Is Home-schooling an option for San Francisco Bay Area Children

By Keith Watkins

Due to the questionable state of our nations public school systems and the current strains placed upon our countries current economy a growing number of families are deciding to educate their children at home. The decision to home-school is a personal one and usually a difficult one. Ultimately making the decision to take control of your children’s education can, at first, appear to be overwhelming to a parent but more and more families are making the decision to home-school everyday. Homeschool students have been growing by an estimated 8 percent annually in the U.S. and as of 2007 totaled about 1.5 million.

In many places home-schooling is a legal option for parents who wish to provide their children with an alternative learning environment other than the ones that exists in nearby schools. While academic and religious reasons dominate the motivations for most home-schoolers, parents cite numerous other reasons ranging from a dissatisfaction with the public schools in their area to the desire for better academic test results and in a lot of instances parents cite the price of private school educations as being the determining factor for an ever increasing amount of families. Students who are gifted or have special needs benefit from a home school opportunity because they can learn at their own pace, whether they need to spend more time on a lesson or delve deeper into the content as a way of satisfying their intellectual curiosity. To that end, home schooling offers parents the opportunity to ensure mastery of a concept before moving onto the next, while public schools merely require a demonstration of understanding before moving onto the next concept, largely due to time constraints. 

Other students that benefit from a home school setting are those who live in rural areas and riding a bus for an hour each direction is more a waste of time than anything else. 

Home-schooling can literally be life changing. It creates personal growth for both the parent and the child. Nothing you will ever do in life will have a more profound effect on your child and your family’s future as home-schooling.

Although every families home-school is unique, certain home-schooling “styles” have become universally very popular. Most home-schoolers do not follow one style or method. Instead, they select the ideas and suggestions that fit their family and eventually end up with a method all their own.

Below are some of the most often used popular home-schooling styles found.

School-at-Home Method

Unit Studies Method

“Relaxed” or “Eclectic” Home-schooling Method

Unschooling Method

Classical Home-schooling Method

The Charlotte Mason Method

The Waldorf Method

The Montessori Method

Multiple Intelligences Method

DVD/Video Schooling Method

Internet Home-schooling Method

Did you know that the Scripps National Spelling Bee Winner for 2007 was a local Danville, Ca.San Francisco Bay Area home schooler. Evan O’Dorney, the home-schooled eighth-grader, easily aced “serrefine” — a noun describing small forceps — to become the last youngster standing at the 80th annual 2007 spelling bee. Plus, every year home-schoolers are admitted to hundreds of colleges in at least five different  countries. Those who prepare thoroughly can actually be admitted to some of the colleges of their choices with full scholarships.

Most parents are unaware of the fact that parents don’t need to be California licensed to educate their own children at home.  Home educators may establish, in California, a private school based in their home by filing a Private School Affidavit with the California Department of Education (CDE).

The affidavit does not license, evaluate, recognize, approve of, or endorse a private school. The State of California accredits neither public nor private schools. The affidavit itself is a statistical tool, and necessary to effect the pupil’s exemption from compulsory public school enrollment and attendance. By filing an affidavit you are showing intent to establish a private school, and informing the state, as required by law. Parents have been legally using this provision for many years to conduct their own home-based private schools.

Parent support groups and networks are a terrific way to get started by collectively facing challenging situations, the beneficial offerings of encouragement from other parents, the sharing of ideas, socialization and generally a way to reduce the overall stress of getting started.

If your student is into to sports, he or she may be able to participate at certain schools without actually attending. I have a personal friend that attends a charter school in Oakland, CA. His son is the leading scorer on the varsity basketball team at the public school in his local district. His dad often jokes stating that, “he shows up at games and no one in the home stands has any idea who he is”.

The California Virtual Academies  web site has plenty of free quality information and is a very good place to start your search. They are actually funded by the state of California and use the K¹² curriculum to offer California students in grades K-12 an exceptional online learning experience. With individualized learning approaches, the California Virtual Academies provide the tools kids need to succeed—in school and beyond into their college years.  Here is a news video report describing California Virtual Academies.

Below is an overview of the California Virtual Academies program:

• Our experienced, California-credentialed teachers, who are available online, by phone, and during face-to-face meetings.
• The individualized, engaging K¹² curriculum, which covers both the core subject areas and electives. Based on decades of education research, this curriculum packages high-quality lessons with mastery-based assessments that ensure students achieve success at each and every level. Find out more about K¹².
• The online planning and assessment tools, resources, and hands-on materials ranging from textbooks to microscopes, rocks and dirt to beautifully illustrated classic children’s stories, and much more. 
• Our active, supportive school community, which organizes fun and informative monthly activities where CAVA parents, students, and staff share their successes, helpful hints, and more. 
• The high-quality, tuition-free public education that enables a learning experience that is individualized for each child.
• We’re fully accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Schools (ACS) of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) for all academies, grades K-12.

For more information on a distance based home school program please visit Laurel Springs School. Laurel Springs School is an accredited, college prep private school offering distance learning programs and teacher services for students in grades K-12. Laurel Springs uses web-based communication tools, a standards-based curriculum, and personalized instruction to offer students the highest quality home education experience based on your child’s learning style.

In conclusion, there are many many available options if home-schooling is of interest to your family. There are also many support groups, school affiliations and internet based organizations to assist in getting you started and also to guide families through the maze of of their newly discovered educational freedom. But first do the necessary research by Googling “Home School Organizations” in your City and State to gather as much information as possible.

Local San Francisco Bay Area home schooling parents should plan a visit to the upcoming 23rd Annual Christian Home Educators Bay Area Convention April 24-25, 2009. This event will be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Stop by the Bay Area College Planning Specialists booth for additional information concerning financial aid and scholarships for home-schooled students.

So, whether or not you are a parent who home schools your child, the next time you hear someone make a negative remark about parents educating their children at home, keep some of these points in mind. Consider all the benefits that a home school program offers parents, and their children. You might be pleasantly surprised at the many available options that exist for  families and that of their students future in education.

Filed under: Bay Area, Career Path, Career Search, College Financing, College Planning, College Workshops, Consultants, Home Schooling, Parental Guidance, Public Service, Scholarship, Social Networking, Students , Students, Decisions, academic quality, Parental Guidance, Higher learning, planning, Belief, Choice, parents, self help, life, college students, college planning tips, Home Schooling, Montessori, Scripps National Spelling Bee

College Planning Specialists TV Interview with Dan Evertsz

Dan Evertsz owner of BayCollegePlanners.com has the answers to the difficult questions parents and students face when considering the choices and expenses of a college education: “How do we find the money for college?” The following is an introduction to Dan and his Bay Area College Specialists consulting business in the form of a television interview on the Northern California Comcast show “Reference Point” with host Dave Korcharhook.

If you are having trouble qualifying for student aid, finding funding for an education, or if you are in need of consultation about these expenses please consider Dan Evertsz your go-to source for action:

Filed under: AP Courses, Admissions, Applications, Bay Area, California Colleges, Campus Lifestyle, Career Search, Classes, College Financing, College Planning, College Workshops, Consultants, Graduate School, Graduation, Hiring, Internships, Junior College, Major, Out of State Tuition, Parental Guidance, Public Service, Recruitment, Scholarship, Students, Tuition, Universities , College, Students, College Applications, Choosing Universities, College Financing, Scholarships, Tuition, college expenses, student financial aid, Universities, parents, money, economic forecast, college students, financial aid, college funding, College Planning, Admissions, Television Interviews

BAY AREA COUNSELOR SUMMER PROGRAMS & COLLEGE TOUR

These one week programs provide tours and information sessions on 13 unique California college campuses each. In addition, presentations about the college process are designed to meet the needs of high school, independent and college-access-program counselors. Due to space availability, these programs are limited to 40 registrants each.

2009 WACAC Northern and Southern California 
Counselors’ Programs and College Tours

2009 Northern California Summer Counselor College Tour
Sunday, August 2nd – Friday, August 7th

Hosted by Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, California
- Visit 14 colleges & universities throughout Northern California 
- Case Studies led by college admission professionals 
- Two additional professional development sessions 

Confirmed colleges and universities include: 

California Maritime Academy
Dominican University of California
Holy Names University
Mills College
Notre Dame de Namur University
Saint Mary’s College of California
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco State University
Santa Clara University
Stanford University
University of California, Berkeley
University of California at Davis
University of the Pacific
University of San Francisco 

Registration cost includes accommodation on campus for five nights, shuttle to and from Oakland Airport (see below), bus transportation to 13 different colleges and universities, Welcome Reception, all meals between Sunday and Friday with the exception of dinner on Tuesday (free time in San Francisco), refreshments during the week, professional development sessions and materials.

Airport shuttle pick up will be provided only at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 2 at Oakland Airport. Return shuttle will depart from Saint Mary’s College of California campus at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, August 7. Guests will be responsible for their own shuttle cost and arrangements if they choose a different airport location and time.

$600 – Members; $645 – Non-members

To register, please CLICK HERE

Filed under: Bay Area, California Colleges, Career Path, Classes, College Counselors, College Workshops , Parental Guidance, Career, Career Path, California College Conselors

Free San Francisco Bay Area College Planning Workshops

Bay Area College Planning Workshops will help you to learn about the many issues College financial aid funding can typically present to a family. We will present useful information which can assist in safeguarding your families future. Our San Francisco Bay Area College Planning  Workshops will teach your family about:

CLICK HERE FOR FREE COLLEGE PLANNING WORKSHOPS

•  Tax Scholarships: What are they?

•  Ways to get Thousands of Free dollars from the Colleges of your choice.

•  How to keep on top of college admissions, FAFSA and scholarships.

•  How some families have reduced their out of pocket college expenses by thousands.

•  How some middle and or upper-middle class families send their kids to college for free.

•  How to double or even triple your eligibility for Financial Aid.

•  How to pick colleges that give the best Financial Aid packages. 

•  Unlocking the unknown – How to win at the College funding game.

•  The 5 myths concerning College funding.

•  How to help your student find direction in the College search process.

CLICK HERE FOR FREE COLLEGE PLANNING WORKSHOPS

December 2009 Workshops
 
Alameda Free Library Workshop
1550 Oak Street,
Alameda, CA 94501
Date: Tues Dec 8th
Time: 6:30pm-8pm
 
Redwood Christian High School Workshop
1000 Paseo Grande, 
San Lorenzo, CA 94580
Date: Tues Dec 8th
Time: 7pm-8:15pm
 
Webinar: “Learn the Insider Secrets to Get Free Financial Aid for College!”
Click on the link to register: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/734644299
Date: Wed Dec 9th
Time: 6:30pm-8pm PST
 
Moraga Library Workshop
1500 St. Mary’s Road,
Moraga, CA 94556
Date: Sat Dec 12th
Time: 11am-12pm

Find out about the many more College funding secrets many Colleges hope you will never discover.  

 - Prior registration required for all workshops and teleseminars -

CLICK HERE FOR FREE COLLEGE PLANNING WORKSHOPS

 

Filed under: AP Courses, Admissions, Applications, Banks, Bay Area, California Colleges, Campus Lifestyle, Career Path, Career Search, Classes, College Financing, College Planning, College Workshops, Consultants, Graduate School, Graduation, High School, Home Schooling, Internships, Junior College, Law Schools, Major, Med School, Nursing, Out of State Tuition, Parental Guidance, Public Service, Recruitment, Refinance, Scholarship, Students, Tax Credits, Tuition, Universities, athletics, ncaa, single parent families , College, College Applications, Choosing Universities, college expenses, planning, parents, Classes, money, financial aid, college funding, College Planning, Workshops, Admissions, College Workshops

Northern California East Bay College Connection Fair

The East Bay College Connection is a regional college fair for San Francisco Bay Area high school students, their parents, teachers, and counselors.

The East Bay College Connection Fair is a great chance to connect with institutions from all across the country. Bring the family to this free event to learn more about your college bound students options.

Saturday, Apr 25 1:00p to 4:30p

at Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, CA

Sponsored by the Western Association for College Admission Counseling (WACAC)
and Saint Mary’s College of California
(800) 800-4SMC

PARTICIPATING COLLEGES AND RESOURCES 

Filed under: Admissions, Applications, Bay Area, California Colleges, College Financing, College Planning, College Workshops, Grants, High School, Home Schooling, Parental Guidance, Public Service, Students, Universities, single parent families , Students, College Applications, Choosing Universities, College Financing, Scholarships, student financial aid, Universities, planning, parents, student loans, financial aid, college funding, College Planning, Admissions, College Fairs

Mark Your Calendar for the Annual PAPSA Conference

By Kristina Keffer

PAPSA is a well known name in the Pennsylvania Education world. The Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators is the one that represents 300+ career private colleges in Pennsylvania. PAPSA provides a paid membership for administrators and students schools and colleges of Pennsylvania. With a membership, the school is provided with state level lobbying representation, financial assistance, faculty development workshops and various other programs for developing the teaching skills. Providing assistance to all the for-profit career colleges of Pennsylvania, PAPSA has been arranging various conferences and seminars to improve the quality of education provided by the Pennsylvania schools. This year, PAPSA has announced the dates for the annual conference. This conference will be held from July 22 to 23, 2009. The venue of the conference is Sheraton Cranberry, just north of Pittsburgh.

The Topics Covered

This conference mainly focuses on classroom management. The classroom management program will introduce the collaborative learning techniques. The time management and organization of activities of students will also be discussed. Building a High Achieving Admissions Team, How Student’s Decide to Attend Your School, Optimizing Your Website’s Search Engine, Student Retention Best Practices, Supporting Students with Emotional
Problems, Washington Update: ASB/T and Licensing Board Update, and the New GI Bill are the other topics of focus in the conference.

The Importance of attending the Conference

The main motive of this PAPSA annual conference is to improve the quality of education provided in the career colleges of Pennsylvania. Optimizing websites of the career colleges is one of the main topics of interest in this conference. From designing the website according so that it appeals to the target demographic to making sure the college website appears in the top of search engine results- everything will be discussed in the conference. The PASA annual conference also deals with handling the emotional problems of the students. Attending this conference will help the faculty understand and respond to the
student’s problems more effectively than ever before.

The PAPSA Awards and Nominations

Career Colleges of Pennsylvania can now start nominations for the PAPSA awards in 2009. The main motive of the PAPSA awards is to promote the social responsibility of the schools and colleges. The schools will be selected for the award based on the student involvement in the social activities and impact on the community. The winners of the PAPSA awards will get $1,500 donated by McGraw-Hill Higher Education. The awards will be available for many schools and colleges. The nominations forms can be found at the official website of PAPSA. Nominations are invited from now on.

This conference will be a great boon for all the career colleges of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. On completion of the conference, job training will be very much effective than ever before.

About the author:
The author of this article knows all about career colleges and schools. Hence he knows the importance of PAPSA membership for any school or college. He also explains the benefits of career schools and colleges with a PAPSA membership. When it comes to Jobtraining in Pennsylvania, he recommends people to joincareer colleges and schools with PAPSA membership.

Filed under: Classes, College Workshops, Computer Training, Computers , Educators

Five College Recruiting Steps for the High School Senior Athlete

By Laurie Richter

College recruiting activities for senior year for every student athlete will be focused primarily on applications, visits, and financial aid. But what else you do will depend on how much recruiting attention you have received. If you now have a group of schools that you’re interested in and that are expressing interest back, you can move on to the next set of activities.

But if you don’t, you will need to cycle back to the steps mentioned in my articles about junior year and tactics for contacting coaches. The majority of Division I scholarship spots are filled at this point even if the letters of intent haven’t actually been signed. Despite this, there are plenty of schools that will still need athletes to fill their rosters in partial and non-scholarship spots.

Here are five steps that need to happen during the first part of senior year:

1. Get your college applications in, the earlier the better. 

Make sure you know the application deadlines as there are some variations but the majority of applications need to be in by January 15 or February 1. You shouldn’t wait this long if you can avoid it. Many schools offer rolling admissions which means that applications are considered as they are received, and once the spots are gone, they’re gone. As an athlete with a competition season coming up, it’s great to know where you’re going sooner rather than later.

You also need to decide if you want to pursue early admissions at your top school. This will be most relevant if you don’t have a scholarship offer and you’re applying to very selective schools where early admissions may increase your chances of getting in. Also, at the Division III schools where there are no athletic scholarships and therefore no commitments, early admissions might make sense for another reason: if a coach is pursuing two athletes for a spot and one gets in via early admissions, they may stop pursuing the other one.

2. Make official and unofficial visits to any schools you’re considering but haven’t seen yet.

Official visits are paid for by Division I and Division II schools. You can take a total of 5. Unofficial visits are paid for by the student athlete and you can take as many as you want. Most Division III visits are unofficial. Do not make a decision about a school without visiting it. Liking a coach is not a good enough reason if you know nothing else about the school and keep in mind that if you sign a letter of intent and the coach that you are so fond of leaves, you are still committed to playing at that school.

These visits should all be done by the late fall if possible although this will be tough if you’re participating in a fall sport. Try to go when the team is not in season so both the coaches and players will have more time to spend with you, and you may be able to informally scrimmage with them.

Bring your parents or another responsible adult with you if possible. You will be starry eyed during these visits, you need someone else to help keep it in perspective for you.

3. Take care of the financial aid application process.

If you plan on applying for need-based financial aid (and most people do), make sure you get the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form filled out and submitted on time. This will help schools figure out how much your family can contribute and how much aid you will need.

You should also check the websites of your top schools and see what kinds of merit based scholarships you can apply for. Many of these require additional applications with essays and letters of reference and they have varying deadlines. If you have decent grades and test scores, you can finance a lot of your education through these kinds of scholarships . There may also be lots of scholarships available through your local community. Check with your high school counselor as they usually have lots of information about local scholarships.

4. Here are a few things to do if you don’t have the kind of interest and offers you were hoping for.

E-mail or call coaches at schools you’re applying to. Let them know how much you’re interested, that you are applying, and that you’d like to be able to walk on. If they still have a need for someone in your position, they will let you know and you may get an 11th hour offer if they see your profile and like what they see. If they’re already full, they may agree to have you try out as a walk-on. It’s unlikely that you’ll get a scholarship that first year but you may end up being able to play where you want to.

Check for showcase types of events. Some sports have unsigned senior competitions so that coaches who still have needs can see who is still available.

Ask your high school coach and athletic director to help. They may have some contacts that know about openings that you wouldn’t know about.

5. Breathe easy and enjoy the rest of your senior year.

Once you’ve taken care of the applications, the financial aid, and the visits, you’ve done what you can. With a little luck and some good planning, you’ll have this all out of the way so you can enjoy your senior sports season without it hanging over your head. Making the final decision is a topic for another article. Hopefully, you’ll have some choices to decide between.

About the author:

I am the author of Put Me In, Coach: A Parent’s Guide to Winning  the Game of College Recruiting. Find it at http://www.RightFitPress.com, or http://www.putmeincoachbook.com. I successfully navigated recruiting with my son. The book is for athletes who want to take charge of their own recruiting.

Filed under: Admissions, Applications, California Colleges, Campus Lifestyle, College Financing, College Planning, College Workshops, Consultants, High School, Home Schooling, Out of State Tuition, Recruitment, Scholarship, Students, Universities, athletics, ncaa, single parent families , athletic scholarships, athletics, Choosing Universities, College, College Financing, Scholarships, Students, university

Stimulus tax break to ease College Costs

Families with college students could benefit from a new tax break passed with the federaleconomic stimulus package signed this week by President Barack Obama.

The massive funding measure includes a provision to more than double the current college tuition tax break to $2,500 per student per year.

Officials are hoping the tax break provision will help alleviate the costs of sending students through higher education, as well as some of the debt students face after graduation.

Nationwide, private, four-year college tuition rose 6.3 percent last year while public four-year school tuition rose 6.6 percent, according to figures from the College Board. In Ohio, about 67 percent of students graduating faced an average debt of about $22,000, ranking the state No. 14 nationally for the amount of debt, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

 

The new tax credit:

• Can be used for more than one student in the household;

• Is partially refundable, meaning that families with incomes too low to owe federal income taxes can still claim a partial benefit;

• Has income limits that are slightly higher than current law, reaching zero at $90,000 for singles (up from $80,000 previously) and $180,000 for married couples (up from $160,000 previously).

Filed under: Admissions, Applications, Banks, Bay Area, California Colleges, Campus Lifestyle, Career Path, College Financing, College Planning, College Workshops, Consultants, Home Schooling, Out of State Tuition, Scholarship, Students, Tax Credits, Tuition, Universities , coll, college expenses, College Financing, college funding, economic forecast, financial aid, student financial aid