With educational priorities shifting and technology advancing, a boom in the number of students being homeschooled through middle and high school is expected within the next few years. And on top of that, parents are favoring online homeschooling programs because of the individualized opportunities they provide students over the short run and the long run.
According to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), homeschooled students:
– Participate in local community service more frequently than the general population.
– Vote and attend public meetings more frequently than the general population.
– Go to and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.
– By adulthood, internalize the values and beliefs of their parents at a high rate.
Here are even more reasons why parents are gravitating towards online homeschooling programs:
Established Curriculums
Homeschooling puts a lot of pressure on a parent’s ability to teach, especially when not everyone is equipped to explain algebra to an eighth-grader or trigonometry to a high school senior. Online classes help parents overcome this by providing a curriculum and trained instructors, while still allowing students to learn outside of a typical classroom environment.
Homeschooling through a formal online program also eliminates some stress that parents are likely to encounter. Typical homeschools leave the majority of the responsibility for lesson plan creation and course materials to the parents. An online program has a structured curriculum already in place, so parents aren’t the ones solely responsible for creating an education plan.
Socialization
Another common reason that parents prefer online homeschooling programs for their children has to do with common socialization issues of middle and high school age groups, like bullying and bad influences.
By bringing the learning environment into the home, parents are able to have more control over their children’s social interactions. But this isn’t as restricted as many people think, since they are still able to socialize with their peers through extracurricular activities, community events, job opportunities, and meet-ups with other homeschooled students. Online programs also allow students to communicate with peers in similar situations more openly than they’d be able to in a traditional homeschool setting.
Customized Education Plans
Online learning provides an environment that is fully tailored to the student’s unique learning style. Students have the freedom to take breaks, listen to music, or perform other activities that can help fuel their productivity, and in a competency-based environment, they are able to move through course materials at their own learning pace.
Flexible Schedules
As long as they have internet access, students can work on their class assignments from anywhere in the world. That means their schedule isn’t restricted to the traditional Monday through Friday timeline, leaving plenty of time for their hobbies and passions, like:
– Sports
– Acting
– Internships
– Travel
– Work
– Music
Many online programs (like VLACS) also offer students the opportunity to receive class credit through projects and experiences like internships.
The NHERI also states that:
– The home-educated student typically scores 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.
– Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents’ level of formal education or their family’s household income.
– Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.
– Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.
VLACS offers elementary, middle, and high school students an online educational experience that’s not restricted to a one-size-fits-all curriculum. Have any questions about online homeschool programs for your student? Attend an open house to learn more about our online education or visit our FAQs page.
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