Most homeschoolers have limited their homeschooling programs to the traditional model of textbooks and workbooks. While there is nothing wrong with these, there are vast amounts of additional resources available to homeschool parents through the computer, whether through online schools, website programs, or research tools. However, many homeschool parents have shied away from these tools out of fear or the challenges that come with modern technology. These issues don’t have to cripple your homeschool program, as long as you take care to implement a few strategies.

Parents who use the computer for their homeschooling programs need to have some basic knowledge of document management. While this seems obvious, it is not as easy for parents to make this switch as it is for students. Since parents are the primary record-keepers for the homeschool, it is imperative that parents understand how to organize files on their computers, maintain simple folder hierarchies, and frequently save and back up external copies of all records. Most computer have built-in tutorials on how to do these things, and parents should take the time to become familiar with how to make the most of the computer tool in their homeschool classrooms.

Some families are willing to sacrifice a lot to homeschool their children simply because they feel that their children need more than the public educational system is offering. In particular, parents want their children to experience more than just a harried existence of rushing to everywhere and getting the minimum out of life. Three particular areas have many parents quitting jobs or changing job schedules to be able to educate their children themselves so that they can provide religious instruction, more advanced training than they can get in public school and finally that family bonding that is slipping away from the traditional family.

Religious Instruction; Public education is required to teach a non-religious curriculum because of the vast differences in the backgrounds of students and teachers. Parents who wish to sidestep the influences of the public education system can find help in homeschooling. It is easy to find a home school curriculum that will promote whatever religious beliefs the parent wants to teach their child. Many Christian based curriculum choices are available that provide the vast resources that children need while reinforcing the Christian values and teaching of the Bible.

When you look at academic achievements only, homeschooled children seem to advance quicker than their counterparts in public schools. A report published by the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) shows that homeschool test scores were exceptionally high and well above that of public and private schools. They found that homeschool students in the 8th grade are four years ahead of their peers in public or private schools.

In a study conducted by Dr. Lawrence Rudner, he discovered that learners who were being homeschooled their entire school career, achieved the highest out of all the children.

Interesting information that came from this research was the difference that homeschooling made to the achievements of different race groups. There was very little difference found between the scores of white, black and Hispanic children in homeschooling. On the other hand, there was a significant difference between the achievements of different race groups attending public schools. Eight grade public school learners scored on average at the 58th percentile in math, where black children scored at the 24th percentile. White students scored at the 57th percentile in reading and Hispanic students at only the 28th percentile.