Blog #8: Our Educational Journey

We've received a lot of interest and inquiries lately about our educational journey. This publicity is not what we foresaw or expected. It's been quite a path - I completed high school around 9 years ago, followed by my Bachelor's degree in 2019, my Master's in 2023, and most recently, my third degree this year. Similarly, my sister finished high school in 2017, and the youngest in our family graduated from High School in 2021.

Given the span of time, a lot of the details around textbooks and the specifics of our schooling now feel quite archaic - it's almost like water under the bridge at this point. However, I know many are curious to learn more, so I've been trying to piece together the key details to share with you.

The truth is, our educational journeys have been unique and marked by both challenges and successes. While the specifics may have evolved over the years, the drive to continuously learn and grow has remained a constant for our family. We're happy to provide more insight into how we navigated this path, in the hopes that it may inspire or inform others who are embarking on their own academic adventures.

For our homeschooling curriculum, our parents curated a diverse mix of materials and resources to best support our individual abilities and interests. They sourced textbooks and learning aids from both American and British publishers, finding that the American resources tended to be more applicable for subjects like math and English, while the British materials were a better fit for science, history, and geography.

The curriculum was highly personalized and tailored to each of us as siblings. Our parents were very thoughtful in adapting their approach over time based on our unique needs and learning styles. They worked diligently to provide the right blend of content and teaching methods to help us thrive in our homeschool environment. It was a dynamic, evolving process as we progressed through our education at home.

A key focus area was preparing us for the SAT exam. For general practice and exposure to the exam content, we found test prep books from reputable companies like Princeton Review, Nova, Kaplan, and Dr. Jang's to be extremely helpful. These provided a wide range of practice questions and strategic guidance.

However, when it came to truly understanding the exact exam format, structure, and expectations, we found that the College Board's official publications were the best resources. As the organization responsible for administering the SAT, their materials contained the most accurate and up-to-date information on what would be tested.

So while the third-party prep books were great for building our skills and familiarity with the exam, we made sure to closely study the College Board's guidance to ensure we were fully prepared for the actual test format and requirements. We believe this dual approach, combining broad practice with the authoritative source, was key to our success on the SAT.

We hope this insight into our homeschool curriculum and SAT prep strategy is helpful for anyone looking to excel on this important exam.