With millions of parents in the United States choosing to home school their children, many are discovering distance learning for the first time. The Internet has become a facilitator of education as more and more schools offer online courses on a variety of subjects and at many educational levels: from elementary school to doctorate. Home school students in particular enjoy the convenience of distance learning, and because many parents are just beginning to discover its existence, it is easy to believe distance learning came about through the Internet. However, parents who home school as well as adults endeavoring to further their educations through online classes may be surprised to learn that the distance learning model is over 100 years old.
Though home school itself is a relatively new phenomenon, at least in popular views, distance learning was first practiced in the United States in 1873. Anna Ticknor ran a Boston-based organization that offered correspondence schools for at-home women: a program which ended up serving over 10,000 students over the next 24 years and setting a precedent for other universities to take up the method. Today, home school parents and students can take advantage of a number of correspondence courses, either online or through the mail. It is not difficult to see the attraction of distance learning for home school families.
Many home school parents and students have discovered the benefits of distance learning already. Parents who choose to home school often feel confident in teaching creative thought, writing and spelling skills, and independent learning processes. However, when it comes to established curriculum such as math, science and foreign languages, it can be a challenge to teach in a home school environment. Therefore, parents turn to distance learning and allow their home school children to learn from experts while remaining at home. The classroom walls disintegrate when distance learning is invoked for home school students.
By far, the most popular method of distance learning in a home school setting is through Internet courses. Educational institutions and specialty organizations are recognizing the tremendous potential of the home school community, and many offer a number of distance learning options for all grade levels. In fact, a majority of prestigious colleges and universities have incorporated online courses and full degree programs into their operations. Even publicly educated students are finding online degree programs a viable and fulfilling alternative to the traditional college experience. Distance learning holds a great deal of potential benefit for home school children, publicly educated students, and adult learners across the country. Best of all, distance learning is not some new fad that is destined to fade with time.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.
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