I try to keep track of the big picture of K12 education in America so I’m trying to check in again. Last I wrote about homeschooling statistics, I said:

The government says that 1.5 million students were homeschooled in 2007. …The government homeschool statistics shows a 36% relative increase since the last estimate in 2003 when research reported 2.2% or 1.1 million students (1,096,000) homeschooled students.

But the world was simpler and less nuanced than it is today.  I think there are all sorts of hybrids and the statistics are yet harder to track.

The charter school movement is shooting along.  In 2010, there were 1.7M charter school students which meant that in 2007-2010, the number of charter school students grew and exceeded the number of homeschooling students (I’m assuming that homeschooling is growing at a 10% rate these days which is my hypothesis).

Here’s an example of what I mean. In California, there are what are known as California homeschool charter schools. A big one, for instance, is Sky Mountain.

Before I continue, here’s a disclosure. I’m writing this post as part of my research. Questions that I want to research:
- Are all Sky Mountain students homeschooled?

Are all  IEM schools structured the same way?
- Are homeschool charter schools peculiar to CA?
- What about other states’ virtual schools?

Sky Mountain Charter School (SMCS) is a WASC accredited charter school managed byInnovative Education Management (IEM).  IEM Schools include:

Sky Mountain Charter

San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties

For questions about the school please call 1-800-979-4436 or

to enroll a student, fill out the application.

Connecting Waters
Alameda, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties

Ocean Grove Charter School
Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties

South Sutter Charter School
Butte, Colusa, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba counties

Some things are certain:  taxes, death, and the steady growth of new homeschoolers.   To help these refugees from the school system,  there’s lots of tools and documents.  Here’s a new page called How to Homeschool that  talks about how to explore homeschooling.

Countless families have chosen to start homeschooling their children for a great variety of reasons. Time4learning recognizes one common goal of homeschooling parents: they want to help shape the best future for their children.

If you are unfamiliar with homeschooling, it can be a little frightening and you may feel a little discouraged. You are not alone! Many home educators who make the decision to administer their children’s education have similar qualms at the beginning and endless questions about how to home school.

Time4Learning has a dynamic group of homeschooling families. We have pooled our resources to provide you with a “How to Home School Guide for New Homeschooling Families,” which will give you a foundation as you embark on your homeschooling journey.

While most homeschool  moms are thrilled to be teaching literature, they aren’t necessarily so excited about teaching math to their homeschooled students.

For many students, math produces feelings of dread and anxiety. In the classroom and on tests, kids fear being humiliated if they come up with the wrong answer or don’t know how to solve a math problem. They feel pressured by their teachers, parents, peers, and time constraints. Math anxiety is a common and sometimes serious problem: it causes students’ minds to go blank and their reasoning skills to be blocked by anxiety or even panic.

Use Technology to Overcome Math Anxiety

One way to present math in a non-threatening way is by using the computer. Time4Learning offers computer-based instruction that can help reduce or solve math anxiety.

Specifically:

• Lessons are student-paced, allowing students to repeat lessons as many times as they want until they’ve mastered a skill.
• Lessons are presented in a sequential order in small chunks. Each lesson within a chapter builds on the last, which helps reinforce skills.
• Students have access to one grade above and one grade below, allowing them to flip back to lessons from the previous year if they don’t fully understand a concept.
• Lessons are taught by animated characters in a highly visual, interactive manner. This helps bring the material to life and lets students engage with the material instead of memorizing it.
• Activities provide alternative explanations, so if a student answers a question incorrectly the first time, the activity then will explain it in a different way.

Technology can open doors in a way that textbooks can’t, by creating an interactive learning experience that brings the material to life. And since computers have endless patience and don’t judge, fear of humiliation becomes less of an issue, and a can-do state of mind replaces resistance.

eady to end math anxiety?

When your kids develop a solid math foundation, you’ll be amazed to see the grades improve and the stress disappear. You might even hear that math is fun!

But, when a student has weak math basic skills, math appears confusing and difficult. You’ll likely hear no enthusiasm to learn math or that math is boring. You might even notice that your child starts to develop “math anxiety” and their confidence suffers.

Time4Learning.com is the answer. Build confidence and success in core reading and math skills for kids, PreSchool to Eighth Grade.