A virtual homeschooling center

[The Berean]

I was thinking about this recently and I wanted to know if you guys think it would work. I've hear that argument that many parents simply are not qualified to home school their kids because of their lack of education. So I was thinking about the idea of a virtual homeschooling system. Parents that want their kids home schooled can sign up with a group that would home school their kids online. Now, many universities today offer entire degrees online. And I"m not talking about some diploma mill. I'm talking about schools like Stanford, Ohio State, Cal Poly State University, USC, and Washington University offer, for instance, engineering degrees online. Student from remote areas can take their classes online, speak with their instructors, fellow students, etc., entirely online. The way it would work would be to perhaps have taped lectures that students can view online and be assigned homework. A teacher would have official office hours were students can speak to the instructor through a system like IM. The teacher could speak to all the students at once if one student has a question that may help the other students. Now I do see some potential obstacles. One, would be having a computer with Internet access. Not all kids have a computer with Internet access at home. Another problem is whether high school age students would be as motivated and disciplined to do their homework, take tests online, and keep up with class discussions. I've taken several online college classes and it does take discipline to keep up with the schoolwork. The students that take online classes tend to be older with busy schedules so they like the the freedom and flexibility that online classes give them. The people that take online class are serious students who already plan to put the time in to do the work.

I'm wondering if someone hasn't already started a virtual homeschooling center like this?

 

[MaryContrary]

I would love to see something like that.

 

[ebenz47037]

Yes. I've seen virtual homeschooling sites before like these:

• 
  Jubilee Academy
  Grace Academy
  Keystone National High School

The only thing that turned me off of these programs was the price. Basically, they charged the same price as a private school and required the parents to buy certain curriculum. I think that if they're going to require the purchase of any certain curriculum, that they shouldn't charge more than a quarter that private schools charge, if they don't keep the records for the parents. If they keep the records for the parents, I don't think that they should charge more than half of what private schools charge. After all, from what I've read on these sites over the years, most of the courses were not daily courses. Usually, they were weekly courses. The students would log on once a week to take quizzes/tests and get and turn in assignments. If the parents or students needed to speak to the instructors, they would e-mail them and make an appointment for a phone call.

Personally, I would love to get into something like this, now that :jessilu: has finished school. I loved teaching her and the other kids that I've taught over the years.

 

[kmoney]

I was thinking about this recently and I wanted to know if you guys think it would work. I've hear that argument that many parents simply are not qualified to home school their kids because of their lack of education. So I was thinking about the idea of a virtual homeschooling system. Parents that want their kids home schooled can sign up with a group that would home school their kids online. Now, many universities today offer entire degrees online. And I"m not talking about some diploma mill. I'm talking about schools like Stanford, Ohio State, Cal Poly State University, USC, and Washington University offer, for instance, engineering degrees online. Student from remote areas can take their classes online, speak with their instructors, fellow students, etc., entirely online. The way it would work would be to perhaps have taped lectures that students can view online and be assigned homework. A teacher would have official office hours were students can speak to the instructor through a system like IM. The teacher could speak to all the students at once if one student has a question that may help the other students. Now I do see some potential obstacles. One, would be having a computer with Internet access. Not all kids have a computer with Internet access at home. Another problem is whether high school age students would be as motivated and disciplined to do their homework, take tests online, and keep up with class discussions. I've taken several online college classes and it does take discipline to keep up with the schoolwork. The students that take online classes tend to be older with busy schedules so they like the the freedom and flexibility that online classes give them. The people that take online class are serious students who already plan to put the time in to do the work.

I'm wondering if someone hasn't already started a virtual homeschooling center like this?

I think I'd prefer having the children actually present with the teacher, but I don't think it's a bad idea. One question is cost. How much?

 

[kmoney]

The only thing that turned me off of these programs was the price. Basically, they charged the same price as a private school and required the parents to buy certain curriculum. I think that if they're going to require the purchase of any certain curriculum, that they shouldn't charge more than a quarter that private schools charge, if they don't keep the records for the parents. If they keep the records for the parents, I don't think that they should charge more than half of what private schools charge. After all, from what I've read on these sites over the years, most of the courses were not daily courses. Usually, they were weekly courses. The students would log on once a week to take quizzes/tests and get and turn in assignments. If the parents or students needed to speak to the instructors, they would e-mail them and make an appointment for a phone call.

Personally, I would love to get into something like this, now that :jessilu: has finished school. I loved teaching her and the other kids that I've taught over the years.

I guess I should have kept reading before I asked my question about cost. :chuckle: I was thinking the same thing about it might be just as much as a private school and if I'm going to pay that much I'd just send my kid to a "real" school as opposed to a virtual one.

 

[The Berean]

I haven't really thought through the cost analysis. But I would want it to be far cheaper than private schools. Charging as much as private schools is ridiculous IMO.

 

[QueenAtHome]

Here are my thoughts right now

How would this be different than things like Switched on schoolhouse
or k12?

I was involved in a virtual charter school through k12. The fact that it was considered a "public school" meant testing andf more testing. There was conference calls every month. Unless you had a "challenge/problem" student, then you had weekly calls. I believe that the high schoolers had to turn their work into the teacher weekly. HSLDA does not cover such programs because they consider them to be public schools and going backwards from where we came. (their site is down right now so I can't link the article)

Many states require that if you aren't directly schooling your child that they be taught by a certified teacher. (or at least monitored by one) how would that part work?

 

[heir]

Here are my thoughts right now

How would this be different than things like Switched on schoolhouse
or k12?

I was involved in a virtual charter school through k12. The fact that it was considered a "public school" meant testing andf more testing. There was conference calls every month. Unless you had a "challenge/problem" student, then you had weekly calls. I believe that the high schoolers had to turn their work into the teacher weekly. HSLDA does not cover such programs because they consider them to be public schools and going backwards from where we came. (their site is down right now so I can't link the article)

Many states require that if you aren't directly schooling your child that they be taught by a certified teacher. (or at least monitored by one) how would that part work?

I'm all for it if it's covered under HSLDA. If not, we just keep on keepin' on.

 

[MrRadish]

I learn Latin via videoconferencing, which is similar to what you seem to be describing. It's not too bad, though it certain is less inspiring and engaging than actually having a real teacher present in the room. It's also more difficult to motivate yourself into doing work and there's less scope for one-on-one discussion with the teacher either in or out of lessons. This adds to the strange, rather impersonal feel of it. And of course if one's learning on one's own then one doesn't get the sense of a working environment, social bonding and various other important skills that one learns from attending normal classes.

 

[johana]

Here are my thoughts right now

How would this be different than things like Switched on schoolhouse
or k12?

I was involved in a virtual charter school through k12. The fact that it was considered a "public school" meant testing andf more testing. There was conference calls every month. Unless you had a "challenge/problem" student, then you had weekly calls. I believe that the high schoolers had to turn their work into the teacher weekly. HSLDA does not cover such programs because they consider them to be public schools and going backwards from where we came. (their site is down right now so I can't link the article)

Many states require that if you aren't directly schooling your child that they be taught by a certified teacher. (or at least monitored by one) how would that part work?

What if it wasn't so much a school as a collective resource. I've heard homeschooling parents talking about how they can pool money and hire a tutor to specifically school a group of homeschooled kids in a topic that requires a specialised skill set that can't be met by the parents - physics or something that's beyond the parents knowledge. Perhaps an online resource like this could work in the same way. Enroll the child in subjects that would be better taught by a specialist, the teacher sets homework and will mark it, have IM services, perhaps a forum for the different subjects where the teachers can interact with the kids and the kids can talk to each other, IM services for one-on-one or more intensive tutoring on areas the child is having trouble with.

Does that sort of thing exist?

I can't imagine it costing more than or even nearly as much a private school, particularly given that (here in Australia at least) a lot of the fees go towards facilities and running costs. Having said that, I don't know how much private schools cost in the states. In Melbourne, a reputable private school will set you back between $10,000-$20,000 a year.

If you have a thousand kids all paying $2,500 a year you've all of a sudden got $2,500,000 dollars to play with. That's enough to pay 50 teachers $50,000 a year. Halve that amount to $1,750 with the same number of kids and you can still get 25 teachers. I could definitely see it working if the curriculum and resources were enough to justify the fees and membership and if it was run by homeschooling parents for minimal fee allocated to administration. For love not money.

 

[johana]

I learn Latin via videoconferencing, which is similar to what you seem to be describing. It's not too bad, though it certain is less inspiring and engaging than actually having a real teacher present in the room. It's also more difficult to motivate yourself into doing work and there's less scope for one-on-one discussion with the teacher either in or out of lessons. This adds to the strange, rather impersonal feel of it. And of course if one's learning on one's own then one doesn't get the sense of a working environment, social bonding and various other important skills that one learns from attending normal classes.

One would imagine that the parents would still be there at home to help guide and motivate the kids. Also if the kids are used to learning, for the large part, by themselves at home outside of a classroom environment, they may not feel the same about the distant nature of the schooling.

Here we have long distance education for kids in the outback. From what I hear, it's pretty great for them. They have internet resources, they used to use fax and I assume they still do for kids in areas without internet access. They have flying teachers. For kids who are used to being pretty (by pretty I mean almost completely) isolated, it must feel really connecting to be involved in a community where if you went into that sort of program and lived 500 miles from the next person you'd probably feel like your throat had been cut.

 

[QueenAtHome]

so what you are describing is an online co-op?