Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellen Crain.
Hi Ellen, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When our firstborn was 5, his preschool teacher suggested we push the district to have him go into 1st grade instead of kindergarten because of his early Fall birthday and checking the necessary boxes academically. We were less sure that was the right decision, but we knew if we enrolled him in school moving him up or holding him back would be a big deal. We chose to homeschool for the year to push off getting locked in to a specific high school graduation date. Then we found out we enjoyed the freedom of homeschooling.
However, the freedom was also a little scary, so we always used standardized testing to check that our son and then our other two kids were on track academically. However, as our kids grew I saw a few signs that the tests we were using were older than I would like. The most jarring was when my daughter, born in 2006, was asked a question that required knowing about paper phone directories– something she’d never seen.
As my kids got older, they became more independent and I saw I was working myself out of a job so I began to think about what my post-homeschooling life would look like. Remembering my issues with old standardized tests, I investigated what tests were available to homeschoolers vs. public and private schools. I learned that many homeschoolers were taking fill-in-the-bubble tests that compared them to students from the late 1990s or even 1970. Meanwhile, experts recommend using norm studies that are no older than 5-8 years. In addition, testing technology had improved- students could take an adaptive test and get more accurate results with fewer questions, making testing less stressful for the student.
I reached out to NWEA, and because their mission is “To help all kids learn” they agreed to work with me to make their MAP Growth achievement test available to homeschooled students in the US. My first school year was 2016-2017, and I tested about 400 students. We have grown every year since then, and added the Renaissance Star test as an option for our clients. Over the 2025-2026 year, my team and I have tested more than 55,000 students across the US.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a business after 15 years at home with our kids was challenging. Thankfully, my family stepped up to support me. The kids took on a lot of the cooking (although, they’re better cooks than I am, so there may have been an ulterior motive) and my husband completely took over laundry. Meanwhile I took advantage of Minnesota’s great startup ecosystem for support.
The pandemic lockdown was a challenging time for everyone, but my special challenge was coping with my business growing 4x while everything else seemed to have ground to a halt. We were already an all-remote company, but we needed to recruit and train a bigger team, attempt to source laptops and ensure our processes could handle the bigger load.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Homeschool Boss?
Homeschool Boss offers testing services, primarily to homeschooling families and small schools, but also to tutors and families. We are known for offering NWEA MAP Growth testing services with amazing customer service and helpful, detailed score reports. In addition to being the exclusive source of NWEA MAP Growth testing for homeschoolers, we also offer NWEA MAP Reading Fluency, Renaissance Star tests, and the Mindprint Cognitive assessment. We participate in most state-based Education Savings Account programs.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I enjoy biographies of historical figures- a few favorites are The Wright brothers by David McCullough, Eliza Hamilton by Tilar J. Mazzeo and Grant by Ron Chernow. They give helpful perspectives on the challenges we face in the current day. For apps, I am completely dependent on my Google Calendar to keep me on track and Slack to keep our company connected.
Pricing:
- $115 Mindprint Cognitive Assessment for ages 8-21. Gives helpful strengths-based feedback on how your student learns best.
- $75 6 months access to the Renaissance Star assessment portal for one student. K-12
Contact Info:
- Website: https://homeschoolboss.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeschool_boss/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/affordabletests
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@homeschool_boss
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@homeschool_boss
