Nikki

School is out, and as we look towards the next school year we’re turning our attention towards homeschooling. I’ll be honest, homeschooling is not the type of education that I feel called to. I was homeschooled as a child and I loved it, but it’s just not for me. The decision to homeschool is 100% a response to the current worldwide health crisis. That being said, we’re looking into finding a good fit homeschool near where we already live.

Why would I want to choose a homeschool near me?

The awesome thing about homeschooling your kids is that they can learn from anywhere. So you don’t necessarily have to be a part of a local homeschool program in order to get an education. But there are some benefits to enrolling in a homeschool program that’s close by. When it’s safe to do so, these programs will likely have more opportunities to participate in-person 1-on-1 meetings with your educational facilitator (teacher), and may even have extracurricular activities at a school site near you, such as group PE or a hands-on science class. Your kids would be able to join in activities and playdates with other kids from the same area. 

Local homeschools may also give you the option to visit their resource library and choose your own textbooks to teach from. If you’re hoping for a more involved role in your child’s learning, a local homeschool would be a good fit for you. 

Let’s dive in and find a homeschool near you

Like a ripple, start small and branch out.

Did you know that some school districts have a homeschool program already? I did a Google search for our hometown and looked for websites that have the school district’s acronym. For example, ie. Riverdale Unified School District might have a link that looks like www.rusd.org/homeschool-academy. It turns out, if we wanted to, we could enroll in a homeschool that is serviced by the school right in our own town!

If there’s nothing in your school district, search for homeschools or charter schools in your county

This would be a much broader search, such as “Charter schools in Springfield county”. Another search term that brought me good results was when I searched for the state + department of education + charter school. For me that search term was “California Department of Education Charter Schools”. Be warned: you will get a LOT of results. There were over 120 charter schools just in San Diego county alone. Many of these results will filter themselves out though. Other times,  you can tell just by the school’s name that it’s not a good fit for your child. For example, I can see from the San Diego County charter school list that “High Tech Middle Chula Vista” doesn’t fit our needs because 1) it’s a middle school and we’re looking for elementary schools 2) it’s site-based and I’m looking for a full independent study program. I would look into Ingenuity Charter, because I can see from this table that they are an independent study program, which is charter school-speak for homeschool!

Just to see if this search was useful, I tried the same terms for a few nearby states, Nevada and Oregon, and got some good results there as well.

Can you recommend a homeschool near me… please?

Another thing you can do is call a local school office or district office and ask what homeschools are in the area. Even better, ask your friends on Facebook or post in a neighborhood Facebook group. 

Finding a homeschool near you is only part of the process. Make sure you read reviews with a grain of salt. People are so quick to share negative experiences but slow to give praise! Ask plenty of questions. And be confident that you do not have to commit to anything you’re not fully comfortable with.

What is your experience with homeschooling? I would love to hear what the process of finding a homeschool was like for you. Leave a comment below or connect with me on Instagram!