Homeschool
Options For Parents
Enrollment
in a Christian school to homeschool has multiple
benefits: Biblical structure for parenting,
cost, accountability, flexibility, identity,
academic help, plus much more. The two
greatest challenges homeschool parents face are
motivation and concept help. Enrollment in
a Christian school can help with student
motivation, because someone besides Mom and Dad
expects the work to be done. Schools that
offer teacher support can also help relieve
parent frustrations with academic help,
especially with older grade levels.
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EIGHT
IMPORTANT
THINGS TO KNOW FOR
HOMESCHOOLING WITH
DISTANCE EDUCATION:
 If
you
are going to
consider a
school's distance
learning program
for homeschooling,
here are eight important points you should look
for:
1.
Accredited by a
Dept. of Education
recognized accreditation:
If you should
transfer to
another school,
you do not want a hassle to get
credit recognized.
They should also
have a school number
for college
entrance,
military, FAFSA,
etc.
2.
Years in existence:
It is crucial the
school has
operated longer
than 13 years so
curriculum and
structure is
polished.
You want to make
sure your
child's education
is not an
experiment.
3.
Offers multiple curriculum
formats:
Online
courses are not
for
everyone.
Your child's
learning style may
cause a need to
switch formats for
success.
Some schools only
offer one
format.
4.
Includes standardized
achievement
testing:
This is a sign the
school is
monitoring its
academic results
for success,
weakness, and
improvement.
You should be
concerned if the
school does not
use
school-wide
testing. You should note if
testing is a hidden or extra cost of the
school when
comparing tuition. Many states will allow this testing to meet local homeschool requirements.
A few states
require an
additional
test.
5.
Student record
maintenance:
It is a plus if
the new school
will assist you
with transfer
requirements from
the prior school.
It is essential
the new school
will make sure
your child's
academic record is
in good shape,
even if it wasn't
before.
6.
Extra
academic support:
It is important if
the school offers
extra academic
assistance.
This is important
to have as an
available option, especially for
higher grade
levels. Some
parents need a
different person
to assist with
academic
challenges, no
matter what the
grade level.
7.
Larger
school: It
isn't always the
case, but large
schools grew large
for a
reason. They
also have some
benefits a small
school does
not. Unless you
know the enrolled families
of a
smaller school, it
is often better to
choose a larger
school.
8.
College
sports: If there is a
possibility that
your student will
participate in
college division
one sports,
the school's high
school courses
must be NCAA
approved. Just
because a school
is accredited does
not mean their
courses are NCAA
approved!
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TWO TOP DISTANCE LEARNING
SCHOOLS:
After
you read the
important points to the left, here
are two choices we
found that cover
our criteria, plus
some extra
benefits. Schools
were selected by a combination of cost, years in
existence, accreditations, multiple biblical
curriculum options, achievement testing included, pre-K through 12th, and options for
extra teacher support:
Eastern
half of U.S.: Southeast
Academy
Western
half of U.S.: Western
Christian Academy
-
Accreditation-
both have
regional
accreditations
recognized by
the Dept. of
Education AND
a separate
private school
accreditation
for peer
review from a
private school
perspective.
-
Both
have NCAA
approved high
school
courses.
-
Both
use
non-doctrinal,
Biblically-based
curriculum.
-
Both
have been in
existence for
about 30
years each.
-
Both
have online,
paper, cd, and
combination
options for
most grades.
-
Both
include annual
achievement
testing in
tuition.
-
Both
assist with
transferring
from prior
school along
with records
management.
-
Both
offer support
level options-
teacher
support
(around $156
per month) OR
a basic option
with just an
academic
advisor
(around $85
per
month).
-
Both
have
quarterly,
semester, and
annual payment
options to
save even more
money.
-
Both
diagnose students
when they first
enroll to make
sure there are not
missing concept
gaps.
-
Both
offer a 10%
discount for
military.
-
They
are larger
schools.
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 Hot
Tip #1: Save
your organization hundreds
or thousands of dollars!
Older CRT monitors,
especially 17" and
larger, consume an enormous
amount of electricity
compared to new monitors.
This type of monitor should
be shut off when not in use.
The expense of a newer LCD
(flat screen) monitor can
often be recaptured in only
one year's savings of
electricity! Newer
monitors will also reduce
the load on the circuits in
your room and save you desk
space. Older heavy
monitors will bow tables in
less than two years. Older monitors also
expensively emit more heat
which can raise your energy
bill due to air
conditioning. When
soliciting computer
donations, specify that you
only need flat screen
monitors and do not need CRT
monitors. CRT's are
getting more expensive to
dispose of each year.
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Become
a Hero to your organization!
Hot
Tip #2: Save
your organization from
burning hundreds or
thousands of dollars per
year! Implement
these six essentials!
1. Buy
non-OEM black ink cartridges
instead of OEM HERE! Example:
HP45's for less than $5.00.
Black remanufactured
cartridges are normally good
for photo printing. Avoid
remanufactured color
cartridges if
you print photos because the
colors may vary slightly.
Remanufactured color
cartridges are normally okay
for teacher/office use.
Trying to refill your own
cartridges has the risk of a
messy disaster and the extra
labor eliminates the
savings.
2. Change
your default printing
preferences on all computers
to draft or fast draft which
prints faster. Draft
mode normally works great
for school use. Users
can always change their
preferences for individual
prints from File and Print
and Preferences when they
want a better print quality.
You can change the default
settings to draft for all
jobs in Control Panel (not
from printer preferences in
your browser or publishing
program). This will
save you a ton of ink!
3. Spend
a little more for paper with
a higher brightness number
(i.e. 92-100), because paper
is less expensive than ink!
An extra dollar for a ream
of paper makes draft
printing look like normal
printing and will save you
several dollars of ink every
ream!
4. Try
making most documents
available from your website,
and let users consume their
own ink. Many
e-mail programs now let you
create newsletter-looking
messages that you send out
via e-mail.
5. Consider
an older
"workhorse"
printer for volume users
like the secretary. Older
HP's that use black 45's or
15's will keep cost per copy
under 1 penny. (i.e.
HP 700-722 uses HP45's)
Newer printers do not use
larger capacity cartridges,
have more expensive
remanufactured cartridge
options until they are
older, and do not hold as
many sheets in the tray.
6. Most
organizations are now
purchasing multi-function
type printers. This
essentially puts a copier on
each desk. This is great for
small copy numbers, but
staff should be regularly
reminded to use the
commercial copier for larger
quantities. They should also
be reminded to make black
copies instead of color on
their classroom printer.
Distance learning from an accredited online Christian school makes sense and saves
cents! If you are researching online homeschool programs, online Christian schools, or looking for options for your current homeschooling situation,
the points above are
important to consider for distance learning options for parents. The
current home school
options showcased
are as low as $85 per
month for curriculum, service, and umbrella. |
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