Homeschooling on the Rise

 I homeschool my children. We use a cyber charter school. I have always been against putting my children in public school because of several reasons. A big reason is that I don’t believe my children are safe in the public schools. I thought for a long time that there were very few homeschoolers in our town and that my children would probably stick out because of that. As I got in my second year of teaching my children at home, I began to find out that a lot of children are homeschoolers. A lot of parents had some of the same views I had on public schools and felt that homeschool was the way to go. This year, I found out that there is well over 1000 children in the northern part of my state that homeschool. There are several different choices of homeschooling. One choice is to traditionally homeschool your children. Traditional homeschool is where the parent buys the curriculum of their choice, teach their children at home, get the children tested at their expense, and keeps portfolios of their children’s work to hand into the school district. Parents I have talked with that use the traditional homeschool method say that they truly enjoy it because it gives them a lot of time with their children. They also can change the curriculum at any point if the cirruculum isn’t working for their child. Another choice for homeschooling is through your school district cyber charter blended school. I know that in my area the public school offers a cyber charter blended school. The blended school is where a child does his/her main courses on the computer at home and goes to the school for phys ed., music, art, and other secondary courses. Some like this choice for the interaction their children get. These parents like to be able to teach the children with the help of online support and still let their children get a public school experience. The other choice of homeschooling is cyber charter schools. There is a lot of cyber charter schools that are public schools. These schools ship you all the books, a lot of the supplies, and a computer to your child. The children have to do so many hours a day and have to go to testing sites to make sure they are on mark. They get assigned an online teacher and can get extra assistance if they need it. I choose cyber charter school because of the interaction they receive from a teacher and in online classrooms with other children their age while still being at home. My children still participate in a lot of different sports and clubs to get socialization but they do like the homeschooling experience. My children get the attention they need to meet their goals and sometimes even do better then the goal. As homeschooling continues to rise in popularity, more options become available. The many choices between public, private, and homeschooling are making it easier for ever child to succeed.