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About MeMy name is Cindy LaJoy, and I am a 9 year veteran homeschooling mom of five teens. I was born in Goleta, California and raised in Camarillo, California. I married my high school sweetheart, Dominick, and several years later we moved to our version of paradise, rural Montrose, Colorado. We are a self-employed family, and have owned and operated four successful businesses in the 21 years we have lived on the Western Slope of the Rockies.
We began homeschooling when our highest grade level son, Matthew, began 5th grade. I was terrified, uncertain, and yet could see that public school was no longer an appropriate place for our gifted son. We embarked on the remarkable journey that ended in June of 2017 with his graduation from high school. One down, four more kids to go! Teaching our eclectic bunch has stretched me in ways I actually did imagine, hence the reason I was so frightened of not being up to the task! Among our five we have a wide variety of special needs to meet including English Language Learners (with NO English the first day they sat at our table for school!), Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, Auditory Processing Disorder, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, information processing disorders, Executive Functioning Disorder, and then throw in giftedness just to keep it interesting ;-) I am a passionate promoter of creating life long learners. I am a high school graduate who can think outside the box, and who also knows that learning happens in all kinds of settings, both in and out of the classroom, be it with textbooks, mechanic's tools, paint brushes, or measuring cups. I have been employed as a Customer Service Manager, a licensed Pest Control Office Manager, a licensed Insurance Agent, and a restaurant owner. I am also a lay minister whose hobbies include writing, singing in choir, photography, reading, and playing Qwirkle! |
Who We Are
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We are "Team LaJoy"! We believe that the family that works together AND plays together, stays together! Let me introduce us. Starting from the left is Matthew, our first homeschool graduate! Matt is 18 years old, was adopted as an infant from Aktobe, Kazakhstan and is now studying computer science and tech at home post-high school. He is also working toward's his pilot's license, and received the Civil Air Patrol's highest cadet rank this past May. Olesya is our youngest daughter, 18 years old, and was adopted along with her biological sister, Angela (on the far right) who is 19 years old. Olesya is a sophomore in high school and Angela is a junior. The girls were adopted from Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan when they were 10 and 11 years old. Next is myself and my husband, Dominick (and we will NOT share what grade we are in! Hahaha!), followed by Joshua in the pink shirt, who was adopted as an infant from Uralsk, Kazakhstan and who is 14 and a newly minted high school freshman technically, but he has 16 credits of high school work completed. Kenny is our final student, and he is 19 years old and is Angela's fellow classmate as a junior in high school, and he was adopted from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan when he was 8 years old.
All of our kids have experienced public education, either in the United States or in orphanage schools overseas. All love learning at home, and the ability to work at their own pace. In our homeschool we have done a wide variety of experiential and traditional learning, with our kids doing such things as studying interior design, purchasing and refurbishing a home that was bank owned, learning about Profit and Loss statements as they help with our businesses, traveling the Lewis and Clark trail, building sheds, pottery, flying planes, and volunteering at the animal shelter, the library, the food bank, the homeless shelter and our local nursing home. We have been out in the world, as well as dedicated to class around our kitchen table!
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Why Did We Create
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As the saying goes, a worried mother is a better researcher than the FBI, and as we began homeschooling I investigated curricula for our unique learners, trying some and pitching others, and eventually creating a saved list of favorites that I looked at one day and realized was doing no good stored on my computer, and might actually help someone else! Moving into high school with our kids and thinking about their futures, it was easy to see that there was an under served group, and that was families like us...families who had kids not destined for college, who had access to few resources that truly "fit" their child's needs. Few homeschool online groups speak to those parents of kids whose career aspirations do not include a degree, leaving us feeling inadequately equipped, and as if we are somehow under achievers. I began to develop a passion for helping our kids see the wide variety of career possibilities, not at the sake of eliminating college, but for seeing there were even more choices! We want to provide support, and we want to help others feel less alone. Homeschooling should not be a competition for bragging rights for the educator!!! Attending an Ivy League school isn't the sole measuring stick for homeschooling success. Educating our kids to be confident, independent, capable and kind human beings is what really matters, and we created Blue Collar Homeschool to celebrate those walking a different, often overlooked path. We want to lift up "A Different Kind of Homeschooling Excellence"! There are great careers out there that don't require college, and this web site is a place to hopefully help prepare you to teach your kids who, for whatever reason, may not be college bound. We want to lift up opportunities you may not have considered, present new ideas, and share resources with you as you move into the "guidance counselor" role and advise your precious sons and daughters as they look towards a future that makes sense for them! |