Homeschooling is the ultimate DIY project, right? I used to joke that we were insourcing—doing ourselves what was once left up to our kids’ schools.
But maybe you want to homeschool and outsource. That is, you want to direct your child’s education, and you want it to be a home-based education, but you also want to outsource parts of that education.
Can you do that?
Sure! And now more than ever—because resources have sprung up to meet the needs and wishes of homeschoolers.
We are frequently asked, "Can someone else homeschool my child?" Homeschooling parents can choose to outsource all, most, or just a little of their kids’ education. Here are some ways parents outsource:
- Enroll kids in a homeschool co-op
- Send kids to a tutoring center for a particular subject
- Enroll in a face-to-face class in the immediate community. Classes may be
- Privately run by experts in their field or current/former teachers
- Offered by a business, museum, park, or community organization
- Dual enroll high schoolers in community college classes while homeschooling
- Enroll part-time at the local school, where permitted
- Use self-paced online curriculum
- Pay (or trade with) a fellow homeschooling parent
- Find a specialist in a subject who can mentor or tutor your child, online or in person
- Enroll in a private school (online or in person) for one or two classes
- Enroll in online schooling in a class with a live remote teacher
- Enroll in online classes, tutoring, or private lessons at Outschool
Why outsource? Among the reasons:
- Lighten the parent’s load
- Give the child exposure to more smart adults
- Cover subjects and activities where parent is not an expert
- May provide a collaborative learning experience with other kids
- Ease a transition back to school or college
- Provide a unique experience to encourage a child’s niche interest
- To get extra help from an expert
- Develop relationships with individuals who can write letters of recommendation that provide outside evidence of college readiness
Outsourcing, which often takes a respected front seat in homeschooling these days, does come with questions to consider:
- Is this a safe environment for my child?
- Will the outsourced experience fit my child?
- Does the cost fit my budget?
- How will outsourcing affect our schedule?
- Does my child want to do it?
- Does outsourcing fit my state’s homeschool laws?
To homeschool, you don’t have to do it all. You just have to figure out how it all gets done!
Outsourcing can be an enjoyable part of your homeschool puzzle.
A popular speaker at homeschooling conferences, business groups, and parents’ groups, Jeanne Potts Faulconer homeschooled her three sons in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Virginia for twenty years. Holding her Master of Arts degree in Communication, Jeanne conducted portfolio evaluations for Virginia homeschoolers for evidence of progress for many years. Jeanne is a former college faculty member, former editor for several publications, news correspondent for WCVE, and former director of Brave Learner Home. She is the contributing editor for TheHomeSchoolMom newsletter and writes the popular Ask Jeanne column addressing homeschool parents' questions here at TheHomeSchoolMom.
I’d love to see more options like this available in my area
Seems like more and more outsourcing opportunities are developing in various communities. I know some parents have collaborated to create the services they want, too. Sometimes it just takes a couple of interested parents to hire a teacher and create an algebra class or to encourage a tutoring center to open an hour early to accommodate homeschoolers.
The trickier outsourcing opps are public school-homeschool parent partnerships, which can become political issues, not to mention that not all homeschoolers support them. These are popular in some states. In other places, people have concerns about this diluting support for public education.
We'll see what people advocate for, what legislators vote for in various states, and what develops.
Looking forward,
Jeanne
We knew early on that our daughter would one day become a nurse. Science is not my strong point, especially High School, so off to classes at a homeschool training center nearby. The teacher was an amazing Christian woman. We sent the rest of our kids to her as well. That daughter is now a nurse and our son is in college to teach science and coach baseball.
What a wonderful example of outsourcing education to create opportunities for your children. Thanks so much, Barbara, for giving a specific instance of what worked in your family. In many areas, there are homeschool resource centers, co-ops, tutors, and community organizations that can and do provide excellent instruction on a family-friendly basis. Thanks for giving us a window into how homeschooling benefited from outsourcing at your house.
Looking forward,
Jeanne
I about to start contracting with a local tutoring company to tutor Spanish for its clients in Texas. I do not have a teaching certificate but a masters degree in Spanish. A potential client family has asked the tutoring center whether their high school Spanish 1, 2, and 3 could be accredited if they take Spanish through the center. It appears that the tutoring center, being new, does not have experience in this area, and has passed the questions on to me. Can you tell me who would be responsible for the accreditation (the parents, the tutoring center, or myself), and how that would work?
Hi Kathy,
Homeschoolers in most states don't place high priority on accreditation because it's rarely valued by colleges, universities or employers. Homeschoolers' interest in accreditation is changing in a few states where public school divisions or departments of education are providing funds to some families whose children are learning at home, with "accreditation" being one of the requirements for funding. (I am unaware of such an option in Texas as of 2/24, but these issues change quickly as legislatures pass new bills that affect education funding each year, and every state is different).
It would be unusual in any case for a tutoring company to have accreditation, which is typically meant for institutions such as schools and colleges.
If you are under contract to explore accreditation, you would want to find out the reason the potential customer is seeking accreditation. Often, they have false understandings of the impact of accreditation or its benefits. You could also contact accrediting agencies for basics on what it takes to get a school or program accredited and pass that along to the tutoring center.
Seeking accreditation is up to a school and not its individual teachers. If you are not being paid for consulting or advising on this project, you'd just want to refer this back to the tutoring center administrators. It's not a teacher's or parent's responsibility.
You can read more about homeschoolers and accreditation and refer the tutoring center to the article to give them more background.
Good luck in your new position.
Looking forward,
Jeanne