Each year more, and more families are considering homeschooling or educating their children at home.When it come to homeschooling there are actually several options to choose from. Many have chosen to sign up with online schools. The online schools are just about the same as public school accept you attend from the comfort of your own home. One thing that you will want to keep in mind however is that no online school is exactly the same. As a mom who has been homeschooling for some time, I know that researching before choosing an online school or program is very important. Before you sign up with an online school there are several things that you will want to try looking into.
Required schedule
Before you even look at the price, you will want to take a look at the school schedule that may be required. Some online schools need your child to log on at a specific time, and work for a certain amount of time. This schedule will make it more difficult for some to homeschool. One of the things that many including myself, really enjoy about homeschooling is the flexibility. The fact that if your child is struggling with one subject you can spend more time on it. This makes it difficult when it comes time to go on field trips with other homeschoolers.
The price
The price also makes a huge difference in which online school you choose, but you should not entirely base your decision on the price. One thing that I have learned over the years is that the price does not determine if it is a good online school or not. Once you find a school that you like, you will want to see if it fits within your budget which is also very important.
Too fast
There are also some online programs which tend to go too fast, for some kids. Remember that online schools are very similar to public schools, in the sense that they stick with the same schedule as public school. For some the schedule just goes too fast for the student to keep up. In order to find out the pace of the school, you will want to check with other students who attend the same online public schools. In some instances you can post in a forum to get ideas on a particular program that one or two families have had experience with.
Lack of teacher support
Just because an online school says that they have teachers checking the work, and interacting with you does not necessarily mean helping your child. There are some online schools where the teachers only grade the papers, but offer no additional support. The key to finding a good online school is to find a school where the teachers will actually help to support the learning process at home. Remember that part of the reason some choose to use the online schools is so that they will still have that much-needed support.