Dear Homeschooler / Private Educator,
Thank you for your interest in Rainbow Resource Center. This year we are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of our family business, started as a ministry to homeschooling families as a used book recycling service.
Many things have changed in that time for us as a family and for our business. In 1989 we had been homeschooling our four children for three years and frequently answered the questions, "Is that legal?" and "Can homeschooled students get into college?". Today we have homeschooled five of our seven children through high school, with the last two in high school now. (See family update below.) Homeschooling is now seen as a viable educational choice, and homeschooled students, including our five oldest, are readily admitted to colleges, even the elite.
Our July 1989 "catalog" was a 10-page listing containing about 250 items with two reviews, printed on a dot matrix printer, and mailed to about 200 families. Our 2009 catalog contains about 1300 pages of detailed reviews on over 40,000 products, printed by RR Donnelley and mailed to over 100,000 homes, charter schools, and organizations, with our website extending access to many more. Our "distribution center" has improved from a 2-car garage to a 36,000 sq ft warehouse. In the early years, exhibiting our products at a few nearby conventions entailed packing what fit in a small U-Haul trailer and packing our family into the overtaxed van that pulled it. Customers trusted that our 9-to-13-year-old daughters were accurate in totaling their orders on handheld calculators and counting out change. Today our four crews now attend 35 conventions across the country, bringing with them 2500+ items, scanning cash registers, notebook computers to access web site information, and wireless credit card units. And the whole work load is no longer borne by our family alone, with 37 full-time and many more seasonal employees as well.
But a few things have not changed. Our goals remain to help homeschooling families and private educators stretch their budgets for school materials while providing quality products and helpful reviews. Although some catalogs are more colorful, we have focused on providing detailed descriptions of our products so that you may make an informed decision about which ones will work best for you. Our reviews are written by our family members and employees of our company. Even though our catalog is free for the asking, you will find it to be "an education in itself," containing some of the best information available anywhere on educational products. Similar products are grouped together for easier comparison and evaluation. Our website provides added benefits: color images of our products, images of the item's contents, and a table of contents where appropriate. Search techniques such as selection of grade level, author, publisher, and words in the title or key words can be quite helpful. Also, a drilldown feature by subject and topic enables you to find and compare similar products.
Our homeschooling effort has been successful, as our family average is a 97th percentile score on the ACT college entrance exam. We believe ours is just one example of the potential that can be unleashed with a quality homeschooling education. We do not believe that there is one "right" way to homeschool. Preferences and circumstances vary from family to family, and personalities, abilities and learning styles vary from one child to the next. In selecting materials to offer, we choose items which work for various teaching methods and appeal to a range of learning styles. Our hope is that all children will be educated in such a way as to fully utilize their God-given talents and help them make a positive contribution in the vocation of their choosing.
Thank you for considering the educational materials that we offer. We look forward to serving you.
For the Glory of God,
Bob & Linda Schneider and family
P.S. - Family Highlights
Ours continues to be a family business. Jessica is a Marketing Director for our company, and as such evaluates new products, oversees much of our curriculum catalog and Christmas catalog efforts, and supervises our web graphics work. Jessica's husband Steve manages our warehouse and shipping operations, teaches social studies half-time at Stark County High School, and is renovating their 100-yearold home. Megan and her husband Zach are learning to juggle parental and business responsibilities while taking care of 20-month-old Cheyenh and their 3-horse mini-ranch. Megan works on catalog administration and product research/descriptions, while Zach keeps us on good terms with our suppliers, coordinates our exhibit efforts, and heads up an exhibit crew. Melissa lives in Rockford, IL, with husband Nate; in addition to volunteer work, she helps us with writing product reviews and does the cover art and page layout for our catalog. She has completed her line of grammar usage/editing worktexts, called GUMdrops. Her husband Nate is a mechanical engineer for a supplier to the aerospace industry. Stephanie and her husband make us work to see them, as they live in sunny Southern California. Cadence (3), Haven (2), and West (4 mos.) keep Stephanie busy, and Joel is a civil engineer working on commercial building projects. Mark has made the transiton to college student, attending Western Illinois University and continuing the tradition of bringing home college friends to work in our business over the summer. Janine, 15, enjoys her Facebook account, fashion design, the church youth group, various pets and horse riding. Stephen is also in high school and continues to love math, computer games, his cat, and driving Cheyenh around in the 4-wheeler. Mark, Janine and Stephen all help with product evaluation and catalog work, and they travel with exhibit crews. Homeschooling and managing the business take most of Bob and Linda's time. Linda is progressing in her study of karate and Bob plays lumberjack and cuts hiking trails in our woods. And we all look forward to getting together in Michigan this summer for our family vacation.
