“If there is any one truth I would gladly impress on the mind of a young Christian, it is just this, that God notices the most trivial act, accepts the poorest, most threadbare little service, listens to the coldest, feeblest petition, and gathers up with parental fondness all our fragmentary desires and attempts at good works. Oh, if we could only begin to conceive how He loves us, what different creatures we should be!”
-Mrs. E. Prentiss, Stepping Heavenward
Today I asked my online home school support groups this question:
I am meeting with a lady this afternoon who is pulling her son out of public school and is looking to home school. I am hopefully going to help her find what she is looking for their home education goals.
What I am looking for from all of you is, what questions would you ask a potential school board and facilitator before signing up with them?
Here are some of the answers I received (they are some great answers):
1. maximum freedom with maximum money - i haven't needed a lot of "support" - i find i have way more support online with you all, and in real life with my sisters and friends (well, i've met most of you IRL, too) - plus if i need something, i'm confident to go and dig. I've also read all the homeschooling books and have an idea about the main philosophical approaches, and an idea of where i fit in there - also, i've tried enough curriculum to be able to tell with a pretty large degree of accuracy what will work for my family.
A lot of that just comes with time, though - and if a mom is willing to put in the time to do her own research, we really need *nothing* besides the "keeping it legal" aspect of being signed up somewhere (and i don't agree that it's the government's role to force me to tell them what i'm doing with my children's education, but whatever, it's the law right now) - and here in Alberta, it is very nice to have the money to go for music lessons/sports/books/lab kits etc...
2. I didn't know that you really don't have to read every single page of work. That you only need to send in the actual work stuff. So you can change the lesson around or omit or add stuff according to your child.
If I had to read every single page in every subject I'm not sure we would get through it all in a year. Some things she all ready knew we would skip the lesson and just have her do the work. Other times it required more of a lesson to understand the work.
Also our school (School of Hope) doesn't require that she write everything herself. Mainly spelling and her phonics/English stuff she does. I can speed things up by making all the other subjects like math/science filling in the lesson with my writing. I just ask her the questions verbally and fill in what she says. She's only in grade 2 though.
Make sure she understands to contact the teacher if any questions arise. In the beginning I was concerned about contacting the teacher for the small things. However she truly has been great in answering all my questions and providing different ideas.
My only complaint with the School of Hope is that there is no support in the area. If I want to attend sessions and other stuff they are either in Calgary or Edmonton. That's too far to drive every week for an hour. So I do feel isolated a lot.
That's my two cents, but again I am new to all of this as well.
3. I know I am American, and do not have these groups to investigate. However, I may be able to help with some questions to have the boards answer.
1) What do you have to offer for my child? Maybe this would take some investigation on my part, but I do know when D pulled the kids out of school, I checked out almost every curriculum out there and wished I could have seen some before purchasing.
2) My Child likes ____. (music, writing, sports) What do you suggest we do? Some homeschool groups here in the states do more sports or music or group activities. Some co-ops do better than others. If I new what my child liked, I would hope my facilitator would be able to head me in the right direction. I hear some of you saying how different boards have field trips, online classes,etc. If your child learned by doing, a board that had lots of FT nearby , would probably be a good fit. If your child liked independence and online classes, than you want/need a board that supports your child and your family.
3) My child had trouble with ______. What do you suggest to help this situation? A few suggestions should be given. It would be nice if you could see and try out any curriculum prior to purchasing. I have talked with different schools locally. Those who answered my questions in a timely manner, will be the ones I choose. One local school still has not responded to my calls and visits. I would not pick this school for my children.
4) Do they have a parent support group? When I first started, I so needed support from anyone!! Do they have a child support group for your child's age? Will they let younger/older join? One group I was in , only wanted 8 year olds with 8 year olds. My kids also took a class where the class range went from 4 to adult! It was a pottery class, that because of a wonderful instructor, age really did not matter.
5) I would have the mom do some online research to know what is available to her and the family. This, to me, was very important! I would also talk with any parents I could, who hs, and find out what they like/dislike about their group. Do a few activities with each group. Talk with parents and kids.
6) Enjoy your child!!
4. Good Morning,
We are with the School of Hope, and that is something that is lacking,
no matter what grade level your child is in - total lack of
support/activities in the area, closest being Edmonton or Calgary.
Contacting your facilitator or teacher on the other hand is totally
awesome, they always find a way to help and return calls. Work for us
has always been - get the main things done and these assignments have
always been coded for us, so we know that these areas are to be learned
fully, and the rest can be touched on lightly. eg. math or science -
know the concepts, skip to the next lesson or lessons. \love it, no
wasting time doing lessons that kids already know - do the test for the
record and get on with the rest. This has been how we have been
schooling for the last 14 or so years, and with the same board. I am
home schooling the last 2 of the tribe and we are teaching grade 8 & 9.
5. When we pulled our kids from public school, I didn't really know/understand that there were different types of schooling (?????) available - traditional, blended and fully aligned. So, I didn't know to ask about that and what it meant.
I would also ask about how funding is handled - with our first school board, if I needed something, I just asked our facilitator and she bought it for us ...... I didn't realize that with some school boards, you just hand in receipts (wow, have I ever come a long way, lol).
6. I like to know that my facilitator is a homeschooler also..... And not a school teacher who thinks homeschooling is school at home.... Which is often not the way homeschoolers roll.
7. Here are the questions I would ask:
T
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Questions You Should Ask Before Notifying
Your Intention to Home Educate
1. What are the two assessments required in the Alberta Regulations?
2. Are home visits compulsory or are there choices where we could meet?
3. What will the Facilitator do when visiting? What do they expect to see? What do we have to show him/her? What is his/her job, really?
4. What is your perspective about the role of the supervising authority or school board in evaluating a child’s progress?
5. Do my children have to write the Alberta Achievement Tests? What happens if they don’t?
6. Are all your facilitators home educators or what qualifications do your facilitators have that give them a good understanding of home education for Grades 1 -12?
7. What is approved curriculum?
8. What methods of home education do your facilitators support and oversee?
9. What is my recourse if during the year we don’t agree?
If you are uncomfortable with the answers, shop around.
It is important that you know you have specific rights within the Alberta Regulations on Home Education, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and precedence set by the Supreme Court of Canada.
8. Well the first thing I would discuss with them is why I was pulling my child and listen to their reaction for that .... and how they think I should proceed and how they could help me accomplish that. If they just want her to do the same thing at home as they are doing in school and that doesn't solve the issue .....(i.e. if he is bored and they want him to do the same work he was doing ....doesn't solve the problem)
Because she's pulling him she needs to find a school board that is willing to "rescue" her (their word not mine ha ha) so that would have to be a first question....some boards are willing to because they won't receive any funding for her, some are willing to as they feel if they help her now hopefully she'll sign up with them the following year. I wouldn't be concerned about what funding they offer until next year (she has time to register with another board in September after she's gotten her "feet wet" so to speak).
The second thing I would discuss is what their expectations are from me (what do they "require") as far as work from student, contact etc., (oh and what grade is he in?) that would also determine what I would ask re: if they want him to write provincial tests or not (again depending on why she is pulling him).
So in summary it all depends on the "why she is pulling him" would determine the questions I would ask.
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All very good answers. I wish I would have been this smart when I first signed up. :o)
