Online schools? (My ongoing homeschool dilemma)

[MittensKittens]

I have been on these parts of MDC before to ask for help and information from others who live in countries where homeschooling is against the law. I did get some interesting suggestions, including to enrol my children in an online school, which is recognized as a private school. That sounds like the ideal solution because private schools are recognized here (Eastern Europe).

But... After some more research, I have found that private schools have to be recognized by the government of this country, so a US online school poses some challenges. On top of that, there also has to be a certain number of pupils. My oldest is nearly 4, and I have a couple of years to figure this out.

My current idea is to set up a "local branch" of an online "home" school through the internet, in cooperation with one of the existing online schools. That would enable me, and other families, to homeschool through an online curriculum, perhaps with periodical centralized testing, or something similar that would satisfy the government here.

My questions for you are - what online schools do you think are the most reputable, and most open to cooperation for something like this? I have a degree in something unrelated to education, but I think I could set something like that up here. I don't want to start from scratch, because I think cooperation with an existing "school" would make the recognition part more painless.

I hope people can brainstorm with me on this subject! Any ideas or input are very, very welcome.

[pigpokey]

Is your child a US citizen? I would consider going to your embassy and having them interact with the local school authority. Something along the lines of correspondence that US citizen Z will be enrolled in a private, accredited full time United States school with a distance learning option during his time in country Y. Then once any questions have been answered to country Y's satisfaction, put it all in a folder and keep it handy in case anyone comes calling.

[ChristaN]

Originally Posted by MittensKittens

My questions for you are - what online schools do you think are the most reputable, and most open to cooperation for something like this?

K-12 has cooperative partnerships with a lot of states wherein they provide the curriculum for their students and the school is chartered through a district to receive funding for the students. However, K-12, if purchased privately isn't inexpensive and I don't know how they'd deal with charging you for your students since you wouldn't likely be able to get funding from a local district for the kids.

[treemom2]

We use Time4Learning right now in our house (my DC are 5 and 8). It is what a lot of schools in the states are using for their home schooled kids. It gives you grades and has reports available for printing to show exactly what your child is working on. I think I posted on another thread about this, but what about doing something like Calvert? You can pay for ATS which pretty much makes Calvert a correspondence school with a teacher advisor, a certificate of completion at the end of the year, report card, and they will send you a school enrollment card to prove you go there. Right now it isn't online, but the materials are pretty simple to use.

[LukesMum]

Originally Posted by pigpokey

Is your child a US citizen? I would consider going to your embassy and having them interact with the local school authority. Something along the lines of correspondence that US citizen Z will be enrolled in a private, accredited full time United States school with a distance learning option during his time in country Y. Then once any questions have been answered to country Y's satisfaction, put it all in a folder and keep it handy in case anyone comes calling.

you'd think they'd help but the consulate/embassy wont get invlved in matters pretaining to "local" laws

[skueppers]

This is totally out of the box, but might be worth looking into if you'll be in this country long term. Is a certified teacher allowed to tutor students at home in Hungary, as is possible in Germany? Would you be able to become a certified teacher?

Just a random thought.

[MittensKittens]

Thanks for your input! To answer some of the questions here, the embassy does not get involved in matters like that, and the embassy is already not really in love with me after my UC and the administrative problems after it . I think they'll close their doors if they see me coming their way .

Anyway, I think I have some good news - apparently, the kids can be enrolled in a correspondence or online school, as long as it is officially recognized in the US. I don't need to set up a local branch, or be a certified teacher, as long as they follow a curriculum and receive feedback and grades from some other point, the "school", outside of our home. Now, at this point it is unofficial information and I am hoping to get something in writing from the ministry of education soon. So far, this is really great news and I am very excited! Now we can start focusing on what school/ curriculum to use.

I am going to look into some of the materials/schools suggested here, and I would still welcome other suggestions! Those who use calvert or another online or correspondence system, can I ask how much you pay for that, annually? Since I don't plan on using any one curriculum rigidly, and want to be able to buy a few, the price of such a "school" is not irrelevant.

[cheery]

this is interesting. thanks for sharing. i am also in a country that does not recognize homeschooling. i dont expect anyone to come after me, but want to be prepared. apart from that i was intrigued by the time for learning option as i think my daughter might enjoy something like that.

does anyone know if there is a list of such online programs for homeschoolers with reviews? i would be looking for something more fun and less obviously schooly, if such a think exists.

[MittensKittens]

Originally Posted by cheery

this is interesting. thanks for sharing. i am also in a country that does not recognize homeschooling. i dont expect anyone to come after me, but want to be prepared. apart from that i was intrigued by the time for learning option as i think my daughter might enjoy something like that.

does anyone know if there is a list of such online programs for homeschoolers with reviews? i would be looking for something more fun and less obviously schooly, if such a think exists.

And if it doesn't, perhaps some of us can get together and create such a thing!

[mom2ponygirl]

Would something like Clonlara be accepted? http://www.clonlara.org/index.php It would allow much more freedom for designing something you want.
K12 international should be acceptable. http://www.k12.com/int/ It is a good solid curriculum, but I would only want to use it if I had a minimal amount of work needed to send in. I'd want as much freedom as possible to use it as I see fit, but that's just me. LOL

[MittensKittens]

Clonlara looks great, at first glance! Anyone here who has been using it? I understand that they provide a curriculum, but are flexible, and also support unschooling? What does that mean in reality? How much do they cost?

Thanks!

[MittensKittens]

OK, I had a look round the website and found out about the cost - seems affordable. I am still not quite clear what services they do and do not provide, but clonlara certainly looks like it could be the answer for us.