Community College as a Choice for Higher Ed

Two years of reduced tuition or no tuition = huge savings in acquiring a degree. Choosing to homeschool our children included the decision for us to remain a one income family. As a result we have had fewer financial resources to fund the college aspirations of our kids.

If this sounds like the beginning of a plug for Community Colleges, well, it is. While I continue to have some respect for the reputations of prestigious institutions of higher learning, (I do have a degree from Tufts, after all) that respect has honestly, dwindled over time. As we began to look at the options for our own college bound children, the practical and financial became a major issue in our decisions. Community College tuition in Illinois is 1/3 of the cost of even the more affordable public four year school options in state and easily 1/10 of the cost of some of the private four year institutions in our area. Two year full time study of general education requirements are also available tuition free with the required ACT or SAT test score. That's halfway done with a degree with no tuition. When looking at those financials, the local stay at home for two year opportunities became the obvious one for us as a family.

In Illinois, where we live, I have seen the wonderful supportive resources that are available through a variety of programs at Illinois Community Colleges. The resources are there to assist each and every student to be successful at the community college level and beyond. A student simply has to be willing to utilize the support available to them.

We have known homeschooling families that have taken advantage of the dual credit options enrolling high school students to receive both high school and college credit simultaneously for completing a community college class. These programs can speed the higher ed process as well as preparing a student for a smoother transition to college.


Community Colleges tend to have smaller class sizes. Even in freshman general education classes the student to instructor ratio is low compared to the huge auditorium filled classes that often encountered at big universities. Smaller class size means more available and approachable instructors. All of this makes it easier to become accustomed to attending college level classes.
For life long homeschooling students this makes for an easier transition to classroom learning in general. Community colleges in our area have pre-established transfer programs allowing associate degree earning students to transition to a four year institution with ease and guidance.

I have heard critical comments from student's peers made to community college students about their attending a community college. I remember similar sentiments expressed way back when I was a high school student myself. (Way back in the day!)

Fortunately, for homeschoolers those kind of misinformed comments may have less weight on their decisions. Many homeschooling students are usually less concerned about the opinions of their peers or even the opinions of the general population. The decision about where to begin a higher level education will include a multitude of factors. Family resources, field of study, near home, away from home, student maturity level, how much to take on moving into adult responsibilities while also attending college level classes, all of this plus has been on our a family's list of considerations.

The homeschooling parents I have met, regardless of their approach to home schooling, laid back, un-schooling, rigorous academics, arts based, etc. all have tended to have high expectations for their children. Perhaps we want to see proof of the rightness of our choice to homeschool. Like all parents we want to see our children be successful adults in whatever field the chose to work in.

Having high expectations for our young people's performance is a gift to them but it doesn't require over- priced- out of reach- mega debt- name brand- higher education to accomplish goals and live dreams!

Non homeschooling parents I meet often praise me with wows and kudos for homeschooling and comment that it must be hard to do. While of course there were difficult moments (all parents/families have some). They can't imagine how hard it must be to teach their own children. My usual response is that it isn't really as hard as they are imagining it. It is not like re-creating a classroom. In my opinion, that would be very hard and also, in my opinion, not necessarily conducive to as much learning. Barring any specific learning disabilities, most children, most humans of any age for that matter, are really learning machines, we are made to learn and given the proper supportive and rich environment we will.

Given a sensory rich and supportive environment children, teens, young adults and adults will learn. In a nurturing environment children will learn something! And new college students can learn in the a community college environment with a more palatable price tag and still become high achieving productive adults.

Always working to be and encourage life long learners!

Could it Really be True?

Gotta have art!

There are big changes coming in our family. We are in the midst of our last year of homeschooling. Late this spring, I will officially be done homeschooling my children. Hip Hip Hooray and all that jazz -  celebrations to ensue, but there will be more than just a tear or two being shed through these final months of homeschooling. Mostly, they are tears of joy, for all that has been accomplished by us as a family and by each of us individually. I will miss so very much our homeschooling lifestyle.

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Homeschooled pets are lucky creatures.

I am anticipating a major shift in my life and daily activities. We still have a couple of things to complete with our home schooled high school senior. Baring any dramatic changes, she will be given her high school diploma in June of 2019, just a few short months away. She is currently preparing for her own independent adventures as a young adult. Our two sons are also making their plans for establishing there own domestic domains. With all three leaving the nest there will be big changes in this household! 

Milestones and next steps.

As a result, there will be new blog topics for me to explore in the months to come. I hope to be posting more about my own activities, the plans I am making and the adventures I am looking forward to. Homeschooling was in part an outcome of my own interest in intentional life long learning. My own education continues, anyone interested in joining me as a life long adult un-schooler?

Technology and classical ballet meet.

For our daughter this winter and spring, the final homeschooling agenda has included her completion of some course work and taking care of some of the details of high school graduation. She will finish some language arts requirements which in our 'school' continues to require daily reading and writing. Just a few things beyond that for her to complete, including the completion of a math component and  she'll be completing the official testing required. I'll be completing her transcripts.

Acquiring a driver's licence is in the mix for her to top it off with some additional real world functioning. Add the attainment of an actual drivers licence and she's off!

For my daughter the next few years will include more dance training and auditions in hopes of participating as a dancer in an actual ballet company. She plans to begin college classes while continuing her focus on dance.

Thankful for amazing online resources.

It has been an amazing journey. A learning adventure where the adage about how the teacher learns more than the student has consistently been realized over and over in our home. in full force!  I do not regret for a moment, our choice to home school our children. I am in fact sad to see it end even as I know it's eventual ending was the ultimate goal. I can barely remember any difficulties of learning on the part of my "students" I do remember some frustrations with myself as a "teacher".  

Oh those days!

My own inadequacies were overly obvious to myself and probably my children time and again throughout all the years of homeschooling. Each display of my lack of skill whether it was simply knowledge, preparation or organization, was an opportunity to show the value of life long learning, growth and character development. The need for growth for all of us in character was and is always more imperative than any immediate need of academic requirement. 

There were moments, hours, days and sometimes, though not frequently, weeks, when I questioned what or how we were homeschooling, but never the choice overall. My children have been eager learners and good sports as we wound our way through growing together. They have been wonderful companions and I  delighted in allowing them to keep their childhood curiosity and wonder alive as they grew. As they say, the proof is in the pudding. So far each of our children have taken steps and begun to step out into the world with a solid foundation and in a positive direction. I am extremely proud of each of them.

Over our homeschooling years, one of my main go to resources has been SchoolhouseTeachers.com. It is is an online product with downloadable, printable elements as well as online classes and video components. There are online classes for homeschooling students of all ages. There are encouraging parenting resources and forums for the addition of a potential community of other online homeschooling families.

It is a valuable resource worth looking into if you haven't already.
April is a great month to do so because there is a wonderful promotion going on.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com ~ (http://www.SchoolhouseTeachers.com/) 
This is an online product with downloadable, printable elements as well as online classes and video components.

Where did June (and the last two decades) go?!

June 2018 was jam packed for this homeschooling family. The many daily decisions and tasks accumulated into major milestones for us to acknowledge and celebrate. Acknowledging a college graduation was one of the big events.

Our oldest, graduated from college. Home schooled through high school, our "experimental child" graduated summa cum laude, with a B.S. in accounting, top 25 in his class, and with a start date to a real job in September. It is not really our accomplishment to claim as a family, but his as an individual student. And though it may not be our accomplishment to claim, it is a testament to family, dedication and to homeschooling. What we (our family & homeschooling families generally) can claim is that homeschooling works.

When I watched as our oldest son, our first homeschooling student, walked in the graduation procession, taking a sit among those young adults, all with the shared academic accomplishment of completing a college degree, my heart swelled with pride. Seeing him cross that stage, I finally and completely left my doubts about our choice to home school behind.

I have always loved homeschooling and have never regretted the decision for our family. The personal and family benefits have been so amazing, many and ongoing. However, I did often question my own ability to teach academic subjects and fell woefully short in some. I like other homeschooling parents, sometimes wondered if we were doing the right thing, or how prepared our kids would be for participation in the mainstream. Those doubts were frequently fed when they intersected with the unsolicited doubts and questions that came from others outside of our immediate family.

Graduating from a university, previously home schooled or not, is major life event for each and every one of those students crossing the stage, what they don't (nor should they, necessarily) realize, is the major life event it can be for their parents. For myself and my husband, after the years of early attachment parenting that led us into homeschooling; the wonderful days of extensive time together, learning, growing and exploring are changing dramatically. While each year has brought changes, I had no idea how wonderfully exciting it would be to see each of my children launch into the world, their own unique lives to develop, their own challenges to overcome and their own contributions to make.
I am beyond proud of who they have become, how competent they are and I am excited to see where they each go.

Textbook Resources

Homeschooling Works - We Have Proof!

We didn't start our parenting journey with a plan to homeschool. Honestly, I don't even really remember when it became our plan. In many ways, it kind of just happened. When our oldest was five, it just seemed that no one in our family was ready for the leap into schooling as we typically know it. By then, our family had pretty much become a happy, well functioning, unit of daily enjoyment, learning and living.

Enjoying the company of my young boys, I wasn't ready to give up the routines we'd established together. I didn't think my two year old was ready to give up the entertainment and mentoring provided by his older brother and most importantly, the older brother himself really didn't seem quite ready for an extended block of time away from us. So we entered into a homeschooling lifestyle - one year at a time. And so, as they say, the rest is history. And yes, the years go by fast, kindergarten became high school in the blink of an eye, much sooner then we as young parents could imagine. And we are still homeschooling - one year at a time.

So this spring, for the first time, our oldest participated in an official graduation ceremony. His experience attending classes at an institution of higher learning has been a positive and very successful one. Earning an associates degree and graduating with high honors is quite an accomplishment for someone who first entered a classroom as a college student. As a homeschooling mom, I have to admit, I'm just a tad bit proud and honestly, greatly relieved!

Seems like yesterday...

An official graduation ceremony!

Joyful sibling relationships have been
a homeschooling side benefit for our family.

There were occasional days of panic on my part, wondering if we were missing something or if we were covering enough academics, but mostly we all just continued to enjoy learning together. We have many stories, ideas, insights and resources to share from all of those homeschool years, but this post is mostly, simply to say - it worked! This spring, we are celebrating the wonderful results of learning and living those years the way we did!

No risks, no rewards.
Definitely no regrets!