Thursday, March 11, 2010

“Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table (Suburban Journals)” plus 3 more

“Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table (Suburban Journals)” plus 3 more

Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table (Suburban Journals)

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 12:31 AM PST

Homeschooling expanding beyond kitchen table
Homeschoolers find educational resources more readily available today


By Kevin Carbery
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 3:12 PM CST


Every time Lydia Wood visits her mother and siblings, it's a class reunion.

From the sixth grade until college, Wood, 23, was homeschooled by her mother, Jo Ann Powers, in the family's Ballwin home.

Wood's sister, Gracie Powers, 17, and brother, Luke Powers, 13, are currently being taught by their mother.

Homeschooling worked for Wood, who earned a bachelor's degree in intercultural studies in May 2009 from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., attaining summa cum laude honors. Now married and living in south St. Louis County, she is working on a nursing degree from the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College in St. Louis.

"I loved homeschooling," Wood said. "I've felt better prepared than my peers in college."

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Powers, 48, began homeschooling her children in 1998. Her son went to private school for a few years at his choice, but later decided to attend his mother's classroom.

"Mostly, I wanted to see my children get the best education possible," she said. "If I could tailor it to their strengths and weaknesses, I could give them the best education possible."

Powers is among a growing number of parents who choose to homeschool their children.

Because Missouri does not require those who homeschool to register with the state, the exact number of homeschooled families in the St. Louis area is unknown. However, Laura Kostial of Ellisville, who operates the St. Louis Homeschoolers website, said she is aware of 50 major homeschooling groups in the metro area.

"We tried to come up with a ballpark figure five years ago," Kostial said. "We totaled each of our groups' numbers and pulled out duplicates - people could be in more than one homeschooling group. We came up with 1,200 families for the metro area, which includes people from Illinois to Farmington to Rolla.

"I'm going to say there must be about 1,400 families by now. I think that's a safe guess."

Kostial believes that the greater availability of educational resources for homeschooling has helped inspire more families to try it.

Cathy Mullins, 59, of south St. Louis, is the leader of S.H.A.R.E. (St. Louis Homeschooling Activities Resources and Encouragement), a homeschooling support group. She homeschooled her sons, Joshua and Jesse, who has Down's syndrome.

She said she began homeschooling Joshua in 1985 to keep him from having to be bussed to a public school far from their neighborhood.

"But after homeschooling all these years, my reason for doing it changed to keeping my family close," Mullins said. "I felt it made a stronger parental-child bond."

Mullins also is the director of Homelink, a fee-based learning center for homeschool families that meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at Grace United Church of Christ in St. Louis.

"We have degreed teachers teach classes once a week and they're available online," she said. "It provides assistance in classes we may find too difficult to teach, such as biology, chemistry, algebra."

Although Michele Kerans, 39, moved from north St. Louis County to St. Peters, she remains involved with HELPS (Homeschoolers Encouraging Learning & Providing Support). HELPS consists of about 60 North County families who meet at Florissant Valley Baptist Church.

Kerans homeschools her three kids, ages 10, 8 and 2.

"I like the one-on-one attention," she said. "I can adjust the curriculum to their learning styles.

"We homeschool because we want to choose the right environment and the right type of curriculum that meets their needs. If a state agency were involved, we would lose some of those choices."

She said she can see how well her children are doing in their learning.

"Most of the curriculums have tests built in," she said. "There are also opportunities through different support groups to do standardized testing."

Jo Ann Feldges of Hillsboro is involved in ARCHE (Arnold Region Christian Home Educators), a group based at First Baptist Church of Arnold. She homeschools her two children, ages 16 and 13.

"We like that it's a different approach to education," Feldges said. "We feel it works for our family. I encourage others to do it."

5th Annual Greater St. Louis Area Home Educators Expo

WHAT: An exposition with guest speakers, workshops and seminars focusing on issues important to those involved in homeschooling.

WHEN: April 8-10

WHERE: First Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis County, 1375 Carman Road, Manchester.

MORE INFO: For more information, visit www.stlhomeschoolexpo.com or call 314-791-0000.

2 comment(s)

 

cathymullins wrote on Mar 3, 2010 1:12 PM:


Laura K wrote on Mar 3, 2010 8:01 AM:

" Thanks for the great article Kevin!!!

Just a small clarification for the record. "We came up with 1,200 families for the metro area, which includes people from Illinois to Farmington to Rolla." -- Actually those families were excluded when we could identify them. We are sure there were those we missed. Then we added back an additional 10% (just a guestimate) for those that might not be in any of the groups we looked at.

Laura Kostial "


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Liberty University Online Academy Earns Full Accreditation From Esteemed Accrediting Body for Online Homeschooling (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)

Posted: 10 Mar 2010 10:00 PM PST

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) announced last month that Liberty University Online Academy (LUOA) has been granted full accreditation.

Lynchburg, VA (Vocus) March 11, 2010 -- The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI) announced last month that Liberty University Online Academy (LUOA) has been granted full accreditation. The five-year accreditation is a major milestone for Liberty University's most recent online educational venture for grades 3-12.

Now in its third year of operation, LUOA is quickly receiving recognition as a quality option for parents seeking Christian online homeschooling education for their children. For the 2009-2010 school year, 700 students are enrolled in LUOA, residing in 46 states and 11 foreign countries.

"We knew when we launched the online academy that our first goal was to achieve accreditation as quickly as possible," said Jay Spencer, Dean of LUOA. "To do so within the first two years is testimony to the quality work put into the foundation of the academy."

In a special ceremony on Feb. 21 at the Virginia Annual Winter School Improvement Conference in Williamsburg, Va., LUOA Superintendent Harvey Klamm was presented the Academy's Certificate of Accreditation from SACS. The organization's State Director, Hilda Kelly, praised Klamm "for his leadership in working with his staff in meeting the SACS CASI standards and for taking the initiative to be nationally accredited."

Online schools that receive this accreditation earn the external mark of quality by the globally accepted AdvancEd Accreditation Commission, verification of compliance with high educational standards and professional support as the school engages in its ongoing school improvement process.

LUOA students benefit from accreditation because, through the process, their school commits to raising student performance and will be held accountable for improving student learning on a continual basis. Accreditation also raises the school's credibility, improving students' eligibility for college and making it easier for them to transfer credits, secure funding and find employment.

On Feb. 23, LUOA announced that it would be partnering with private schools that wish to use LUOA curricula. This will allow private schools with limited resources to add curricula without adding instructors or additional tuition cost.

In addition, Liberty University Online Academy benefits from the relationship with Liberty University. All Liberty University Online Academy students receive a scholarship to attend Liberty University.

High school juniors and seniors may also get a head start on their college education by enrolling in online college courses offered via Liberty University Online. Through this program, a student can earn college credits in a variety of subjects. The tuition for these courses is the same as the Online Academy rather than the regular university tuition fee. This means students could earn several college credits while earning high school credits, and students can save thousands of dollars on tuition in addition to savings on other fees like room and board.

About Liberty University Online
Established in 1971, Liberty University pioneered distance education in 1985 and is now the largest and fastest-growing Christian university in the world. Today, Liberty University Online hosts more than 45,000 distance learners and has the highest retention and graduation rates among top online universities. Liberty offers more than 40 accredited degree programs, from Associate to Doctoral, and 90 areas of specialization, all taught from a Christian perspective. For more information, visit www.luonline.com, or call (800) 424-9595.

Contact: Wendy Morales, Director of Online Marketing
Phone: (434) 592-3018

###

Liberty University Online
Wendy Morales
434-592-3018
E-mail Information

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State requires parents to keep homeschool records (Suburban Journals)

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 12:30 AM PST

State requires parents to keep homeschool records



Tuesday, March 2, 2010 10:40 AM CST


Homeschooling children is more than simply teaching. Parents must maintain records to show that the schooling is comparable to that of a public education.

According to state law, parents must comply with a list of requirement:

* - Those who homeschool must offer 1,000 hours of instruction during the school year - July 1 to June 30.

* - Children must complete at least 600 hours of basics such as reading, language arts, math, social studies and science.

* - At least 400 of the 600 hours must take place in the home.

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* - A completed credit toward high school graduation is defined as 100 hours or more of instruction in a course.

* - A parent or guardian must maintain a written record indicating the subjects taught and student activities.

* - The parent must keep a portfolio containing samples of the student's academic work.

* - The parent must evaluate and record the student's academic progress.

* - Children with disabilities being homeschooled may receive special education services provided by the local school district.

* - A parent or guardian may notify the superintendent of schools or the recorder of county deeds of the family's intent to homeschool prior to Sept. 1 annually. Homeschooled students do not register with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

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Charlottesville gears up for Va. Festival of the Book (The Staunton News Leader)

Posted: 11 Mar 2010 06:40 AM PST

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Hundreds of writers and millions of words will flow through Charlottesville during the 16th annual Virginia Festival of the Book, which runs from March 17 to 21. This year's schedule includes more than 40 University of Virginia faculty members and alumni, speaking on topics as diverse as Ayn Rand, living through war and examining historical times.

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Virginia Center for the Book present the annual festival, a five-day celebration of books, reading, literacy and literary culture, with co-sponsoring foundations, corporations, bookstores, schools, libraries, area businesses and organizations and committed individuals. Events are held in venues around Charlottesville and the University, and most are free. Go to vabook.org for the full schedule.

Each year, the festival draws writers from a range of genres and topics, including fiction, mysteries and crime, memoirs, publishing, history and poetry, just to name a few. U.Va.'s participants bring their scholarship and creativity, and talented alumni discuss how and why they wrote their books.

John Casey, English professor, creative writing teacher and author of "The Half Life of Happiness" and "Spartina," for which he won the National Book Award, will be on a panel with one of his daughters, Maud Casey, who has published two novels, "The Shape of Things to Come" and "Genealogy," plus African-American author Alice Randall, who wrote "Rebel Yell" and "The Wind Done Gone." They will discuss influences on their writing in the session, "Mentors, Muses & Monsters: Writers on Their Influences," on March 18 at 8 p.m. in Culbreth Theatre. Elizabeth Benedict, who edited the collection of essays, "Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives," will moderate.

Alumni who will return to read their work include John Casteen IV. After attending U.Va., Casteen attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop and now teaches poetry and creative writing at Sweet Briar College. His latest book, "Free Union," was published by the University of Georgia Press in spring 2009. He will read his poetry with three others on March 20 at 2 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Barracks Road Shopping Center.

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