Virtual Learning Curriculum & Materials: The Journey

It is a sunny, pleasant day when the doorbell rings in the Smith household. Johnny answers the door and is greeted by a UPS delivery man who has placed several large cardboard boxes on the family’s front porch. It looks like Christmas, with gifts for everyone. But wait- it’s only August. Did they win the lotto? Was it a windfall from the estate of a family member? Or perhaps a mistake? What is this all about? The Smith Family eagerly moves the boxes in the living room, and begins to tear into the gifts. Those gifts are curriculum from K¹², where Johnny is enrolled as a full-time, fifth grade student at COVA. Opening the boxes, Johnny’s eyes are wide and bright with excitement. It is his school, in his own learning environment that he will do at his pace. Now, he has the tools he needs to start school. If only the first day was here…

With over 150 courses available to our students, and nearly 75,000 students enrolled, creating, organizing, managing, and shipping books and materials might seem like a logistical nightmare. The kind that you don’t even want to imagine. What does the distribution floor look like? How does K¹² do it? On August 18, I had the great privilege of seeing the mayhem in action. And you know what…It was not madness. Instead, it was a well-oiled machine. K¹² works with the UPS Distribution Center in Elizabethtown, Kentucky to store, manage, package and ship materials to enrolled families. What an interesting, impressive experience! Thousands of square feet of the distribution center are dedicated to K¹² families, where curriculum kits are manually put together, boxed, and tailored for our students. Each UPS employee working in this center has a specific area of expertise, or dedication, where they are able to focus on kitting curriculum, filling boxes, completing orders, and finalizing shipments. It is smooth sailing at the distribution center, with smiling employees working hard to ensure that families receive curriculum, door-to-door, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We have students in every state in the U.S. and over 50 countries around the world. UPS is charged with ensuring that ALL students, wherever they are located, have what they need to be successful in school. It’s no wonder that there is such consistency, flow, and organization on the distribution floor. As you can see in my photos, we have lots of stuff to ship out to lots of people. Collaboration between K¹² and UPS is continual and strong, to make sure that we are doing our best to serve you in sending out new curriculum, and processing returned curriculum, as well. Speaking of which…

Have you ever wondered what happens to your returned books, microscopes, and other materials? They are shipped to UPS, where reclamation employees work to process returns. In order to stay true to our commitment of leaving the smallest carbon footprint possible on the environment and world around us, K¹² is working hard to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Don’t think for a minute that returned items are not polished up, and used for new families! I saw first-hand the importance of using those labels provided to you at the end of the year to send in those non-consumable or returnable goods.

I’ve often wondered how so much curricula and kits manage to make their way into homes around the world, and I’m so glad I got to visit with our partners at the UPS facility. I hope you enjoyed this little virtual tour, and if you have any questions about the process, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below!