The Homeschooling Handbook_ From Preschool to High School - Mary Griffith [42]
At times, the controversy over the various forms of assisted homeschooling takes on an almost religious fervor. Families involved with public programs especially can find themselves ostracized by local support groups unable or unwilling to grant that there are legitimate reasons—financial, pedagogical, philosophical—to choose such programs. But independent homeschoolers have good reason to be concerned about the effects of large numbers of homeschoolers choosing some form of assisted homeschooling. Support groups that have existed for years have found their memberships dwindling as homeschoolers flock to charter schools and other similar programs. Independent homeschoolers worry about the possibility of tightened homeschooling regulations restricting homeschooling to some sort of “official” homeschooling program and losing the right to homeschool independently.
Much of this debate is simply the result of rapid growth and change within the homeschooling movement. Many more families are coming to homeschooling from the public schools than before, and many have only just begun to explore their options. There are more companies seeking to sell products to homeschoolers, and more homeschoolers looking for materials. With the public school pendulum swinging ever more quickly and widely between standardized curriculum guidelines and experimental programs such as charter schools, homeschoolers will undoubtedly have more changes to contend with, and probably more cross-over between conventional and alternative approaches to education will occur.
The stresses on existing homeschooling organizations will increase as the homeschooling population changes and adapts. With so many programs—both public and private—seeking to enroll homeschoolers, often by limiting information about competing programs, state and local support groups will have to work hard to maintain open communications among all factions of homeschoolers, to make sure that information about all available choices reaches all homeschoolers.
Some suggestions for navigating the growing maze of options:
Talk to lots of other homeschoolers about any program you consider. Ask them why they chose whatever option they use, whether they’ve tried others, and, if so, why they changed.
Don’t assume that anyone who tells you that their program is “the best available” or “your only legal option for homeschooling” necessarily has your best interests at heart. Remember to ask what’s in it for them if you go along with their advice.
Even if you choose to use a public program, join a state homeschool organization if one exists where you live. Such groups are vigilant observers of changes in statutes and regulations to do with homeschooling, and they will do their best to keep you informed of anything that might affect your rights and options. (See Chapter 11 for more about such groups and the services they provide.)
Above all, don’t believe for an instant any group or individual that insists that their way of homeschooling is the only way or the best way. Only you and your family can decide what works best for you.
CHAPTER FIVE
Money and Other Practical Matters
WE’VE TALKED ABOUT some of the legal implications of homeschooling, about theories of learning, and about how homeschoolers try to put some of those theories into practice, but there are also lots of practical considerations when you’re getting started homeschooling. How much does it all cost? Can families really afford homeschooling in today’s economy? Do you need a special room for your “school”? How do you organize all your learning materials? In this chapter we’ll take a look at such practical considerations.
How Much Does Homeschooling Cost?
No one can predict what your exact financial outlay for homeschooling will be because so much depends on the choices you and your family make about your