Questions & Answers

Homeschooling is a time-honored tradition of educating your children at home.

In the United States, the public school system as we know it today has only existed for a little over a century.  Before that, people were typically educated at home, often, with little more than the family Bible. Homeschooling is so much more flexible and can be personalized based on each child’s needs.  That’s something the average public school can’t do.

There was a time when parents chose where they lived purely based on the quality of the school district.  Unfortunately, that can’t be depended upon anymore.  Between the bullying, peer pressure, violence, lower academic standards, and other factors, the current public school system, in a number of instances, is not providing the quality of education many parents want.

Homeschooling does NOT mean keeping your child away from the world at large.  It means you have the power to direct their education as well as guide their moral and ethical foundations.  Homeschooling does not preclude your child spending time with other children and doing what children and teenagers do, but under your guidance. Take them wherever you want, whenever you want.

Believe it or not, many homeschooling families are headed by single parents or have both parents working.  It’s all in the flexibility of the program and how willing you are to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments.

You set up an evaluation for what your child already knows (if they have been attending school up to this point), then look at his or her strengths and weaknesses. There are free placement tests available to evaluate where your child stands scholastically.

Once you know where you child stands scholastically, you look into the child’s method of learning.  Are they independent?  Are they motivated?  Do they need to be supervised or can they follow instruction?  Is the child bored at school?  Maybe they need a challenge.  Then you set up a schedule and curriculum based on all of these factors.

Education can take place anywhere!  The kitchen table, the living room, the library, the back patio, even on the road in an RV!  

It depends.  Some families prefer boxed curriculums that can cost hundreds of dollars.  Other families make due with books they have on hand or used books they pick up online, at a second-hand bookstore or at the library.

What you teach depends on state law.  However, you can choose the method and curriculum and learning materials to teach those subjects.  Plus, you have the flexibility and the manner of how you go about teaching.

The amount of time you spend teaching depends on the age of the child and the subjects being taught.  Young children (around age 6-7) often don’t need more than an hour a day of formal learning four to five days a week.  Older children tend to need more – high school aged students need about 4-5 hours daily, but in many cases that’s not necessarily the parent lecturing, but reading and practicing, or projects.  Some older students continue to do work on their own. What’s important is that you determine the amount of time depending on the on-going response of your child.

Grading depends on various factors.  Some parents do exams to make sure they mastered the material; others discuss what the child has been studying to gage what they’ve learned.  Some states insist a homeschooled child must submit to an annual testing session to measure what they’ve learned.  If a child is college bound, they’ll have to take an SAT or ACT at some point.

It’s not too difficult.  It just means having examples of our child’s work (attendance, list of books read, projects done during a given school year) written down and filed in a manner that’s easiest for the parent to prepare.  Some keep track of things on a computer, some in an old-fashioned file folder or three ring binders.  However, keeping track of academics during grades 9-12 are most important for transcripts so the child can receive the credits earned for graduating.

Many math programs come with instructions on how to teach the material.  In a way, you’d be learning together!  Some homeschooling parents start or join “pods” and get teaching assistance from other parents.  Maybe you’ll help another parent who stinks at a different subject.

Graduations are what you make of it.  You can print out a diploma for your child and celebrate any way you wish!  Some students have ceremonies with other homeschoolers, others just have a celebratory dinner out with the family.

You can have any sort of event you want. Some homeschoolers get together and hold such events, some make their own arrangements.  It’s all up to you.

One of the most valuable aspects of homeschooling is it allows for the flexibility of teaching based on the child’s needs and motivation. Some families school the traditional 36-week schedule, others school year-round and give breaks when needed.

If your child is homeschooling through the high school years, and is interested in attending college, we can discuss what is needed to proceed.  Many homeschoolers go on to attend college and pursue all kinds of degrees.  Others choose different career paths like becoming business owners or become certified in the trades.

This could be used as an introduction to a homeschooling lifestyle for the families that are not sure it would be a good fit for their child.  They would be given the same evaluations, and the schedule applied over the summer break.  At the end of summer, the child and parents can decide if they prefer to continue learning at home.

It could also be used for students who are still attending a traditional school but want to avoid the dreaded “summer slump”.  They would be given assignments at home to keep their minds active while school is out of session or even provide additional or advance classes that aren’t provided by the school system.

There are many: Alexander the Great, The Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, Mozart, Thomas Edison, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Tim Tebow, Venus & Serena Williams, several recent winners of the National Spelling Bee and the list goes on and on.