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Do Online Schools Scare You Silly?
It's a Feeding Frenzy of Ads Preying on Homeschool Fears
I just got an advertisement for an online, accredited program. I just have to respond! If you look at the ad, you might feel insecure, or inadequate. But you are a homeschool parent! Let me tell you the truth!
fully accredited providers
- are not better than parents that are official educators, though not accredited
superior, personalized education
- nothing is more personalized than parent-provided education
highly accountable schooling
- can be achieved by talking to your children about school each day
certified teachers
- are not better than homeschool parents
a proven curriculum
- is one that works for YOUR student, not some other child
technology tools
- are available to everyone, and not effective for all students
community experiences
- are experiences in a community, not online
individualized approach to education
- that's the essence of homeschooling independently
make your homeschool life easier
- by homeschooling independently, with fewer regulations and record keeping requirements
caring teachers
- who could possibly care more than YOU?
You are the BEST person to be in charge of your child's education. Maintain your homeschool independence, and you will be able to provide the highest quality education that is a perfect fit for your child, allowing perfect flexibility and optimum preparedness for college and for life. Don't be swayed, even if a friend might stop homeschooling. Don't fall for the gimmick that another kind of school system is somehow better.
The grass is NOT greener on the other side. It's just imperfect, not-always-green grass.
It will not make your life easier. Homeschooling isn't easy, and nobody can promise you that it will be easier, that's true. But signing up for a program promising "easier" doesn't make your life any easier or better. You can make your own life easier and better. You can change the parts of your homeschool that are not working, and keep the stuff that is working. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water! If something isn't working, change that one thing. You don't need to stop homeschooling because you need to modify your plan slightly.
Hang in there, parents! Parenthood is a short season. You can do it!
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208 N Western St.
Amarillo, TX 79106
Phone: 1-888-533-2435
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 9.00 am to 03:00 pm (PST)
Amarillo, TX 79106
Phone: 1-888-533-2435
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 9.00 am to 03:00 pm (PST)
Comments 3
Hello Lee! You are certainly right that the homeschool parent is superior in many ways to centralized, online instruction. But there remains a major problem for homeschooling. Serious biases--e.g., political--may skew written curriculum. A bias is not necessarily an incorrect perspective but it is always better to expose the student to relevant, multiple biases. Let them decide at a later point in college which bias makes the most sense. My own investigation of available curriculum is telling me that just because a curriculum is labeled one way, say, "conservative," does NOT mean you can trust it in full.
Hello Lee. Your post today has to be one of my favorite from you. I have spent time reading through many sites, blogs, ezines, ect. and I keep coming back to yours. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I can hardly believe that I'm looking at high school already! You are making a difference in my life. Choices are becoming easier for me to make.
JW - THANK YOU for your honesty. Books and handwriting skills are at the top of my list.
I am leery of computerized school because my husband is a programmer with well over 20 years of experience. Things go wrong all the time with software, hardware, and wetware (the brain of either the programmer or the end user). It's just the nature of the beast. I don't trust computers any farther than I can throw them (and that's about ten feet, thirty for a notebook if I throw it like a Frisbee). Give me books, manipulatives, and field trips any day. If the dog eats a cuisinaire rod or a book is left behind at the beach, that's my fault, I can take it and not make the same mistake again. But if suddenly "computer school" doesn't work and I get the runaround trying to convince someone in India that yes, I did this, that, and the other and it still isn't working... That galls me no end.