Online Learning: A Positive Look At Home School Support
By Mimi Rothschild
In the past, home school was a permanent cleavage of the student from the school district and its classroom based schools. Some public educators, perhaps unconcerned at first, started to view home school as a loss of revenue: vis-à-vis less money from the state for the number of students enrolled. A “loss” of students to home school implied fewer resources with which to work. Fortunately, perhaps, the days of home school divorces from the school district and school district distrust of the home school are coming to a close. With this closure, a spirit of cooperation between home school and school district is beginning to emerge in places like Haxtun, Colorado.
The notion that some students perform better in alternative education environments is gaining ground, and home school is gaining sanction and acceptance. Instead of fighting a two front struggle with at-risk students on the one side and home school students on the other (with their parents who have determined a classroom is not needed), the school board of Haxtun, Colorado, is reaching out. An alternative school geared specifically for students in danger of leaving high school without a diploma is on the drawing board, and already started is Haxtun school district's very own home school support program.
The home school support program is built on the notion that shared resources are better than split resources. The program does not question or attack the right of the parent to home school their child. Indeed, the program is voluntary for the home school students and parents in the district. It offers such options as tutoring, student evaluations, library access, and the possibility of attending courses in a Haxtun school district classroom, if desired. This is good for the school district, for the student still counts toward their budget; it is good for the student, for he or she maintains their relative autonomy from the district's mandates. That is to say, parents are still free to determine their child's education in the home school, but with even more resources from which to choose.
It may be true that moves toward home school and school district cooperation often involve the bottom line; for example, would Haxtun have extended its hand to the home school students were it not worried about its budget? Yet, even if the inertial shove begins with state budgetary concerns, the results may well bring positive results for all involved beyond the basic revenue question. At the very least, home school support programs like the one started by Haxtun indicate that home school is moving mainstream: existing less as an object of attack, but as a valuable and effective education option among a set of options.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
