I’m waiting to see what our local public school district does for next year, but I’d like to start thinking about options We have three kids, entering grades 12, 8, and 4. I think the senior is the hardest to pull from the school district with college on the horizon; he’s a very strong student with an AP-heavy schedule.
Both parents work, so homeschool would need to be structured around an online program. We did homeschool for six months when the oldest two were in grades 2 and 6, but it was during a time when we weren’t both working, and I know we can’t pull off that level of attention; we’ll need to follow a plan rather than create our own. We are in Alabama and it is very easy here to decide to homeschool a child.
Can anyone share experiences or opinions on online school options? Free is good, but we could budget a few thousand dollars if quality was much better. Thanks for any information you can share.
we’ve not homeschooled; but I’m worried about schooling in the fall as well for our D23. She’s a strong student; our school was a hot mess with its online teaching this spring. I’ve found a program that’s tried and true; and while it doesn’t offer live classes, it’s not a fledgling situation like our HS. Our d is signed up for one class right now. … . and if that goes well we will add more although she’s officially registered at her local HS.
its called The University of Nebraska High School program; classes are several hundred a piece; and they do need proctors identified. Maybe it will have something of interest for you; you don’t have to be a Nebraskan. good luck.
I hope that your 12th grader can finish out the year with his class.
I would also consider what home school “out of the house” options will be available for your 4th and 8th grader. Since many home school families also rely on outside resources - museums, fitness opportunities, park programs, science center programs, libraries, music options, etc. I would want to feel secure that some/many of those are still going to be available. I think they are very important to the whole school option.
What does the climate look like in your community with the above? What are your community support options for home schooling - even other families or parent led groups/conversation.
Can you and your spouse stagger schedules? I can’t imagine successful homeschooling without a parent around. I also think homeschooling works best when you can use it to follow a child’s interests, so field trips and projects are an important piece. Sitting in front of a computer screen is not so effective. You might see if you can find homeschooling groups in your area and see whether they offer activities you’d be able to plug into.
Thanks! I love the UNHS recommendation: seems very promising! It’s so hard to tell what outside of school will remain open. Most educational resources are scaling up slowly – our science museum reopens in July, the libraries are still doing curbside pickup only for the time being – but meanwhile, the amusement parks are open and a lot of people are acting like life has returned to normal. I’m actually hoping for hybrid school where they go 2 days and respect distancing, but at this point it looks like we may have a choice between (not-great) state-wide online school or in-person with substantially more kids than CDC guidelines would justify.
UNHS has been around for a long while so it is a fairly established option and not a new kid on the block. I didn’t use it with my kids, so I have no first hand experience. For your 12th grader - can he just take classes at your local county college? That option can work well for many high school students. I used North Atlantic Regional High School with some of my kids. You’ll have to see if they offer classes but they were great to work with. https://www.narhs.com/
Considering that children are at little to no risk of contracting or spreading covid, I am not sure if your concerns are about the quality of education or the possibility of their contracting covid. Regardless, if you anticipate that the kids will go back into a brick and mortar school after a year or so, Calvert homeschool might be a good option for the younger two. It is basically school-at-home, so it can be a good fit for kids coming in and out of b&m schools. K12 is an option in most states, but I’ve not seen good things about it or from it.
Homeschooling a high schooler is much more involved, but there are a lot of packaged options if your student is on (and not significantly above) grade level. If she is significantly above grade level, it’s harder to take a packaged approach, but some with which I am familiar are Stanford Online, James Madison and Laurel Springs.