Homeschool and Cyberschool Connection

One of the main goals of the Home School Cyber School Alliance (HSCSA) is to connect with parents and work to understand their needs and concerns. Every family chooses to home school their children for different reasons and every family has had their share of struggles during the process. We want to hear from you. Please share your stories of why you chose homeschooling and what you feel your child needs to be successful. Are their any products or services that you do not have access to that would be beneficial to your student? Do you find that you are in need of more acceptance in your community? Does your child have special needs that were not being met in regular schools? Do you have trouble finding social opportunities for your homeschoolers? We ask these questions because were are trying to meet the needs of the community. The best way to do this is to reach out to the parents of home schooled children and ask them to share their stories and then really listen to their needs and work to find viable solutions. So please share with us and help us to grow into an organization that really works for the benefit of the children and their families.

It's that time of year again...the Scantron Assessment. The Scantron Assessment is a test designed to measure a student's proficiency in grade level subject material. These tests are important because it helps to identify gaps in a child's understanding as well as prepare students for similar testing down the road. The format is essentially the same as what they will see on other standardized tests. So what about home school and cyber school children? Do they have to take the test and if so how do they go about it? The short answer is "yes." Home school and cyber school children will also take the Scantron Assessments. Most students will take it twice, once at the beginning of the year and once at the end of the year. This will help to determine if the student is ready to progress to the next grade level. It will also measure the student's progress and provide information on the student's stronger and weaker subjects.

For home schooled children who do not attend a virtual school, the Scantron Assessment is usually given through the local public schools or they may be given log in information to take the test online. Those of you who already home school your children know that you must provide various information and meet certain requirements set by the superintendent of the school district in which you live. Taking the Scantron is one of these requirements. If your child does not attend a cyber school you should receive information on where and how to take the assessment. If you do not know where you need to go for the test, please contact the superintendent or school liaison that you have worked with to start homeschooling. Failure to do so may result in your child having to repeat the last grade or worse, the school board may deny you the right to homeschool. (In which case, call the local cyber schools if you do not want your child to attend a physical school.)

Children in cyber schools will receive a link to take the test and log in information that includes the child's identification and the virtual school that they attend. Have your child log in when ready. The Scantron tests typically begin in the third grade and they are adaptive. If your student passes so many grade level questions correctly, then slightly higher subject material will be given until it becomes too hard for the child. Let your students know that this will happen so they do not get frustrated or upset when the work extends beyond their level. The test will end shortly after a student has missed a certain number of questions and the previous grade level will be considered the child's level of proficiency. Some tips to help students are listed below....

1. Take your time, relax and read each question carefully.
2. If you are unsure of answer, try to eliminate the answers you can and guess from the remainders.
3. If you are taking the test in person, use a # 2 pencil and fill in the bubbles carefully.

Welcome to the new blog for the Home School Cyber School Alliance, also known as HSCSA. The Home School Cyber School Alliance is a group working toward becoming a non-profit organization that supports families who choose home schooling or cyber schooling options for their children's education. We are still in the earliest stages of development but I'd like to briefly discuss some of the things we hope to accomplish. We would like to provide free or low-cost tutoring and educational materials for parents and students. We would like to provide our own line of textbooks and workbooks that cost less than $5.00 each in order to offset the increasing cost of educational materials. We are working toward creating interactive textbooks and multimedia resources to enhance learning. We would like to help connect students with other organizations and youth programs and we would like to provide social opportunities for students and their entire families. We would like to provide educational and social support for younger children who have home schooled siblings. We want to provide emotional and social support for families. We also would like to provide support for students with exceptional needs. This includes those with disabilities, gifted students, children with behavioral or emotional problems and any child that could benefit from additional support. We would also like to raise public awareness of home schooling options and reduce some of the misconceptions and stigmas associated with homeschooling.

As we are developing we are looking for volunteers to join the organization. Anyone is welcome to join but persons with backgrounds in education, child development, child psychology or applied behavioral analysis are greatly needed. We are also looking for tutors, teachers and those who can provide educational content in general subject areas, arts, technology or physical education and health. In addition we are interested in partnering with other organizations or groups. We are also looking for persons to join our board of directors. Anyone who is interested can respond to this blog or join the Teacher's Lounge forums on our website.The URL is <a href="http://www.homeschoolcyberschoolalliance.org" title="Home School Cyber School Alliance" target="_blank">homeschoolcyberschoolalliance.org.</a>

Of course parents are welcome and encouraged to join our blog and our website forums whether or not they choose to volunteer at HSCSA. We will be providing free materials and resources regularly and we are interested in hearing from parents. Don't let your needs or concerns go unaddressed as we are here to help.

Thank you