With the ever increasing challenges public schools are facing today: budget cuts, the Columbine factor, easy access to drugs and alcohol and teen pregnancy, many parents are choosing to look into local home schooling programs. Certainly, within this option there is no guarantee children will be spared from the negative influences of our culture but some do believe that local home schooling does offer a bit more protection and environmental supervision. Putting aside the controversy of this choice for the moment, lets focus on some specific strategies that can be implemented to make any families local home schooling experience an educationally enriching. One of the largest challenges any parent may face when first considering this option is their own insecurity in respect to their ability as teachers. In the primary grades of K-5 most of the academic requirements are sufficiently met through the aptitude of a parents own knowledge of each subject. Local Home Schooling becomes more of a challenge when the higher math, logic, foreign language etc. which are required to provide the child with a competitive education in preparation for college. With this key issue in mind many home schooling families are creating powerfully effective educational opportunities by specializing in their own area of expertise and allowing other families to join in the lesson. Not only are they contributing to the lives of the next generation it helps to prevent home schooling burn out be sharing the educational load with other like-minded local home schooling adults.
