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.

A second challenge to homeschooling and the use of modern technology is the “lost time” that students can experience playing on social websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Parenting and homeschooling with a computer can be an excellent way to homeschool but not if the parents are not monitoring their child’s use of these social sites. Family guidelines need to be established and clearly understood regarding when a child can begin using these sites, if at all, as well as the time and content allowed on these sites One of the best rules of thumb is to have the parents have access to the child’s site management. Parents can follow along with their children’s friends and “conversations” to watch over time spent on the sites, as well as the topics of conversation. Even though some children object to this, it should be one of the rules regarding use of these sites.

A third, and the most important, is the issue of safety and identity protection. Parents who homeschool with the use of a computer will often be asked to provide email addresses and for purchases, credit information. As with any other credit card (or debit card) purchase, parents should ensure that the business with which you are doing is a reputable business, but this is not the major issue facing parents as most homeschool programs are easily verified. The larger issue is ensuring that children do not give out personal information over the internet. Any request to give names, addresses, etc., should be part of the family guidelines conversation. Homeschool parents should have strict rules about the types of detail that their students can release, and then it is important that parents follow up with their children to be sure that the guidelines are remembered and adhered to.

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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.

As more and more families are choosing to homeschool, Jewish and Muslim (and even more than can be mentioned in this article) curricula are being developed by families and made available for sale once they have been tested. Different religious groups can also develop their own curriculum based on one of currently available, but tailored to their specific belief structure. The basic structure is similar in all of the religious curricula, but the tenets of the particular faith is interwoven into the reading, writing and history.

Advanced Training; The measure of a homeschool curriculum is whether it satisfies the criteria of the government agencies that are responsible for education. Seeing as how the majority of public schools are churning out children who are passably able to read and can barely spell, it is possible to beat the public school system by just spending more time with children, reading with them and going over their homework with them. The operative words are “with them” because quality time with children means more interaction and places more importance on doing a good job with schoolwork.

For parents who want their children to be college ready, a more advanced curriculum is required. Luckily, many advanced programs are available for home school families. Since parents who decide to homeschool come from varied backgrounds, many homeschooling materials are created by these parents to satisfy a need that was lacking in the homeschool community. As more families homeschool their children, more advanced curricula are becoming available for college prep.

Engineers, lawyers, doctors, chemists and CEOs have all contributed to the vast array of home educator materials available for parents to use for their children. These people make it possible for a child to choose whatever career path they can envision without having to attend public school. The only limitation is how much a parent can afford to invest in their own child’s education.

Family Bonding; Because of the closeness of parents with their children in a homeschool environment, a special bond occurs with kids and parents that makes the experience even more beneficial. Instead of having a complete stranger instilling their (who knows what kind) values on children, parents can form a stronger relationship and develop a more eager desire to learn in their children simply by continuing to encourage them.

Closeness with children is something that the family unit lacks, and simply showing an interest in a child’s education is more important than the actual training materials on their own, since children respond to parental involvement very positively by wanting to excel. Obviously, stress and mental problems can get in the way of a positive learning environment, so before embarking on a homeschool curriculum, it is vital for parents to understand how much time they must devote to their children’s education and whether they are mentally able to undertake such a task.

Some methods of homeschooling have a more “hands off” approach to teaching, by basically giving children a list of books to read and workbooks to use, but no real structure or interaction. This style is typically better for parents who are not able to deal with a structured schooling environment. Parental involvement is still crucial, but only in the encouragement of the child to continue reading and working at their own pace.

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.

Dr. Ray, in his book, Strengths of Their Own, came to another interesting conclusion. The amount of money spend on tuition had no effect on the achievement of the child. In fact, the cheaper homeschooling option had better results than the far more expensive public schooling. In his research, based on statistics from 1998, he found that a homeschooled child cost parents on average $546 compared to the $5 325 for a public school learner. The average score for the homeschooled child was at the 85th percentile, where the score for the public school learner was averaged at the 50th percentile.

These research studies were done in a number of the states and in all the results the findings were the same. The homeschooled child scored on average 20-25 percentile points higher than their counterparts in public schools.