podcastED: Edu-preneur helps homeschoolers unlock success

Melody Bolduc, (left, kneeling) with her students and staff. Bolduc founded KEYS Educational Resource Center to supplement homeschoolers' educational experience. Photo courtesy of Melody Bolduc

On this episode, reimaginED senior writer Lisa Buie talks with Melody Bolduc, a homeschooling mother of two daughters and founder of KEYS Educational Resource Center, a faith-based tutoring center for homeschoolers in Jacksonville, Florida.

Bolduc says how she wanted to be a teacher as early as first grade, when she and her friends would play school most afternoons. Bolduc felt drawn to teaching because she perceived teachers as having autonomy in their jobs. Bolduc went on to tutor classmates, including a girl she later realized had special needs that caused her to struggle with spelling. After working in district schools, Bolduc opened KEYS Educational Resource Center after becoming a mom so she could better fulfill family responsibilities. She started KEYS after a couple of friends asked her to tutor their homeschooled children.

“I would go over to (my friend’s) house once a week, and we would practice on a little chalkboard. We would practice, and practice and practice. I remember the first time she passed the spelling test, and I loved that I was able to teach her something.”

https://nextstepsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Reimagined.bolduc_mixdown-final.mp3

EPISODE DETAILS:

• How an administrator at the high school where Bolduc taught encouraged her to think creatively about pathways to student success
• The “ah-ha” moment that later inspired Bolduc to personalize education for students
• Bolduc’s identity crisis after leaving her district teaching job and her transition to become a tutor for standardized tests
• Lessons learned from an unsuccessful run for school board
• How doing favors for friends’ kids evolved into a full-fledged business
• How the pandemic changed public perception of homeschooling
• How education savings accounts would transform education across the board

RELEVANT LINKS

Bolduc’s presentation at the 2022 Liberation of Education Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRDNUNZRkyU&list=PLT5UPtq10X0xnK6yFs5FgRPDOh8-EM843&index=7

KEYS Educational Resource Center
https://www.keyserc.org/