"Working with Stephanie...allowed our daughter to take increased ownership of her learning goals."
Working with Stephanie over the last year was a really important part of our homeschooling journey. Our daughter left the regular school system in early highschool and we had to redefine what learning and education would mean for our family. Stephanie supported both our daughter and I in brainstorming and problem-solving the road ahead. It proved to be an enriching experience that broadened our perspective and allowed our daughter to take increased ownership of her learning goals. Stephanie also validated the challenges I was facing as a homeschooling parent, while holding a reassuring and empowering stance. We both really valued her support and hope to continue working with her this year. F.S.
"... we started seeing the smiling happy kid we’d been missing for the last few years."
We came to Stephanie not sure how to best support our child who was not thriving in the regular school system. Despite closely working with many people at his school, he didn’t feel comfortable and was becoming sadder and sadder. Many days we simply couldn’t get him to school at all and we knew that pushing him harder to make something that wasn’t working wasn’t the solution - we just didn’t know what the solution was.
Stephanie was able to help us in two extremely important ways. First she was able to guide us, as parents, and give us options and ideas on how we could support our child. A lot of what she told us and guided us through were new concepts and ideas, ones we didn’t even know to start looking up and learning about.
Secondly, she was able to connect with our son on a personal basis, see his strengths and quickly learned how to build a relationship with him that he cherished and was excited about. Together they were able to explore what he did enjoy, what he was good at, and she empowered him to start making choices for himself in life. As a result of their time together, we saw him start to take ownership of his life, we saw him start to see how he could negotiate and impact how he spent his time and how he could feel empowered to feel productive and challenged without feeling overwhelmed and anxious. The time he and Stephanie spent together directly turned in to him feeling more empowered and comfortable in his life, and we started seeing the smiling happy kid we’d been missing for the last few years.
Working with Stephanie, both by gaining her guidance and by having her connect directly with our son, helped us get to a place where we are all feeling a lot happier and more confident, and that was worth every penny!
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L.W.
"Stephanie is a gift."
My consultation with Ms. Sewell could not have gone better. Currently I am a special education teacher in the US public schools and I was stuck. I embrace the philosophy of student directed learning and was looking for ways to empower students, parents and other teachers to do the same. Stephanie was able to look at my quirkly collection of skills - writing, teaching and a global perspective - and put them together in a way to get me unstuck. We discussed a number of options to move forward. She was generous with her time and her extensive knowledge base. This woman clearly knows her stuff! She helped me see my path to help others is to share what I am already doing. I get away with non-traditional teaching because I am in special ed. She taught me to "own the crazy" as the way forward. She is a gift!
N.L.
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"...having Stephanie discuss options with our daughter empowered her to make her own decision and feel some sense of control in a situation where she has not felt that before."
I had never heard of an education consultant prior to speaking with Stephanie. She was recommended to me by a friend who knew my daughter was very unhappy at school and I was at a loss of how to help her. I only wish I had known sooner as Stephanie was able to provide us with the timely support, understanding and patience we desperately needed and were not getting from the school. Although she didn’t change schools, having Stephanie discuss options with our daughter, empowered her to make her own decision and feel some sense of control in a situation where she has not felt that before.
I highly recommend connecting with Stephanie.
R.W.
"I felt empowered to evaluate my options and to make decisions that work for my family."
Stephanie, I am so grateful for the conversation we had recently about homeschooling. You are so knowledgeable on all things homeschooling. And beyond that, you are so very understanding and compassionate, having gone through the homeschooling journey yourself.
I left our meeting feeling that I had some idea of what direction to move in, and how to proceed. I felt connected to you, a homeschooling mom, and also to a broader community of homeschoolers. I felt empowered to evaluate my options and to make decisions that work for my family. I felt reassured that all would be alright as we prepare to make this big change in our lives.
Thank you for all that and more! I will certainly continue to be in touch as we move forward with homeschooling our girls!
Z.K.
"... to help us feel confident."
Stephanie really helped to ground us as we began our homeschooling journey with our daughter. She is kind and knowledgeable as well as experienced and provided us with tons of resources to help us feel confident.
K.J.