closet. I overbought on subscriptions the first year with the funds and we just couldn't keep up. As humans, we function better when there is less clutter and I find that so true with curriculum too. If we have too much- being able to focus on what we have becomes overwhelming. So reserach, find what speaks to you and your family, and start there. I will buy curriculum I beleive in whether it is covered by MTH or not. Because the math and LA curriculum we use is not secular, it won't be reimbursed so most of our funds there go towards another subject or extras.
Math- TGATB, games off amazon
LA- TGATB, probably some books
Social Studies- history/geography, purchasing curriculum and manipulatives for both*I know most my funds will go here this year.
Tech- TBD
Elective: Exploring fine arts (music), Instruments and lessons or online course
I like to layout my "to buy" items in a spreadsheet to really maximize funds. Pro tip: Buy larger priced items. Especially for the reimbursements process you don't want to be adding every pencil you bought to your reimbursement sheet.
a. If the curriculum is secular I use funds for that first.
b. What will support this curriculum and make it fun? Is there a unit study I want to add? Will a subscription box support the subject? Will a museum , zoo, or city hop pass allow us to take fields trips to learn more about this subject? Will my child need a tutor, or supplement class to help their learning? I will usually do a bigger amazon order that includes book, learning games, manipulatives. The only time I add on smaller items is when I'm turning in my last reciept and I have small amounts of funds left. I'll pull up my Walmart receipt for those crayons, or that amazon receipt of that book I bought.
Now I have my schedule set and my curriculum picked, I start filling out my personal planning form. This is where I start to manuever and manipulate the numbers until they work. This saves me so much time down the road when it comes time to purchase and reimburse the funds. I feel organized, ready to purchase, know what I still need to buy and am ready to go! During this process i also will send MTH any questions I have on if an item I'm wanting to confirm that they will reimburse it.
I usually buy in chunks and know which items I'll be purchasing when.
I split it into 2 main purchases, with a 3rd final purchase or jusr a final reimbursement sumbission.
First big purchase: I buy about a month before we start school so I have time to prep materials. (in past years we started in September. This year we started in May and are trying the year round schooling with room for lost of breaks when needed or for trips.) *With MTH your receipts have to be from April-March within that school year, you cannot apply anything purcchaed outside of those months/per school year)
Second Big Purchase: This is what my kids are getting for Christmas. My kids usually get arounds 3 gifts give or take and we lean towards fun learning things and less toys and clutter. eventually we'll move to more trips, but my kids are still young and the magic is still alive so our balance is some fun with learning. I make this purchase before or right after Black Friday and try and watch for any deals.
Last Round up Purchase: By this point majoity of what we have used for the year should have been purchased. Now I look at my remaining funds and see what smaller items I could use to get reimbirsed. Desipte all my best planning effort there will be differences in my planning sheet and what we actually bought. Sometimes this is because I got a black Friday deal so we ended up with more funds to use, and other times it's becasue I waited to purchase something and the price went up a few dollars.
Some Notes:
My first year I was learning and there were some items I thought were covered uner one clas but they weren't and it became an out of pocket expense for us (which we didn't regret becasue we were intential with the purchase) but it would have helped to know beforehand so I could adjust funds and purchases during my manuevering stage. I will say that it took me forever to figure out the reimbursement process, I had kickback submissions and it took forever to figure out how to get stuff covered. Now I found a way to compile all the planning so even when there are changes I can adjust quickly. When it comes time to submit receipts everything is so much more effieient and I get less kickback because I checked with them, and understand the process better. * Don't wait until last minute. Save the stress for another day. Put the work in earlier in the year to figure it out so this process can be smooth for you. With my sheet I will add to it frequently throughout the year. Cold inside wintery days with no plans, I'll take time to start thinking about the next year and what we want to learn. Motivating Spring mornings I'll get an idea or come across a curriculum and I'll go add it to my list. Long hot Summer days after taking the kids simming, I'll come back home and finalize schedule and plans as I get ready to submit by their deadline. This plannig form is my go to whenever I get the ideas or the time to start planning.