What resources, services, courses is your Homeschool support network lacking? What do u wish u could access?

Question

What is missing in your home school life? I am looking to invest in creative solutions for home schoolers. I need to know what home schooling families need that is hard to find.

Answer 1

Physical Education classes!  I would kill to get that started in our area!

Answer 2

As home school information volunteers we invest a lot of time tracking down accurate information for home schooled high school students when it comes to student loans, college entrance requirements, as well as the requirements for entry level apprenticeship/intern programs.

The information can vary greatly depending on what state you are in, and if the programs have state, or federal requirements as well.

Often it becomes way to time consuming to keep up with the changes, as well as keeping track of new programs being offered.

It would be nice to have national information site that provides this up to date information, contact information, as well as the needed forms that the young people would need to get started.

I would be willing to pay a fee for that information if someone was maintaining such a site.

That is a service that is missing; even though a family can track down what they would like, this service would be one stop shopping, and give people many more choices that they may not have thought about themselves.

Answer 3

Advocacy... And a greater effort to educate the majority about homeschooling, what it is, and what it isn't so that maye, just maybe there will be less ignorant HS bashing, and greater recognition of people's RIGHT to the best possible education, whatever that may be for the individual.... Publc, private, homeschool, unschool, cyber school, etc

Answer 4

Hello WAHM!

Here is a tough one for you!  If you are familiar with (U.S. anyway) public schools, a program that is very common is called Accelerated Reader.  If done right, it is a very effective reading tool for kids.  Imagine, something like this for the homeschool market - web based, maybe subscription.  You'd have to build the website but the tough part would be getting the content (quizzes for 100s of book titles).

Another: Try to find any legitimate and recognizable national clubs or honor societies for homeschool students.  There are a few but they are (pardon the cliche) far between.

This is probably "heresy" but I think it would be great to have a YA type service just for homeschoolers.  There are a lot of us on here... and answering the same "homeschool is bad" question gets old.

Some areas that I think are crowded: homeschool magazines, general homeschool websites, curriculum, gradebook software, buy/sell/trade your homeschool stuff websites.

Another area that I think is underserved (and it is a smaller part of the homeschool demographics) is high school aged homeschoolers.  I personally believe that this is going to change over the next few years and we will begin to see more and more homeschoolers continue through high school.

I'll try to think of a few more ... and update...

Update:

How about a Virtual Guidance Counselor.  A good "GC" really does perform a useful service.  You'd have to have or get the right combo of credentials / education I think to be credible (maybe?)... You could offer a lot of things: such as a reminder service - "Notice: The deadline for registering for the ACT is December 1;" monitor and report on scholarship opportunities; help choosing and getting into the right college, etc...

A few adjectives that I think, at least generally, describes the homeschooling crowd: independent, confident, patriotic, practical, articulate, traditional.

Happy to talk to you on the side if I can be of any help.

Another update... I think as far as credentials / credibility.  "Been there done that" means a great deal.

BusyMom: Great answer!  We would also pay a (reasonable) fee for a top notch service along the lines of what you describe.