How to Make California’s Homeschooling Programs Better

Homeschooling is not new to education. There are homeschooling program options throughout California that have served students on a smaller scale for years. Traditionally, homeschooling programs attracted students who were either in need of a home hospital type of set up or for students who had extreme challenges with the structure of a traditional school model.

Homeschooling Today

Today, there has become a higher interest and demand for homeschool and independent study programs. Students are opting for homeschooling programs for a variety of reasons, including a need for a more flexible educational option due to a commitment to a sport or an extracurricular activity, learning needs not met in a traditional classroom setting, bullied or social pressure, or simply interested in a more personalized way to learn.

Even though all homeschooling programs are fundamentally structured in the same way where students work primarily at home with the guidance of their parent or another learning coach, most have developed enhancements to their programs. These sorts of enhancements may include:

• Online program where curriculum and instruction is provided primarily online
• Additional instructional support on site or virtually
• Stipends for curriculum of choice
• Field trips

New Tools for Homeschooling Programs

Many of these enhancements add value to the program and to the student’s overall experience and success. In my experience as a homeschool mom for many years several years ago and working as an administrator in the homeschooling field for over 15 years, just sending a student and their parent home with standards based curriculum is not enough.

A parent who agrees to oversee the delivery of a child’s educational program is no small task. It can be an arduous and isolating job. I believe it is the homeschooling program’s responsibility to provide as much support, additional resources, and enhancements as possible to support both the parent and student during what can be a very challenging, yet fulfilling experience.

There are many things learned throughout the years and new tools available to optimize the experience for homeschooled students and parents. I have found the following items to be extremely useful as a previous homeschool parent and experienced homeschool administrator:

• Rigorous online curriculum programs that are engaging and provide real time student performance reports
• Adaptive online curriculum programs that generate content that is at the student’s instructional level so that time is not wasted on topics below and beyond a student’s current reach
• Ongoing assessment tool to continually monitor a student’s growth
• Additional time available with the school’s assigned teacher virtually or on site to get help when needed
• Opportunities to get together with other homeschool students socially and academically
• Opportunities for applications of critical concepts through projects of real world experiences

As the interest and need for quality homeschool programs continues to grow in California, there are ways to improve the experience and level of support for students and parents.