When a group of online homeschooled kids were asked what they thought about it, this is what they had to say. Of course, being kids (aged 8-14 years, both boys and girls) they were asked if they thought it was fun. They all said it was. When pressed further and asked if they didn’t think it would be fun to go out to a real school and meet and learn with other kids, the real reasons why they like their online homeschool so much began to emerge:

1. They liked the one on one attention that they got through their online curriculums. The kids were not picked from any particular curriculum and were a mixed group, but the acknowledged that they felt that they stayed long enough on a subject to be able to understand it. Some gave an interesting opposite; that they were able to move on quickly if they understood something fast, but that if they were in a class, they would have to wait for everyone else to get it before the teacher moved on.
2. They all said that they liked the fact that they could focus on their academic strengths. If they were strong in a certain area, they could spend more time on it, while if the didn’t have interest in another they could drop it. Educators know that this helps a child to specialize early and become very strong in whatever discipline they choose. Online homeschool exposes kids to al kinds of disciplines and skills so that they can be able to choose more easily.
3. They also liked the flexibility, and the parents were able to testify that despite having to monitor themselves a lot of the times, they were disciplined. They would take breaks when they needed them but wouldn’t waste time. They would stop when they were tired. It’s an interesting contrast to forced breaks in regular schooling. The fact that its online home school also meant that they could stop and come back and not have missed anything at all.
4. The children appreciate the varied environment they get with online homeschool. They say that they learn much more because they have a lot more resources available to them at home than they do in school. They can go in the kitchen or garage and do an experiment immediately they learnt about it; they could go out and observe something that they had learnt and they said that it reinforced a lot of their lessons.
5. They had an interesting perspective on peer pressure. The seemed to think it came from other kids at school so they felt that they were free of it and that they could make decisions without worrying what the other kids would think. They also said that they felt that you built a stronger character if you studied at home because you didn’t have outside influences in your way.
6. They appreciated the internet as an online resource. All of them are guided through their online homeschool lessons, but they have been taught how to find relevant information to what they are studying. They seemed to understand concepts in different ways from kids who went to ordinary schools and learnt from a single source – the teacher.

What do these kids ever do for fun? What all other kids do. When online homeschool time is up, they go out and meet their friends, they play, they go to the mall, and they are just as well integrated as any other child. As we get to rely more and more on the internet for learning and information, it seems that this is an excellent option for a single parent or otherwise, if you want your kids to be widely skilled and well schooled, and to have character as well.

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1. ROBUSTNESS — Just because it’s on the market doesn’t mean that it is really ready for the major leagues. If you haven’t had an opportunity to see the software in operation in another homeschool, be a healthy skeptic. Make every effort to be able to try before you buy. Today, most software vendors will have evaluation versions that provide access to much of the program, but for obvious reasons they will block your full access. Alternatively, many vendors will enable full access to all of the program but will limit you to a certain number of program uses or to a certain number of days. And if neither of these options is right for you or not offered, then look for software that provides a money-back guarantee.

2. DEPTH – Some very inexpensive programs do a great job teaching an extremely limited content. Think of piano instruction software that taught students to play only one chord, but did it very well. Educators need to weight the value of programs with such a limited focus because they put an additional burden on the educator to decide upon and maintain the sequencing of the lessons. If a choice is offered, it often better to choose programs that cover a lot of territory even if it costs a little more.

3. FLEXIBILITY – Is the instructional software arranged so that students must go on a fixed-path or does it offer possibilities for the student to branch out, go backwards for reviewing or additional practice? Can this be accomplished easily or might it be necessary to have the technical support personnel guide you through the process?

4. PEDAGOGY – Can students who use this software learn the content easily? Is new information presented in small enough steps for the child to learn without being overwhelmed? Is the content age-appropriate? Is it accurate? Has it been reviewed by experts in the field? If the material is decades out of date or if teaching methods built into the software are not appropriate for your student, then it’s probably time to search out alternatives.

5. EASE OF USE – If your students cannot maneuver through the program without a lot of confusing buttons or navigation screens, then they are likely to end up confused and frustrated. Such outcomes make it difficult to keep their interest in the program and (worse yet) in the subject matter.

6. INTRINSIC MOTIVATION ‘Young students tend to be intensely curious. Software that provides a steady stream of interesting information, graphics, sounds, and challenges will intrigue them to explore further on their own. When software designers take full account of children’s interests and needs, students will gravitate to use the software often because it maintains their interest – it is fun!

7. LEVEL AND TYPE OF SUPPORT — If and when you (or the program) get stuck, what resources are available to help you get matters resolved? Will you be comfortable with on-line help provided by Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQs) on a website or by forums provided by the vendor or by the Teacher’s Manual? Are you an individual who needs your questions orally answered RIGHT NOW? If so, then you will want telephone access to technicians or perhaps a real-time Internet chat opportunity. Even then, this may not be a wholly pleasurable experience if you have to wait on hold for 45 minutes or if the technician is halfway around the world and has less than adult proficiency in your language.

8. COSTS – As with buying a new car, the sticker price on a new piece of educational software is not necessarily the only cost to keep in mind. Most consumer-oriented software licenses are sold today with the retail price representing the entire cost, but there are major exceptions to be on the lookout for. Some licenses are priced on an annual basis and a subscription fee is required for renewal. Often, technical support when you most need it is not free, even though questions may be submitted via email at no cost for those who can wait potentially several business days for a response. And then, one must consider upgrades. How often are they published? Is the upgrade cost significant? Does the vendor offer major enhancements that would be of great value in your environment or are they merely a few new bells and whistles and cosmetic changes that will have little bearing on the effectiveness in teach in your homeschool?

9. TRACKING, REPORTING, & RECORD KEEPING – Few teachers can maintain in their heads the progress and detailed challenges faced by each of their students in each academic subject. The rest of us need something analogous to a grade book so that we can monitor each students’ progress in each subunit. This enables us to provide supplemental training to students more effectively and lead them in a systematic way to the next level in the content area. Well thought-out software will automatically track each student and provide detailed reports that you can read or print. It can diagnose troublesome areas for the student and suggest alternative activities or different routes to take in using the software. In some communities, it is necessary to be able to document for public school officials that your student has performed certain activities and reached a certain minimum level of mastery. Detailed tracking, reporting and record keeping will be of enormous help in documenting the student’s learning for those officials.

10. NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO CAN USE SIMULTANEOUSLY – Some programs are limited to access by just one student at a time. This can be a significant barrier to homeschools that have a need for several students to use the program – even at different times during the school day. Better values are there when there is no limit on how many students can use the program … or at least, if there

Probably most of us have had days when we think it might be better for us as homeschooling parents if we just had a set of twins. Then we could do one lesson for all our kids, instead of hopping back and forth from one to another.

On most days, though, we realize that it’s a blessing to have all the different ages together. Mixing up the ages helps our kids have the natural socialization of the family instead of being segregated into age groups. It gives the younger children the opportunity to look up to the older ones, and it gives the older children the chance to show care and tenderness for the younger ones. It lets children see how far they’ve come in their skills and learning, and look forward to where they’re going.

Can we have all those blessings without exhausting ourselves? We can, with a little planning. Here are some tips for homeschooling when you have a range of ages in the family:

Dovetail the work.

Work with the younger children while the older ones work on their own, and then settle the younger ones with play or a project while you check in with the older ones. It’s a sensible approach, but we have to plan ahead in order to accomplish it. Otherwise, we find ourselves getting one child started while the others wait, then starting the next one, and then the next one – and finding that the first child needs us again before we have the last one settled into work. This is a recipe for feeling frazzled by the end of the day!

As long as we get each child’s first activity of the day organized and set out before the day begins, we will be able to start everyone at once, with only one activity at a time needing us.

Get the older children involved.

Older siblings’ reading skills can benefit from the chance to read to the younger children. A six year old can cement his understanding of counting by explaining it to a five year old. A teenager learns from helping younger siblings plan and produce a play on the subject they’re studying.

Again, it takes planning to make sure the older child’s involvement in the younger ones’ lessons fits into the older child’s lessons, too. It helps to list an objective for each of the lessons. When our seven year old reads a story to the three year old, the three year old is practicing listening and the seven year old is practicing reading aloud. It will be a cherished memory for both of them.

Take time for yourself.

With all the planning and thought this requires, you need to be sure to build time for yourself into the day. The kids’ reading time could be your recreational reading time. Their time with online lessons could be your quiet prayer time. Nap time for the children should be nap time for you, too, and the kids who are too old to nap can spend that time in quiet play.

Once our family was driving to the nearby botanical gardens for a visit to support our lessons on plants. As we drove, we were talking about the history lesson the older children were working on: the Renaissance. In a break in the conversation, our baby spoke up: “Ty-renaissance rex,” he said confidently.

We all laughed. We figured he had put together snippets he’d heard from our study of dinosaurs with the history discussion he was listening to, and made up his own new word.

Over the years, we’ve seen how the younger kids’ enjoyment of family lessons has made it easier for them when they get ready to study, and encouraged the closeness of our whole family. It can be hard, but it’s certainly worth it.
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Mimi Rothschild is the Founder of LearningByGrace.org the nation’s leading provider of online PreK-12 online Christian educational programs for homeschoolers.

Schoolchildren can face some terrible problems with bullying, inappropriate relationships, or peer pressure, but the child who studies at home alone may truly face loneliness. Even if there are other
children in the neighborhood, they may be closer to one another from spending time together in school, and it can be hard for the homeschooled neighbor to join in and feel like a full part of the group.

Those of us with large families may find it hard to imagine that our children could be lonely. Still, the older sibling who helps care for younger children may not feel that the little ones are friends as
much as chores, however beloved. The young child with plenty of older siblings may not have a playmate who likes the “baby games” that are age-appropriate.

Both of these challenges can be met with homeschool groups and associations, church friendships, and community groups. Yet some parents, determined to make sure that their children don’t lack for peer group interaction, set aside their own needs so much that they end up lonely themselves. A parent who stays at home to teach the children can feel isolated. Mothers of infants often feel
starved of adult companionship, but once their children are older, they return to work or community
service and find themselves making new friends. Homeschool moms, lacking the PTA or the professional organization, can find that this isolation stretches out for many more years.

Some things to think about on this subject:

• Don’t expect loneliness. Sometimes we rush to fill our children’s time with structured
activities, when they actually would enjoy time on their own, or benefit from the opportunity to learn
to entertain themselves. Many of us have found that we have gained spiritual insights and growth from time on our own, and it can encourage creativity as well. If your children feel lonely, address it, but don’t go overboard on preventive measures.
• Don’t be afraid of loneliness. Our life experience as adults tells us that there are times in our lives when we have many friends, and times when we have few.  Studying the lives of the people in the Bible shows us that God blesses people in groups and on their own. We even know that we can be in the midst of a group of people and still feel loneliness. Loneliness can be what God has planned for us at
some times in our lives.
• Don’t ignore loneliness. If loneliness is a problem for your child, or for you, talk about ways
to arrange more opportunities to be in fellowship with other people. Joining groups can be a solution.
So can inviting friends to visit, developing online friendships, or spending time in service to others.
Homeschool parents especially need to be sure not to neglect their spouses. Caring for children can
become so completely the focus of your household that your marriage takes a back seat to homeschooling, and that can easily lead to feelings of loneliness. Whether this is a time in your life – or your child’s life – when God has a plan for you that involves something you can learn from loneliness, or those feelings of loneliness are telling you to step out of your home and serve others or enjoy fellowship with others, pray for God’s guidance and follow His direction. Deuteronomy 31:8 reminds us, “And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”

More than 3 million enrolments in online courses in the USA are reported by American sources. The essay investigates the role of online studies within the American educational system and tries to find out more about the exact meaning of these extremely high figures. The research discovers astonishing facts and relations: Public schools offer more online courses (82%) than private schools, and 52% of all online courses are offered by 2-year colleges for the associate degrees (and only 8% for the bachelor). A majority of online courses fulfill the role as “remedial courses” that serve for “credit recovery” (U.S. department of Education).

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a department of the U.S. Department of Education, is a rich source of data on the American college system, the courses it offers, distance education and the students of America. NCES reported in the Statistical Analysis Report February 2002 “Distance Education Instruction by Postsecondary Faculty and Staff” (Ellen M. Bradburn, NCES 2000-155)(43) that the USA had an impressive 16.5 million students, of which 3.3 million enrolled in at least one online course, that 5.9 % of courses were being offered as online courses (Distance Education, DE) and that 6% of the teaching staff at colleges offered at least one DE course. This would indeed not only be a significant number of students in eLearning and of online courses but also of dedicated teachers.

In the NCES Report “Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions” (2003-017) Tiffany Waits and Laurie Lewis estimate that the number of “credit-granting” distance learning courses offered at various college levels is 118,000. However 76% of these courses are designed for undergraduates. They estimate that 2,876,000 students enrolled in online courses, 82% of which are undergraduates (I will explain the meaning of ‘undergraduate’ in this context at a later point). Hans Weiler (2005)(55) who was previously a professor at Stanford University and co-founded the Viadrina University is also of the opinion that “the U.S. Distance Learning market has expanded rapidly in the last few years”. Although he advises caution “the figures should be handled with care”, he is, nonetheless, clearly impressed by their magnitude:
“But the dimensions and growth rates are striking: from 1997-98 to 2000-01 the number of students taking DE courses more than doubled to 2.8 million; almost all public colleges (97 %) now offer at least part of their courses online; in 2004 approximately 3 million students availed of some part of this service, 600,000 for their complete course of study”.

In their report “Entering the Mainstream: The quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004″, carried out for the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman reported that 1,602,970 students took at least one online course in 2002 and 1,971,397 in 2003. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) which is part of the Department of Education has published projections which forecast a tremendous increase of up to 20% in the number of students by the year 2013. This figure is sure to frighten many European education policy-makers involved in tertiary education.