I was paid a wee bit to write this post, but just like with all things from The WOLFe Pack, what you will find here is an honest opinion from a seasoned homeschool mom with a Master’s Degree in Education and a decade of experience in the classroom…who also happens to be a mom with way too free time, too much laundry to fold and only a few months left on her homeschool clock.
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Years ago, when my son was just starting Middle School, I wrote a post about the three life lessons he was learning from his very first online class.
Now that he is nearing the end of High School and I am piecing together his transcript, I have been reflecting on the various classes he has taken since he was that awkward, cherub-faced tween just starting out in Middle School.
Looking at the breadth of his High School transcript, I found myself pretty proud of what we had accomplished in the 13 years of our homeschool journey.
Don’t get me wrong; I made several missteps along the way, but now that we are closing in on the end, I can say without a doubt that we have had a SUCCESSFUL HOMESCHOOL JOURNEY.
How did we do it?
I wish I could tell you there was one simple process to follow that would result in your own successful homeschool journey, but there’s not.
As much as you might want to download a free template from some website that would create the perfect homeschool journey, you can’t.
Homeschooling should be as personalized as possible which is both a blessing and a curse.
What works perfectly for Sally Smith may not be the best option for her little brother, let alone for some kid Sally’s mom met on the internet.
But I do think that a lot of what one person uses to be successful on their homeschool journey can be helpful to others. I have used lots of “tips” from others along the way.
So I’ve been working on a list of the people, programs and approaches that helped us successfully homeschool K-12th grades. Some things might be helpful to you; other things will likely be the opposite of what you need.
While that list is still a work in progress, I do want to share something at the very top of the list:
USING VIRTUAL ONLINE CLASSES
I’ve always been an eclectic homeschooler through and through and chose to piece together every subject for my son every single year.
Yes, it was a lot of work but, for us, it was well worth the effort. Though a boxed curriculum (like Sonlight) is the perfect choice for many (especially those with multiple kids,) foregoing that approach allowed me to hand-pick curriculum not just based on his needs and interests but also on his skill levels, learning styles and preferred formats.
It also allowed me the freedom to get creative when it came to subjects that I did not love and/or were not truly in my skill set to teach.
Using virtual online classes for some subjects was an approach we adopted about mid-way through our homeschool journey when my husband and I decided that outsourcing science would be a wise investment. Our son had (and still has) a very strong desire to go into either zoology, wildlife biology or some other form of animal-ology. And as much as I love all things animal-related and always enjoyed science if we could find an online virtual class that offered more than I could give him, we decided it would be well worth the money.
And, it was!
It was so well worth it that every year, we seemed to add one or two more online virtual classes to his academic line-up.
Below are four reasons online virtual classes helped our homeschool journey be successful!
ONLINE VIRTUAL CLASSES ARE CONVENIENT
They can be taken from anywhere. As my son got older, he seemed to get busier and busier and we found that he needed to be doing school at “inconvenient” times:
- while we were traveling
- hanging at the hospital with chronically ill family members
- in between his volunteer shifts at the zoo which was 90 minutes from home
- late at night while his mama/teacher was tired from her own long day
And virtual classes took those “inconvenient” times and turned them into perfect school opportunities! Because you can take those virtual classes anywhere (and often anytime,) your student can make use of these seemingly inconvenient slots of time. Whether it’s math, literature, history, writing or science, your student can work in the car, in a waiting room, while on vacation, etc.
ONLINE VIRTUAL CLASSES TEACH INDEPENDENCE
It’s not just Mom’s expectations. Whether it’s live, self-paced or asynchronous, an online virtual class will come with some sort of instructions from a person other than you, Mom. With his live online science class, my son had to learn how to follow a syllabus, ask questions when needed, meet deadlines and accept feedback from somebody other than his adoring mother. With his asynchronous literature course from Sonlight, he had to figure out how to maneuver the site, enter answers to the prompts, submit his work and keep track of assignments. With an only child, the fear of creating a dependent student who only knows how to do things one way is a very valid concern. But, with virtual classes, students are exposed to a variety of ways and expected to follow a variety of styles and meet a variety of expectations.
ONLINE VIRTUAL CLASSES OFFER A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE
And it’s not just Dad’s opinion. One of the best parts of homeschooling is that you get to weave your opinion into every lesson. And one of the worst things about homeschooling is that you get to weave your opinion into every lesson. 😉
Being able to include your core values, personal opinions and life experiences in your homeschooling lessons is often what drives families to homeschool in the first place. But, as kids get older and lessons become more complicated, I believe it is important for students to know that not everybody thinks the same way for a few reasons:
- They will be exposed to other opinions eventually. Let them experience those new opinions while still in High School with your guidance.
- Hearing other perspectives allows students to help formulate their own. Yes, you may want your student to end up viewing life from the same perspective you do, but if he/she has not actively formed his/her own thoughts, they may struggle when faced with something new later on. Allowing them to learn content from somebody else, opens them up to a different perspective which will help them formulate their own.
- You and your husband likely don’t have expert opinions on every subject. Giving your student access to a course taught by an expert who has been trained in a certain subject, like Sonlight’s economics course, could be the difference between success and failure in a subject.
ONLINE VIRTUAL CLASSES CAN TAKE STUDENTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL
The parent may not be best suited to teach everything. I considered putting our son into the local High School because we were struggling with math. But when we found Saxon Math with Nicole the Math Lady, our son was not only able to rock the higher levels of math, he was able to do it without leaving home and on a schedule that worked well for him. I could not teach him math effectively and using Nicole’s online class is what allowed him to master higher level math and also gave him the confidence to pursue science in college.
On the flipside was literature. I LOVE to teach all things language arts but, at some point in High School, my son and I started to butt heads about literature. Not the type of literature. Not the fact that he needed to study literature. Just the sheer fact of getting it done! He kept putting it off and would get further and further behind in the assignments I gave him. It seems he wanted to read literature WHEN he felt like it because that was what he was used to doing…reading for pleasure. He was always a big reader and would spend hours reading for pleasure but when it came to High School literature, I think his schedule was so full and his free time was so severely limited that he rarely read his assigned books. But, when we went with an online virtual class from Sonlight, his desire to meet the expectations of another teacher clicked him into gear and he not only kept up with the work, he thoroughly enjoyed it and developed some serious analytical skills.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT VIRTUAL ONLINE CLASSES?
- Online virtual classes come in different formats. They might be live, fully self-paced or asynchronous. Be sure to understand the different options and select what works best for you.
- Not all online virtual classes are created equal. Some are amazing. Some are not. Read the reviews and ask for a free trial.
- Online virtual classes can feel very personal. What works for Sally, might not work for Jimmy.
- Online virtual classes can be expensive. But they don’t have to be. And just because a class is expensive, does not mean it will be a good one. And just because it’s inexpensive, does not mean it won’t be amazing.
- Online virtual classes might require materials. You may need to purchase books, access to other sites or other supplies to go with the class
WHAT ARE SOME OF OUR FAVORITE VIRTUAL ONLINE CLASSES?
Check out the short video below to hear about our favorite virtual online classes!
LITERATURE – Sonlight Virtual
MATH – Saxon with Nicole the Math Lady
SCIENCE – Apologia Live Online
WRITING – Write at Home
TECHNOLOGY – MyTek Lab
As always, if you have any questions about any of the classes listed above or anything else, please do not hesitate to reach out! katie@thewolfepackden.com
