Home School

The Advantages of Home Schooling

You’ve weighed your options, both pros and cons, and you’ve decided that home schooling is right for your family. It’s a decision you are comfortable with and know to be the right one.

Your next step will be to choose the right home schooling curriculum for your needs. You want to make sure that your child stays on track academically and meets appropriate educational standards.

One way to go about this is to talk to your local school. They may be able to help you develop a curriculum, or else may have some guidelines and curriculum already in place. Often you can also find a network of other families that are homeschooling children, and these families can serve as a support network.

Some areas don’t’ have much of a home schooling presence. If you live in one of these areas, you’ll need to develop a curriculum yourself. There are plenty of books and other resources to help you do just this.

Often you can find some of these at your local library. Another great way to find resources is to check for curriculums online. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Related posts

Home Schooling On the Rise in Virginia Schools

Over the years, the Virginia schools (like many school systems across the nation) have been losing their public school students to home schooling. Henry County, for example, has seen an increase in home-schooled students from eight to 99 over the past 11 years.

In April 1999, the nation watched in horror the news reports on Colorado’s Columbine High School shootings, where 12 students and one teacher were fatally shot and 24 others were wounded by two teens who then killed themselves. Afterwards, the Virginia schools saw a steady increase of applications from parents who wished to home school their children.

Though the number of children who are home schooled has continued to increase within the Virginia schools, the reasons have changed. Though school violence and security remains to be a primary concern of Virginia schools’ parents, they now have a variety of other reasons, including:

o Too much emphasis on the standardized testing now required within the Virginia schools, fearing their children are being taught only to pass tests rather than a focus on actual learning that is retained and useful later in life; home-schooled children are not required to take the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests;

o The ability of Virginia schools’ children to adjust to the middle and high school environments; many parents home school their children during the middle school years and place them back into the Virginia schools for high school;

o Virginia schools’ parents’ perception of negative influences within the traditional school environment; this is especially true for families with strong religious beliefs; and

o Some Virginia schools’ parents simply want to keep their children at home for a longer period, placing them back within the Virginia schools for high school.

Religious Exemption. If a parent applies for release of their child from the Virginia schools for religious reasons, they are exempt from enrolling their child in any other form of education through age 18. They may wish to do so and can, but they are not required to do so by the Virginia schools. If they do enroll the child elsewhere or home schooling, they also are not required to keep the Virginia schools apprised of the child’s progress. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Related posts

Home Schooling A Viable Alternative to Conventional Education

home schoolingSome schooling during the elementary years are the students that tend to succeed the most. Throughout the course of their home schooling, these children will reach the highest level of academics when compared to the national average. Additionally, students who start young, often find themselves three to four grade levels above that of their public school peers.

On the other hand, high school home schooling can be extremely challenging. By the time a child reaches this level of education, they may be far too advanced in their educational needs to be taught by you. If that is the case, it will be necessary to seek out various resources that are available for home schooling. Online resources that provide both curriculums, and textbooks are available, which will allow a child to learn through the web. Classes can be held in a virtual classroom, students can use a web cam to participate, or they can be simply assessing lecture-based courses online as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

Related posts