Home School Online

What is college supposed to be? I thought, for those who had an intellectual bent and were not under enormous short-term pressure financially, it was the time to develop and experiment intellectually.  In my case, this was true. I went to school not for the contacts, not for the credentials, but for the education.

 I’m in good company. I was just reading Steve Jobs speech given at the Stanford graduation. And I quote:

 But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

Steve’s speech is well worth reading and considering. It makes the point that I wanted to make: the primary purpose of college can be achieved without necessarily earning the degree or spending the money.  Of course, it means forgoing the credential and you can see how much this has handicapped Steve Jobs & Jez San & Bill Gates.

  I ran across the info on Steve Jobs while reading this blog about learning Karate in a post called: Three Stories by Steve, a poem by Shel

Summer Learning - I heard a mother comment recently:

Well, we’re all homeschoolers in the summer.  I have my kids in public school during the week for 9 months in the year but in the summer and on weekends, I’m a homeschooler.

I was very struck by that vision and I’m still not sure what to make of it. But it did remind that all parents have a common opportunity (challenge? problem?), what to with the kids during the summer.  I personally, am a big believer in summer camps that focus on sports, sports, and more sports.  That allow NO electronics. And recreation consists of reading or card games (comic books are fine. But no gambling for more than pennies and nickels).

As you may have I guessed, I went to camps in the summer and loved it.

 For those of you who are trying to build an eclectic summer program, here’s some thoughts quoted about a web-based summer program….

Your child works hard during the school year and needs a summer vacation, in order to come back refreshed. Yet, you know that it would be foolish to waste those summer months since a long summer vacation with no summer course of study can result in backsliding.

Many children fall behind in a subject during the school year and need to do some remedial work in the summer. Time4Learning is an excellent method to review a year’s work during the summer.

Are your kids excited by the idea of summer school, summer courses, or summer study? Mine certainly aren’t. One way to work through this is to try a different approach to learning during the summer .

Have you noticed how much your child enjoys using the computer? Maybe the answer this summer vacation is to use the computer for a fun convenient summer school.

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Remediation & a Head Start for Next Year? Many kids need both….Parents can select the grade level for each subject. Many children are performing in different subjects at different grade levels. For instance, one parent had a student who found her 2nd grade math program too easy but was still struggling to learn to read and effectively at a first grade level. Her mom put her on the first grade Time4Learning program which built her phonics foundation and developed her vocabulary and listening comprehension.

After a few months, Jordan’s reading skills were visibly improved. On the math side her mom gave her some advanced math materials which revealed that while she was strong in math, she had actually missed some concepts but had been to proud to ask for help. Working privately on her own, she developed a more rounded math foundation and became more confident and active in school.

In some states,  many homeschoolers decide to use cover or umbrella schools. 

What is an umbrella school? There is no universal definition for an umbrella (or cover) school because home education laws vary from state to state. In Alabama, for instance, the only way to homeschool is to either have your own teaching certificate or affiliate with a cover school. In Florida, homeschooling through an umbrella school is a convenience but there are other legal approach for folks to homeschool who do not have a teaching certificate. The best way to explain what an umbrella school is is to define what it does.

There is a fair amount of confusion about these cover schools evidenced by the discussions on the forum about umbrella schools.
What does an umbrella school do? In some states, homeschoolers can get some level of support and legal protection for their home education program. Umbrella schools provide a variety of services. Some allow you to choose from among services offered. Most provide you with a set curriculum. Others may allow you to use some or all of your own curriculum, but do grading and review themselves. They also keep records, such as a cumulative record.