Online Home School Options:
What Should I Ask?

If you are interested in online home school options for your student, you may quickly realize there are a lot of options out there. What should you look for? What are the things that the websites don't say that you need to know about? On this page I will share with you some tips I've learned from people we've talked to and from personal experience from when one of our daughters took some courses from an online school.

But here we are going to talk about what are the questions you should ask any online home school that you are thinking about using.

Questions to Ask Any Online Home School Options You Consider

These are questions that will help you know what to expect from any online home school experience. Rather than think there are "right" and "wrong" answers, though, think about what is a need or desire you have for your student at this point.

• How much interaction will my student have with the teacher?
  Your child may not need or want much, but there may be times when you may want outside interaction. You also will want to know if there are any "class times" that you have to be online for at a certain time.
• What kind of feedback will my student have on his or her assignments?
  If all you get is the percentage of points correct out of the total, that might not be as helpful as a written comment about your particular student's thoughts or participation.
• Will my student interact with other students? Will there be any group projects?
  This may also relate to whether there is a "class time" when the students log on simultaneously, or if there are forums the students should post to throughout the week. Some online home school options may have students work together on group projects.
• What kind of assignments and evaluations will there be?
  This is specifically about how to tell if they have learned the material or not. For instance, will there be mostly multiple choice quizzes? Short answer? Any longer tests or essay projects? Think through what kind of assignments you'd like your student to do for this subject.
• What kind of feedback will my student have on his or her evaluations?
  For instance, on papers or quizzes, will the answers just be marked wrong, or will my student be able to learn from his or her mistakes? How many drafts of papers or other projects are allowed?
• Are the lesson plans online or to be downloaded? What about the assignments -- are they to be done online or to be downloaded and sent in via email?
  This might make a difference if you have a slow internet connection.
• How many actual books will my student read?
  Some online schools offer mostly web-based materials, while others use hard copy books. Some use mostly anthologies or exceprts, others may use whole books. If you have a preference, ask what they use.
• Are the lessons written by the teachers at that online home school, or does someone else write them?
  Some teachers write their own lesson plans, while others may use something that is already out on the Internet, or use the Internet as a base for their own lessons.
• Are there any sample lessons I can look at? A course syllabus? A list of resources (like books) that my student will use?
  Most schools are happy to provide this kind of information.
• Are there any discounts?
  Some online home school options offer discounts for full-time Christian workers or missionaries. It can't hurt to ask!

These are some questions that you'll want to think about before you sign up. Of course you'll also want to know about their refund policy and read over their FAQs.

For more information on how to choose, if you haven't already looked over our page on What To Look For In Online Home Schooling, I would encourage you to do so. On it you'll find steps to finding a good online home school option for your child.

Or, to see a chart listing some specific online options, see Online Home School Options: What is Out There?.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or feedback. I'd love to hear from you.

May this information bless you and your family and help you to have joy and success as you look into online home school options.

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