Now for a look at private distance learning options. The first thing to understand is that they are not free. Private schools don’t receive government money or the inherent government strings that come with government funding. Therefore, you will need to pay for the services of private distant learning but you also receive the inherent freedom to choose the who, what, when and where of your child’s education, especially important during the high school years.

There are many wonderful private options available to homeschoolers – so many that it can leave you feeling kind of like a kid in a candy shop. However, because there are so many options, it can be a bit overwhelming to wade through all the available choices. The good news is that for the parent considering the distance learning option, there is sure to be an option that fits you and your family.

Distance learning schools can be referred to as correspondence schools, umbrella schools, cyber schools and probably others. There are also schools catering to particular faiths, “gifted” children or “learning disabled” children. There are even colleges offering high school courses and schools that allow dual credits, meaning that the student gets both a high school and college credit. Additionally, there are schools, that offer individual courses for credit. Some schools provide K-12 instruction, while others only work at the high school level.

Keeping in mind that the distinctions between different distance learning schools and options are not always black & white, let’s look at three broad option categories.

Schools that do it all

• Choose the curriculum and course of study
• Choose what subject will be studied each year
• Determine the time frame for completion of each course and the work needing to be completed
• Grade, evaluate and award credits for the student’s work

Advantages to schools that do it all:

• Schools that provide everything open the option to homeschooling to those who for health or other reasons (single mom’s who have to work) that need to have a program that “does it all.”

Disadvantages to schools that do it all:

• Allows little of your input

Schools that let you do it all

• You decide what your student’s course of study will be
• You have the freedom to design your own courses that allow your student to follow their areas of interest
• You can mix & match curricula
• You can go the traditional text book route
• You determine the pace of study
• Work is typically submitted to an assigned advisor at the end of the year who works with you to determine how many credits the submitted work warrants. (The process varies from school to school.)
• Allow you to “translate” life experiences in courses of study, i.e keeping a checking account can count towards a “consumer math” credit

Advantages to schools that let you do it all:

• You can do it your way, based upon what you determine is best for your child, be it what they study or how they learn best.
• You can use real life experiences
• Greater freedom to experiment with different courses and methods of learning and freedom to “ditch” something that just plain isn’t working
• Your student can be more involved in planning what they study
• You are free to take time off or family vacations when you want

Disadvantages to schools that let you do it all:

• If you “do your own thing”, documenting the work for submission can be tedious, time-consuming and cumbersome

Schools that offer a blend of the two above options

• Advantages & disadvantages vary depending on the school and/or course of study you choose

As you can see from the broad overview, it’s helpful to have an idea of what’s important to you as you explore the different distance learning options.

• How important is it to you to be involved in your student’s course of study?
• Do you want to be involved in all of it or some of it?
• What can you afford?
• Are you the kind of person who likes to be creative or spontaneous with your child’s education? (I have discovered that I am the kind of person who for the most part can not go the text book route, I just can’t. It doesn’t work for the kids or me and I always end up creating a course or mixing & matching resources, utilizing internet resources for a lot of what we do.)

Where do you go from here? Good question & I’m glad you asked

1. Check out the Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance Learning Options for Teens & Adults by Thomas Nixon. I have not read it personally, but have had it highly recommended.
2. Here are a couple sites you can look at that offer more specific information about schools

• Distance Learning
• Umbrella & Correspondence Schools

1. Do some Google searches – a few suggestions are

• homeschool correspondence schools
• homeschool umbrella schools
• homeschool distance learning

Next topic: transcripts, which will likely wind up this series on distance learning options for homeschoolers. Is there something more you’d like to see? Let me know!

Sue

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