the thought of high school......

This is a good article at HSLD. Thanks for sharing it. The strong focus of the article with HSLD is freedom of choice public vs. homeschooling as well as the potential negative impact of cyber charters on homeschooling. I would argue that vouchers and charters (cyber or otherwise) allow more options for families to choose from based upon their needs (support, financial, etc.). Which does not limit anyone's freedom but increases opportunities. More converts have been won over to the benefits of home education as a result of cyber charter options across the country.

This is especially true in cases where families would have never considered homeschooling their children BUT jump into home education with a cyber charter (I've meet dozens). They often opt for this option because of the support and limited expenses. These have been families who drop to one income cold turkey and have no confidence that they can deliver what their kids need academically and pay their bills. They become new converts to home education. These families have been truly blessed by having the opportunity to regain control of their families from the brick and mortar mess. As a result most of them have become very vocal advocates for all forms of home education! Yes, homeschooling and cyber charters fall under different laws but I have yet to meet one cyber charter family who hasn't also an advocate of non-invasive homeschooling laws.

My family educates under both laws and I have found benefits and detractions with both in my state. BUT we continue to have a wonderful experience educationally under both laws. I am thankful we have the freedom for these options. We have been blessed!

My husband is disabled, and I am the breadwinner for our family this year. His working fulltime this year just about did him in, and he is going to have to take it easy this year. I am very grateful for these charter schools as a back-up, as in our situation, where we really do need help with keeping our homeschool up and running. We have experience with private homeschools whose invasion into our privacy rivaled that of the government! So, I think the key is to stay in charge of your child's education, whatever you end up doing. Our daughter was picked in a limited lottery situation, and we said, well, if God wants us to do this, she'll get accepted. And she did! She lives in a secular society, and we can use these secular materials to teach her about subversive writings and the like, and what a good Catholic response to it is. I actually had a teacher in my secular high school that taught me this as well, to be aware of bias and question it. I had teachers in Catholic school try to teach me things against the Church's teaching, and I had Catholic relatives try to do the same, including in my own immediate family! I think the HSLDA would have done well to support the charter school families and bring the cases to court, to argue for subsidiarity and for the parents' right to be the educators of their children. By staying out of it, they are just letting the other side win.
All of this said, I wish there was a Catholic cyber school that had sufficient funding to support Catholic homeschoolers, to pay for most if not all of the materials, as well as a set system like K12 that would help keep you organized.

Hi,

Just as encouragement, I was a past homeschooler who wanted to go to school in 9th grade. Anyway, I stayed home, graduated from highschool in 3 years, took college placement testing (scored 99%), took the national NET (nursing entrance exam) and scored 91% on that. I have straight A's in college so far. And I started out in grade school with 2 subjects : Math and Phonics until 4th grade! Then I wasn't considered on my actual grade level until 9th grade. RELAX! The subjects repeat each year! I was very behind in English until high school then only took 2 "grammar and spelling courses" and am considered "ahead" in college.

Also, HOMESCHOOLING is NOT A FAILURE if you learn your FAITH!!!!!!!! That's all that matters!

I hope this helps...
~Catherine