| There is an amazing assortment of online homeschool | | | | experience by actually doing the teaching and taking |
| programs on the Internet right now. The market has | | | | control of the process. Some say the course material |
| exploded in the last ten years. You have everything | | | | taught is not what they want their children to learn |
| from supplemental information on CD-ROM's on | | | | either. Who's to say they're right or wrong? It's a very |
| individual subjects to full-blown schools located on the | | | | personal thing, homeschooling. We say let them do as |
| Web. There are programs to fit any need or budget. | | | | they darn well please, it's their kid and their money. If |
| Monthly subscription sites exist where you pay as little | | | | they're willing to sacrifice the time it will take to |
| as $20 a month to enroll your child in their school for | | | | homeschool the old fashioned way, more power to |
| any grade you choose. They suggest a curriculum and | | | | them! |
| you get to tweak it to suit your taste and your | | | | But you know, it wouldn't seem to be a question of |
| student's needs, then the child just logs onto the site | | | | being totally hooked up with an online homeschool |
| each day and gets their latest lessons. The sites | | | | program or not at all. Why couldn't there be a middle |
| regularly test the kids and save their grades for you to | | | | ground? Why couldn't a person use it as just a part of |
| see. The school can be accessed from anywhere you | | | | the homeschooling process? For instance, if a parent |
| have computer access, so education can continue | | | | didn't feel comfortable with teaching math or science, |
| even on extended trips. | | | | why not let the online school take over for those |
| Online homeschool programs seem to be a very good | | | | subjects? The parent could then convene their |
| value compared with other types of distance learning | | | | personal school and teach whatever else is in their |
| available, like correspondence courses. Some of these | | | | curriculum. In other words, use the online teaching as an |
| can cost upwards of $3,000-$4,000 per year per child. | | | | aid or tool in order to complete the homeschool |
| Some universities are now offering both online and | | | | process. Use it to fill in the gaps of knowledge you |
| correspondence type courses. | | | | either don't care to learn or feel inadequate to teach. |
| Some people object to this type of learning. They | | | | Use it, don't get the feeling you're being used. Could be |
| contend that it's too techie and will serve to further | | | | a great little helper to get through some of those |
| enslave their child to a computer, which is the reason | | | | tougher teaching assignments. |
| some are homeschooling in the first place. They want | | | | Whatever your feelings for online homeschool |
| to get their kids away from them and learn more the | | | | programs, it might be worthwhile just to check them |
| old-fashioned way with books and field trips. They also | | | | out. |
| want to be a bigger part of the whole learning | | | | |