Whether you have just started homeschooling or have been doing it for years, there are many decisions to make each year when you begin. Should you just go with textbooks or should you use the online learning opportunities out there? While there are strong feelings on both sides, what is best for your family may not be best for another family. Be evaluating your own strengths and weaknesses, you can determine which way is the best to go for your children. What are some of the benefits in choosing an online homeschool program?
Children Work at Their Own Pace
Whether they are gifted or need help in a particular subject, online programs allow for a student to work through a course at a pace that is set by them. This can be a great thing for homeschooling families, as it gives more customization that students get in regular school. In addition, if you have more than one child that you are homeschooling, the self-guided pace allows you to spend time with the kids that need it, while the others work through a particular section of their course.
Can Be More Affordable
Homeschooling with textbooks and workbooks can get quite expensive. Some online homeschool programs are offered at no cost, but they are affiliated with the public school system and this dictates certain learning standards that you may or may not agree with. Others offer programs for a few hundred dollars a year, and because your student can move at their own pace, this can be very worthwhile, as it will allow for more advanced learning.
Anywhere Access
If your family travels quite a bit, it can be inconvenient to bring along all of the textbooks and workbooks for everyone. With ProProfs eLearning software your children can do their work on the weekends or at any other time. It doesn’t matter what time zone you are in, you can access ProProfs from anywhere at anytime. With 24/7 access, ProProfs helps families around the world to teach and learn on the go, even while they are travelling for work or pleasure.
Choice of Instructor Assisted or Not
While most families choose to allow their child to self-guide through the material, some programs offer an instructor assisted approach, where the instructor can be reached via email or chat to discuss an assignment or answer a question. This can be very helpful and it can allow for more questioning from the student. If your child is one that needs this extra assistance, you may want to consider looking at more instructor-assisted programs.
Social Interaction
Students can interact with each other on discussion boards about their assignments and about the material that they are learning. This allows them to see different opinions and can give them a more well rounded learning experience. In addition, discussion helps to reinforce the information that they are learning.
Provides Opportunities for Exploring
Most online courses also include websites that the students can check out if they want to learn more about a subject. This is great when a student finds a particular subject that they are particularly interested in or passionate about. In addition, the content learned is reinforced by them going to a website and learning more about it.
The benefits to online homeschooling are many. However, finding the right fit for your particular homeschooling family is going to take research and time. By asking questions about a program that you are interested in and getting recommendations from other homeschooling families, you will be able to make the right choice for your family.
Author Bio: David Miller is an educational researcher, involved in the fields of teaching and online learning. He is associated with prestigious universities and many leading educational research organizations. As an ed-tech veteran, his area of research also includes new technologies for online training such as Learning Management Software.