DVD courses are often a second choice to new homeschooling parents. Also available in this method are online courses through sites like http://www.k12.com/ which is an online version of public school. Christian based programs are also available through site such as Sonlight and Abeka which offer all three methods.
Pros: DVD, computer based and online classes can give teacher help where a parent may feel insecure. I personally struggled with teaching one of my daughters math so we opted for a semester of computer based math with Teaching Textbooks. It can also be a great help to parents who work and need their children to be able to do school while they are not available. Most of the time all three of these methods are customizable and allow you to pick and choose which classes you want to use. Again this could be a great way for a beginning homeschool parent to gain confidence without being overwhelmed. Some programs even offer the option to be able to ask teachers questions via chats or emails. Another potential benefit of online classes is the ability for your child to work with other children on tasks as well as freeing you up with one child while you work with another.
Cons: I have been told that sometimes the DVD's are boring. Very boring. There are also some online schools that do not let you customize and basically what you end up doing is public school at home, deadlines and homework included. Another thing to think about is that once you pay a semesters worth of tuition you are out that money even if you don't finish the courses. All three of these methods can be very expensive, but some sites like K12 are actually free. The trade is that you have no say over what your child learns since it follows the public school curriculum. As a parent it may be difficult to answer questions unless you are watching the course with your child.
Let me know if you use this method and what you like and/or dislike about it!
2 comments:
Great article!
When we started homeschooling we used Bob Jones DVDs for all the kids. It seemed to work for all but two of my kids. So last year I did some research and we switched to Switched on Schoolhouse for my older 4 kids. They love it and I can already see a difference in the two that were having problems.
Great article! When we started homeschooling we used Bob Jones DVDs for all the kids. It seemed to work for all but two of my kids. So last year I did some research and we switched to Switched on Schoolhouse for my older 4 kids. They love it and I can already see a difference in the two that were having problems.
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