I just moved to the middle Tennessee area ,with my family last year. We moved from Florida, and although the school system was over crowded, I was happy with the education my children were given. My kids (ages16,14 and 9) are in the public schooling system here in Tennessee now. The elemantary school seems to be just fine but the junior high/high school is one of the worst. My children hate it…I hate it and that does not make for a very comfortable home life. I do not have an awful lot of money to spare right now and I have been told that they can be home schooled but I can not teach them unless I have a degree. I have heard there are some home school programs that are affiliated with the church but I am not sure if I want to go that way. Also I needed to know if you can do the online schooling in the state of Tennessee. Any suggestions?
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There are many options for homeschooling that are not affiliated with a church. Check out http://www.k12.com for one. I’ve looked at their curriculum and think it is very good. They offer their curriculum through public charter schools in almost every state. Also if you search on the Internet for “home school for middle or high school” you will find a lot of options. Several top universities (like Stanford in CA) also have on-line high schools, but you need to pay. Your school district or county department of education might even offer a home school option with a curriculum and textbooks. I’m just about to embark upon home schooling my 12 yr old boy (at his request). Good luck to you!
We have homeschooled our kids off and on for years and I would look closely at the church schools, I am not familiar with TN law today but we thought it was reasonable about 8 years ago when we considered moving there. Many of the church schools are not overly religious as long as you are not anti-religion you ought to be able to get along. Some public schools are more difficult to get along with than others. Good Luck.
I don’t think TN has online public charter schools. You could check with the state board of education about it.
Ok, first off whoever told you, you can’t teach without a degree is a fibber or is badly misinformed. You only need to have a highschool diploma. We’re from southwest Tennessee.
We enrolled with http://www.familychristianacademy.com as an umbrella school. It cost $40, but will cost you a little more since you’re late enrolling. Enroll them through a Christian umbrella school like the one mentioned before. Another option for you is http://www.homelifeacademy.com because you’ll only have to pay $100 to enroll all 3 of your kids (BEFORE you enroll with homelifeacademy, please get in touch lol)
Make sure it’s one with a nice website so you don’t have to mail in your grades and stuff and can do it online.
This is our second year of homeschooling and homeschooling does NOT have to be expensive. For books I spent $95 for one child through http://www.christianbook.com and just have a few supplies to buy. We start school next Monday and we also don’t use an online school. Online schools will be much more expensive than just getting the books and teaching yourself.
Also DON’T overlook the FREE resources online you can use. Last year, we didn’t have curriculum in every subject, so I printed worksheets and lessons off the internet. It IS a bit harder and that’s why this year we DO have curriculum for every subject. Considering my daughter didn’t have curriculum in every subject last year she is still a year advanced. She’s in second grade this year, but is doing some 3rd and even 4th grade work. So don’t think you have to have the EXACT same stuff the Joneses have to succeed. All of the Abeka and Saxon goodies that are sky high aren’t purchased by us yet lol.
If you’ve got google and a printer then you can get mounds of lessons for your kids.
Email me at mycountryfamily@yahoo.com if you need more help and information.
Here’s a link to your state regulations:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=TN
I checked on the K12 site, it’s not available in TN, but you may be able to go through the customer direct option? I don’t use K12, so I’m not familiar with that.
It looks like you can go through a church umbrella school if you don’t have a degree, or you can teach lower than 8th grade if you have a high school diploma. You can also probably check into virtual charter schools, but that can get a bit pricey.
Anyway…hope that helps!