The Homeschooling Handbook_ From Preschool to High School - Mary Griffith [38]
For home independent study programs, charter schools, and other public school options, it’s especially important to find out how flexible the program and its administrators are and how supportive its district personnel are. Lack of such support or increased regulation from the district or state level can often bring startling changes midyear and leave you stuck in a program you dislike intensely. If you have any doubts, think about alternatives just in case you need them.
Advantages
Charter schools, home study programs, and other public homeschooling options are indisputably legal means of complying with your state’s compulsory school attendance laws.
Public homeschooling programs charge no tuition; program expenses are funded by the school district or other public education agency.
Public programs can provide your family with learning materials—even long-term loans of computers, musical instruments, and other big-ticket items—you might otherwise be unable or unwilling to pay for.
You have a built-in support group in other enrolled families.
Drawbacks
As with private programs, the public program you choose may not be as well suited to your needs as you expect.
More or different record keeping than you are comfortable with may be required.
Many public homeschooling programs require standardized tests or other means of student assessment, which many families find irrelevant or even disruptive to their approach to learning.
The Do-It-Yourself Approach
Remember that comment at the beginning of the introduction to this book: “I know someone who homeschools, but I could never do it myself—it’d be so much work.” With the plethora of public and private options, and plenty of marketers eager to tell you what you “need” to do a good job homeschooling, it’s all too easy to think you can’t handle the job. But many families eschew both public and private programs and choose to homeschool independently of charter schools, independent study programs, or curriculum vendors. Such homeschoolers run the gamut from school-at-homers to unschoolers, but they are united in their belief in their ability to provide their children with an appropriate and effective education. Some come to independent homeschooling after trying one or more forms of assisted homeschooling; others start out on their own and never see any reason to change.
Independent homeschoolers take responsibility for their children’s education. They choose their materials, they decide how and when to use them, and they decide how to evaluate the success or limits of their homeschooling program. They decide whether to join a local support group, whether to become involved with cooperative learning projects, conventional youth groups, or community organizations.
Many parents homeschooling independently find the whole process daunting at first but gradually realize that learning to rely on their own judgment is as much an education for them as it is for their children. Once they realize that there are no right and wrong answers to the question of how to homeschool, that the process of figuring out what works continues for as long as the homeschooling, they begin to enjoy the process of trial and error.
Advantages
Independent homeschooling is completely flexible; learning can be completely tailored to the needs of the individuals involved.
The family is totally responsible for creating and implementing their homeschooling program.
Working independently helps the entire family develop enormous confidence in their abilities.
Learning can be completely integrated into the whole family routine; outside schedules impinge only as much as the family chooses to let them.
Drawbacks
Bearing complete responsibility for creating and implementing a homeschooling program can be more than some families are comfortable with.
Expenses for books and materials can be unpredictable.
Depending on the state of residence, independent homeschooling may leave some families concerned