Frequently Asked Questions -
by Catherine Lamb

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Here are a few questions we, as homeschoolers, get asked over and over. I'll answer them briefly - you can study each of them further by surfing the net.
What about Socialization?
What do you teach?
Is it expensive?
What do you mean "different methods of teaching"?
What methods do the families in our group use?
What about college?
What about accreditation?
I'm not smart enough to teach my children, how do you do it?
How do you teach the hard subjects?
Is homeschooling legal?
Does homeschooling work?
Are you against the public school system?
What is Internet based homeschooling?
How do you test? Are the tests accepted by the local school districts?
Will my child be competitive with their peers once they go back to a regular school or college?
Are there honors or accelerated programs available?
What about sports programs?

What about Socialization?
Number one on the list of questions that we get has to be "But what about socialization"... UGH. This question makes me crazy! What do people think we do with our children, keep them in closets? Is living with a family not a "social" setting? Neighborhood friends, Church, scouts, jobs: all give us plenty of "socialization".
Is there something special about sitting with thirty other students all day, every day, that prepares our children better socially? I say, "NO"! If anything they also pick up negative social skills and ideas in that setting. When was the last time you, as an adult, sat with thirty of your peers all day, every day. Is that a "real" society?
Being homeschoolers our children learn to get along with others of all ages, all ethnic groups, all religions - and even adults. They have good self-confidence, compassion, self-discipline, and a good sense of responsibility. I think they are developing many good skills that will benefit them in "society".
Furthermore, the strongest part of society is the family unit -that is where the children will spend the rest of their lives. Homeschooling is a great blessing to strengthening that "society". There is an old Chinese saying: If the familes are not strong, society is not strong
Now, if by "What about socialization" you really mean "What about friends and fun?", well that is another question altogether. As you peruse the pages of this site, I think you will find we have plenty of friends and fun. We get the best of both worlds. True learning and fun too.(Back to Top)

What do you teach?
Homeschooling has become a huge industry. Just do a search on the web, and you will see what I mean. There are many methods of teaching, many homeschool supply vendors, many curriclum helps and lots of organizations to assist - from support groups like ours, to "for-profit" schools that will do everything for you.(Back to Top)

Is it expensive?
Homeschooling can be practically free, or very expensive. Again, that is up to your own preferences. (I love it -- with homeschooling everything is tailored to what WE want and need.)(Back to Top)

What do you mean "different methods of teaching"?
Unschooling, Unit studies, full curriculums, Charlotte Mason, Classic, eclectic? Here is a brief explanation. I would suggest surfing the web for a more complete picture.
Unschooling is child-led learning. There is no "formal" teaching. If the child is fascinated with for ex. aviation, you provide books, field trips, videos etc on aviation.
Unit studies is picking a topic and having all the various subjects centered around that topic. For ex. If you are doing a unit study on Eskimos, you would write about them, read about them, count them, do art about them. You can make your own unit studies, or buy them.
Full curriculums There are now many schools that offer full curriculums. You just sign up. They do the rest. Some of these are "accredited" and some are not. (More on accreditation later) Some of these are correspondence and some can be done completely on-line. This method is most like doing public school - at home. I have listed some of the companies that offer full curriculums on the links page.
Charlotte Mason was an innovative educator who came up with her own methods of teaching. The Charlotte Mason approach is based on the regular core subjects such as the three R's, and in addition incorporates the fine arts. Children deal directly with the best books, music, and art. They are trained to narrate (tell back) what they learned so that the emphasis is placed on what they do know versus what they do not know. This training in essay-style examinations will better prepare children for adulthood and college.
Some of the other aspects of a Charlotte Mason education include the formation of good habits, keeping a nature diary and a home-made book of the centuries. She advocates the avoidance of "twaddle," what we might call "dumbed-down" literature, and replaces it with classic literature and noble poetry. Her method includes a unique style of dictation and spelling both of which can be taught for free.
Your home schooling days will become more effective when you employ her method of shorter lessons, which promotes concentration versus dawdling. Children thrive in school when they know there is a definite amount of work to be completed in a definite time. You will also find that most -- if not all -- of Charlotte Mason's techniques are inexpensive and adaptable to any home school method that you're currently using. (See Catherine Levison's full article here) www.christianity.com/cmason/
Classical Learning(This is an excerpt of the www.classcialhomeschooling.org site.) The core of Classical Education is the trivium, which simply put is a teaching model that tailors the curriculum subject matter to a child’s cognitive development. The trivium emphasizes concrete thinking and memorization of the facts of the subjects in grade school; analytical thinking and understanding of the subjects in middle school; and abstract thinking and articulation of the subjects in high school. Subjects unique to Classical Education which help accomplish the goals of the trivium are Grammar, the science of language usage; Logic, the science of right thinking; and Rhetoric, the science of verbal and written expression. Classical Christian Education is further characterized by a rich exposure to the history, art, and culture of Western Civilization, including its languages (Latin and Greek), its philosophy and literature (the Great Books of Western Civilization and the Christian tradition), and the development of a Biblical worldview with Theology in its proper place as the Queen of the Sciences. (For more information click here.)
Eclectic Method(my favorite) looking at the different approaches and methods of homeschooling then taking the parts you like best, and forming your own method. (Back to Top)

What methods do the families in our group use?
With four different age levels to deal with, The Lamb family does a combination of things. The oldest, just needing a couple classes to finish the "core" required for college, is taking them from BYU Independent Study and Keystone High School. The next child, who insists on a "real" diploma to "hang on my wall", is enrolled in the accredited Keystone High School. The next child is doing a combination of BYU Indpendent Study, and Mom's classes. The youngest is doing a combination of "unschooling" and Mom's classes. She has taught herself HTML and is writing a book! The Lewis family is doing straight BYU Independent Study. The Fays are following a scope and sequence from Canada to choose their studies. Eleys are using curriculum from New Zealand. Millers are using an internet extension school from their public school in Florida, and the list goes on and on. You can see homeschool is sculpted to fit the needs of each family. (Back to Top)

What about college?
Before you decide what method you want to use for homeschooling, you should decide your future goals. If you want to take over the family store, and don't need a college degree, your homeschooling methods can be much more relaxed. However, if you want to go to college you have to do one of two things: Do really well on the ACT or SAT (the colleges we applied to required a higher average scores for homeschoolers than for public school children - it wasn't hard to do though). The other method is to get an accredited transcript. Notice I did not say "diploma". A diploma is just a piece of paper that certifies you did a certain number of classes. A transcript says the same thing. Again - the colleges we applied to wanted a transcript, not a diploma. (Back to Top)

What about accreditation? Here is MY opinion. Nothing your child chooses to study will have any bearing "officially" on their future until they start high school. So you can relax and homeschool however you like the first few years. Enjoy learning. Enjoy being with your children in a relaxed setting. As you approach high school you have to decide how "official" you want your education. There are several "accredited" high school programs, and just as many more programs who will tell you "accreditation doesn't matter, only test scores". If you have a bright child who will do well on the tests, you probably don't need to worry about going with an accredited program. If you want to be safe though, stick with an accredited high school program. (Make sure it is accredited through an official agency, and not just through its own organization.) (Back to Top)

I'm not smart enough to teach my children, how do you do it? If you can read, and are dedicated to spending time studying and teaching your children, you can teach them. In fact, you may be surprised how exciting it is to learn new things yourself - I often wonder if my children are learning as much as I am! If you don't want to be the teacher, and just a moderator, you should choose a full curriculum program where the teaching is done for you. (Back to Top)

How do you teach the hard subjects? So far we haven't had to do anything special. I am learning Algebra as I teach it to my son. When/If it gets too hard we'll ask Dad. If that fails to work, we will hire a tutor. My daughter taught herself geometry with much study and struggling - she knows it very well now. She is currently working on Chemistry. Dad is waiting in the sidelines to help her, but so far she hasn't needed him to. We do hire tutors for Chinese study.(Back to Top)

Is homeschooling legal? Call your school district to find out what the laws are in your area. In almost all of the United States homeschooling is legal. Some districts require nothing, and others require portfolios or some other accounting system. Of course we China homeschoolers don't have to answer to anybody, but our own consciences.(Back to Top)

Does homeschooling work? When children in public school fail, what do the teachers do? They get them one-on-one tutoring. Well our homeschooled children get full time one-on-one tutoring. Plus, they get a teacher who adores them and is determined to help them succeed, not just for this year, but for life. When I put my children back in school due to my poor health, they all excelled at the top of their classes. The teachers were impressed! Here is an article which addresses this question. (Back to Top)

Are you against the public school system? Absolutely NOT! My children have had wonderful school teachers. I greatly admire their dedication to their callings, not just as teachers, but these days, as character builders. We have been fortunate to be in great school districts. I think a combination of public school and homeschooling makes a well-rounded character. My children have benefited from both experiences.(Back to Top)

What is Internet - based homeschooling? More and more programs for homeschoolers are being made that can be done, wholly or in part, on-line! Many of our teens read texts then submit their assignments on-line. (Back to Top)

How do you test? Are the tests accepted by the local school districts? There are many standardized, nationally accepted tests. When my children were younger I administered the IOWA test annually. It reassured me that they were "on course". When I put them back in school for a couple years, the schools were happy to have the tests, but did not ask for them. They placed the children according to their age. Now that they are applying for colleges, they will take ACT or SAT. Not only are they accepted, they are required, if you want to go to college. (Back to Top)

Will my child be competitive with their peers once they go back to a regular school or college? There are so many homeschooling families it is hard to give a general answer for this question. As we know from the media, some "homeschoolers" are horrible and not educating their children at all. From my experience, my children were the top of their class when they went back to public school. Their teachers were thrilled and told me other horror stories of homeschooled children who came to school unable to read. That to me is ridiculous. It takes very little effort to keep a child "on top". (Back to Top)

Are there honors or accelerated programs available? You can find AP classes for high school students. For the younger students, remember YOU are the teacher. Since homeschooling is "self-paced" the student can go as quickly as she/he likes. Tess, who is very bright, for example, will be taking 8th grade courses this year, although her peers are only in 7th grade. She needs the challenge. Many homeschoolers finish "high school" long before their peers and get a jump start on college, or work, or whatever suits their fancy. (Back to Top)

What about sports programs? This is one of the reasons we started HOSH. We wanted to have more kids to play sports with. However it is not competitive sports. It is done solely for fun and exercise. Luckily, even here in China there are sports programs in the communities for those who are serious sportsmen. (Back to Top)

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