Homeschooling Discernment Series: Academics and Catholic curricula, Part One

As a former Catholic school English teacher, I am definitely interested in the academic success of homeschooled students, in addition to recognizing the other benefits that homeschooling offers to children (doing fractions while in pajamas and baking muffins, anyone? And definitely no gangs in the household, unless my kids ally themselves with the cat and dogs...).

Thus, a 2004 article published in The Journal of College Admission that discussed how well homeschooled students did in college definitely caught my attention. In it, the author, a college recruiter/admissions officer, was pleasantly surprised to discover the success of these students both on standardized testing and on actual college campuses. He says that

Research showed that our homeschooled students had above-average SAT and ACT scores (1210 and 29 respectively). They also performed better academically. They had a combined cumulative grade point average of 3.47, compared to the 2.91 shared by the general student population. Through semi-structured interviews, I found they were also doing well socially.

These students were well prepared for college by their homeschooling experience. 

Sounds pretty nice, huh?!

CBS's Moneywatch.com also ran an article this summer entitled "Can Homeschoolers Do Well in College?" The verdict? Yes, they can! (I apologize for the slight reference to... you know... Bob the Builder... and that other guy) And take a look at these two statistics-- I found them the most interesting and inspiring, given that one could argue that the homeschooling advantage would fade away once the student completed his or her first year of college.

The GPA advantage was still present when homeschoolers were college seniors. Their average GPA was 3.46 versus 3.16 for other seniors. 

Homeschool students graduated from college at a higher rate (66.7%) than their peers (57.5%).

These academic statistics appear to support the idea that parents may be  the best teachers of their children, at least from an academic standpoint.

On a different topic, I've started looking into some Catholic homeschool programs. The ones I've found so far, in alphabetical order, include:

Some Catholic homeschool programs, in alphabetical order:

Angelicum Academy

Catholic Heritage

Kolbe Academy

Little Saints Catholic Preschool

Mater Amabilis

Mother of Divine Grace School

Our Lady of the Rosary School

Our Lady of Victory School

Regina Coeli Academy

Seton Home Study School

St. Thomas Aquinas Academy 

I've made a few notes on some of the programs, and will hopefully find time for the remainder of them for the next Wednesday or two.
 
Mater Amabilis- Per their website, Mater Amabilis is "a Charlotte Mason style curriculum for Catholics in the 21st century." The curriculum is free, so long as it is being used for personal use and not for profit. I see two HUGE upsides to this site: 1) for those who are concerned about tuition costs for homeschooling, this is potentially a saving grace and 2) it is a great resource for parents who want to pull ideas from a variety of sources, or test out different curricula. The program appears to be still in development, so I don't quite see it being used as a full-time "school."

One thing I love about homeschooling is how efficient it is, time-wise, when compared with public/private schools: the intro page for Mater Amabilis says that Levels 1 and 2 (K-5) only take up to 2 1/2 hours per day, using a 36-week schooling plan!

Our Lady of the Rosary School- I should have taken the Home Economics elective offered through this school... I could have made a chasuble in addition to the blue dress! The program requires parents to return all books and lesson plans at the end of the school year, or until the youngest child has used them. I understand their logic in attempting to keep costs down, but I'm not a fan of not keeping the books and lesson plans, in principle.

Pre-K- $99
Kindergarten- $225
Grades 1-12- $529

There is also a $20/child cash discount, and a $20/child (2 kids) discount, $40/child (3 kids) discount, and $60/child (4+ kids) discount for families with students grades 1-12.

On top of this is the cost of the curriculum (prices vary based upon whether or not you already have the books and whether or not you want the grading service).

Our Lady of Victory School

It is, by their assertion, the oldest Catholic homestudy program in the United States. It only supports the Latin Tridentine Mass. The school is accredited by the National Association of Private Catholic & Independent Schools. I need to look more into this one, and check out their fees.

Seton Home Study School- Seton is fully-accredited by SACS. I LOVE the sample lesson plans on this site-- they've helped me to understand how exactly homeschooling works as a practical matter. For instance, check out the lesson plans for Kindergarten P.E. and 1st grade Math. These aren't scary at all! I can visualize myself doing these things with C in the next few years and not going crazy. And, as I peeked ahead to future grades, I can see how feasible it is to do work with younger children (the Kindergarten P.E. stuff, for instance) while the older children are reading or doing Math work. Then, the younger children can do their coloring of numbers or whatever their Math lesson of the day is while I would work with the older children. On a slight negative note, I'm wondering about the whole Evolution Hoax CD that 9th graders buy... on a personal level, I've never had an issue with evolution coexisting peacefully with the creation story and consider them complimentary, not contradictory. I'm under the impression that Catholicism has no issue with this, either. Help, anyone??

Seton's website has a handy calculator to help estimate costs-- though we only have two children now, I know the basic timeline we're hoping for with a future child(ren) and can thus calculate a bit further into the future. Not including the $30 new family fee, the breakdown looks like this:
$200 Kindergarten
$490* per child, grades 1-12

*There is a $50 price break for 2 children, a $100 price break for 3 children, and other price breaks for more children (I didn't keep doing the math)

Students can also enroll in one or more academic courses without actually being fully enrolled in the Seton program. I'm not entirely sure exactly how this works, but it sounds like a nice option for those who want to pick and choose various curricula.

And have I mentioned how much I love the word curricula? I think it looks like Dracula, which amuses me to no end.

On another note (given that it's my note, it is likely off-key), C's Mother's Day Out program (ok, they're calling it a "preschool" now, but I use it as an MDO... I'm supposed to be finishing my thesis during the 9 hours of "free time" I have each week, but having a crawling infant has sidetracked that even further) uses the WEE Learn program. At first, I saw the $129 price tag for the 3 year old curriculum and thought, "No WAY am I paying that for a book!" Then I realized that 1 month of MDO tuition covers the book. Hmm. Basically, I'm using the MDO program as a sitter for C, though, so I'll justify it for at least a few more months. :-) It sure was great when I was pregnant with H because I scheduled my million appointments for one of the two MDO days each week. Anyway, my point is that I could just purchase the WEE Learn curriculum guide and do it at home, and perhaps with another local family or two! I LOVE the home(pre)schooling co-op that The Domestic Notebook does. It's such a great idea! (Seriously... is it possible for me to go an entire week without mentioning how much I love this site?)