Attending a Free Online School From Home

Series Summary

Homeschooling is the option of educating children at home, away from the environment of public and private school systems. Usually taught by parents or professional tutors, homeschooling grants parents the opportunity to customize an education for their children without the influence of state education laws or criteria. Perfect for families who disagree with the local school systems or for families who live in isolated rural areas, homeschooling is a legal alternative to formal education. In this free video series on homeschooling, a homeschool specialist discusses several ways to educate children at home. Find out how to graduate high school at home, either by getting a GED, graduating from home school or graduating through a correspondence school. Get information about applying for homeschooling, and even learn how to report poor homeschooling in the community. For a schooling alternative, educate children at home.

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Linda Wooldridge and I'm a home school mom. If you have a high schooler, you might be interested in them attending a free online school from your home. And it is possible to do that in some states. There are several schools that your child can attend that you would pay for, but since we're talking specifically about the free ones, what you would want to do is check with your local school system and see if there is such an option in your state. Odds are for it to be free, it would need to be run through your tax dollars. I live in Florida and we have an online public hight school. Actually it's a high school and middle school, and my daughter is currently taking one class through this school. I signed up online and I had to get permission from our local school system for our daughter to attend. In other words, they had to verify that she was in fact home schooled in our county. After that, we signed up for our classes and she is in constant contact with her teachers via e-mail. The assignments are all listed online. She goes online for approximately an hour and a half each day and she will complete her assignments, hand them in and get her grades the same as any other high school student would except that she's taking her classes on her computer. Incidentally, when you're looking at online options, don't forget to check with your local community colleges. Some states do permit dual enrollment, and in some cases, as in ours, the state will pay the tuition. However, if your child requires any text books, you may be required to buy those. So those are a couple of good, free online options for schooling your child. There are many other options that you can pay for, so be sure and check those out online too as one of those might be a better match for your student. In any case, however you choose to school online, don't forget to check out those free online school options because, obviously, that's your best price. I'm Linda Wooldridge. Have a great home schooling day."