Online schools: Support for busy parents?
Online schools are a great support to homeschooling parents. They provide the structure of a regular curriculum and provide trained teachers via video link and course work. Even if you are already a teacher yourself, you will need help in teaching some subjects such as Maths, English, Science or French, especially if your child is a teenager.
An online school is easier for your child and for you. You need a structured lesson curriculum and without this, it can be hard work teaching your child day in and day out. As a parent, you might not command as much respect as an online teacher who is an expert in their field.
Once the online class is over, you can concentrate on helping your child with projects and trips in order to get a better understanding of the topic.
Taking over your child’s education without the support of an online school is possible and many homeschoolers do just that. The resources are all out there online and you can follow the general curriculum with textbooks and materials. Many online resources are free and enable your child to take virtual tours of places of interest. You can find exciting online lectures and interactive courses in subjects including physics, maths and history.
However, for a lot of parents, this is a big ask! Doing it alone requires you to structure your own curriculum and for many parents, this is a step too far. It is a major decision to take your child or children out of mainstream education and you need to ensure that the homeschooling alternative is better. Failing to do this right may negatively impact your child’s education and life chances.
Online schools – such as ourselves 😉 – offer support to help your child achieve their full potential as a learner. Your child can work his or her way through a structured course with full support from our online teachers. Our virtual classroom ensures that all subjects are covered. When it comes to exam time, the support of an online school ensures that your child will not have gaps in his or her education.
Today, homeschooling is a viable alternative for mainstream education but, it does require that the education is structured.
According to a study carried out in 2011, homeschoolers who provided structured lessons saw higher than average test results for their children, who were generally in the top 80%.
Not so impressive were the minority of homeschooling parents declaring themselves as unschoolers and not following a structured curriculum. When their children’s test results were compared with the homeschoolers and the public school system, their results were well below grade level. Online schools make homeschooling a viable method of education for your children, and offer support that you cannot afford to miss out on.
