Investigate distance and correspondence curricula & online courses

Teaching our children how to learn, and encouraging them to direct themselves, is like helping a starving village grow its own crops in order to feed itself, rather than giving it an overcooked feast that soon vanishes with no more to follow. Instead of subjecting our children to a standardized curriculum, and limiting their learning to the lowest level, we can aspire to a much higher level, and give them an education that is limitless and self-sustaining.

– Laurie Block Spigel, from Education Uncensored

Distance and Correspondence Curricula

If you choose to use a distance or correspondence curriculum, check your local library and inter-library loan (use your educator's card, free at many libraries for homeschoolers), and browse through Travels with Laurie and What's Free or Cheap in NYC for firled trips and experiences that can enrich your curriculum and make it come to life. Subject-specific curricula are listed by subject, linked on the sidebar.

Read Judging Books by Their Covers by noted physicist Richard P. Feynman, about the general quality of school textbooks.

Not all correspondence schools offer accredited diplomas. If this is important to you, check with each individual school to find out if they are accredited in your state.

Also, check out SPALSH, low-cost, in-person, day-long or weekend course-filled events taught by college students for teens and/or tweens, hosted by top universoties! Learning Unlimited posts annual SPLASH events across the USA. My kids looked forward to MIT SPLASH every year! Registration for MIT SPLASH opens in mid-October and fills up fast, with the actual event on the weekend before Thanksgiving. This is the ulimate educational field trip, on a real college campus.

Here is a brief list of correspondence (distance) schools, with some comments contributed by homeschooling parents. Most of the following distance schools offer complete programs with a diploma at the end. More distance schools can be found by searching on the Internet. Please email me your comments and suggestions for this list.

Christopherus
Oak Meadow
Charlotte Mason
The Well-Trained Mind
Kolbe Academy
Laurel Springs
Clonlara School
Texas Tech
Calvert Academy
University of Arizona
North Dakota Distance Schools
The American School
Keystone Distance School
Nebraska's High School
9 - 12: North Atlantic Regional High School (NARHS)

FIND FREE ONLINE CURRICULUM (preK-12) HERE, with all-subject curricula for K-12 as well as a wide selection of subject-specfic curricula ALL FREE. Download the list linked at the top of this page, with additional resources and recommendations on the same page.

Pre-K - 12: Christopherus
A Waldorf-inspired curriculum especially designed for homeschoolers. Recommended by parents who embrace Rudolph Steiner's philosophy of child development and education, this version of Waldorf was created by homeschooling parents. You do not have to purchase an entire curriculum, and can buy just what you need for one subject if you like. They offer a range of materials and curricula for every age and level.
Pre-K - 12: Oak Meadow
Many parents have chosen Oak Meadow because it is a more creative curriculum, and craft kits are offered with lessons and teacher manuals. They also claim to accommodate a wide variety of learning styles. This curriculum is Waldorf-influenced, based on the educational philosophy of Rudolph Steiner.
Pre-K - 12: Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason was a British educator in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most of the Charlotte Mason curriculum is in the public domain and FREE! Part of the unique quality of Charlotte Mason is that no textbooks are used. Instead, nonfiction living books, any book which is passionately written by the author, make the subjects come alive and keep students more fully engaged with the written material. Homeschoolers might follow all or part of Charlotte Masons philosophy.
Pre-K - 12: The Well Trained Mind
This is a popular classical education based on books by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. There are also discussion forums for the Well Trained Mind. Many parents use part of this curriculum as it suits them, rather than trying to do it all as suggested.
K - 12: Kolbe Academy
An orthodox Catholic classical homeschool curriculum that parents are free to adapt to their own situation.
One parent's comment: "I like this curriculum because it offers the best of both worlds: a structured program with flexibility. I can use my own books and I grade the exams. They keep records for me and offer a weekly syllabus with recommended books. Since they have a day school in Napa, California, they offer a California high school diploma."
K - 12: Laurel Springs
One parent's review: "They were ideal when we were starting out and had no idea what to do. The teachers were fabulous and available for questions outside our normal scheduled conferences, changing things as we better identified the kids' needs. After a while, we no longer needed them. The main reason we left them (aside from the fact that it was no longer a necessary expense) was their curriculum was too similar to regular school. They have choices of study methods: project-based, text-based, Internet-based, etc. They follow California state requirements, similar to NY, which ultimately boiled down to the traditional text book/classroom format. For things like science they used standard fare like Scott Foresman, which was the traditional mile wide/inch deep format my kids disliked."
K - 12: Clonlara School
Clonlara is popular among homeschoolers because it can be used as an "umbrella" school (including your own classes and studies, with validation, in their overall program). They will do the paperwork for you as well, including a high school transcript. Clonlara has an actual campus in Ohio as well as their distance program. Compared to the NARHS, the other "umbrella" school on this list, Clonlara is considered more costly and more thorough.
K - 12: Texas Tech K -12
Texas Tech offers a full-time diploma program as well as individual courses, all developed by Texas Tech University.

3 - 12: Calvert Academy
Some consider this program for grades 3-12 more rigorous than others.
K -12: O nline Schools in Arizona - free online public schools as well as tuition-based private online schools
9-12: University of Arizona High School Dual Enrollment Program, allows students to earn college credits (by distance) while in high school.
K - 12: North Dakota C enter for Distance Education, an official website of the State of North Dakota offering a diploma program.
9 - 12: The American School
Earn a high school diploma through distance learning. Some consider American less expensive and less demanding than other programs. I know one homeschooler who was a ballet dancer with a demanding schedule, amd was able to complete the American School curriculum in two hours a day.
K - 12: Keystone Distance School
9 - 12: Nebraska's High School
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln, for grades 9 - 12, is considered one of the best high school distance programs, functioning since 1929. It is popular among students living overseas since they are experienced at sending lab supplies to foreign countries.
9 - 12: NARHS (North Atlantic Regional High School), with a campus in Maine, will allow you to enroll as late as your senior year of high school, and offers an accredited diploma. They can be used as an "umbrella" school, allowing you to fill your credits your way, with the courses you are already taking at home, along with the offerings from NARSH. They are more likely than a standard correspondence school to give you credit for the work you have already done. Considered less expensive than Clonlara (another Umbrella school that gives credits for courses taken at home or elsewhere that are validated).

Here is one parent's comment: "My boys weren't very motivated about the more academic aspects of homeschooling until we enrolled in NARHS (North Atlantic Regional High School), which got us looking more at the big picture rather than the day to day routine. They are now more focused on their own goals (music conservatory for one, marine academy for the other) and thus more willing to do what is needed to create the appropriate high school transcript. It takes some of the burden off me, too, because it's not MY fault if certain subjects are required for an accredited diploma or a particular college's admissions. It is easier now for me to position myself as the person helping them fulfill their own goals, rather than the person nagging them to do stuff they don't want to do."

Online Courses

Evaluating Online Learning: Challenges and Strategies for Success, from the U.S. Dept of Ed

Academic Earth offers free online courses from the world's top scholars.
Coursera.org lists free online courses frmo major universities.
MIT Open Courseware - free classes from massachusetts Institute of Technology.
OpenLearn, free learning from The Open University
Yale free online courses through Coursera
Learn.org - free video leactures from top universities

Find subject-specific curricuum linked on the sidebar of HomeschoolNYC, and on this page. For those who wish to create their own curriculum (which I recommend), there is a lot to choose from under each subject.

This is Step 7 of the Ten Steps to Successful Homeschooling
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