Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Free K-12 Christian Homeschooling Curriculum


I'm pleased to offer yet another homeschooling resource to my readers and this one sounds too good to be true! K-12 Free Homeschool is a Christian-based online curriculum for K-12 homeschooling families, offering 180 days of customizable lesson plans and activities, over 140 courses to select from, a message board, and what's more the core courses are offered tuition-free! Most of the materials for core classes are provided as free downloads and most of the courses have Video-CD's that are lent to you for the year free of charge. So, how can this be? The catch is sooo small and once it's explained you'll likely be thrilled to a part of this online learning community.

Here's how it can be tuition-free.... and believe it or not it is! The tuition is essentially paid for by corporate and non-profit sponsors. Parents who use and enjoy the free online courses often make donations too.... allowing the tuition free coursework to continue. Note that donations are not required nor are the expected, but they do contribute to the overall success of the site.

This school operates as a community-sponsored online homeschooling site. So, in exchange for tuition-free courses, you agree to simply respond to questions and surveys... basically providing feedback about the curriculum you've subscribed to. You'll be allowed in the process to make suggestions and provide constructive criticism wherever you feel it's appropriate. You'll also be asked to review or respond to corporate sponsors who offer products and service potentially of interest to homeschoolers... these sponsors have in exchange donated funds to the school. You'll also be invited to make parent donations, but as mentioned previously... donations are entirely optional.

As you might expect, enrollment into this program is very limited. In order to qualify you must be a resident of and reside within the United States. Parents are required to complete an online enrollment form and will be asked to pay for any electives selected at that time (electives are not required) and any other fees that may be due. If you are later turned down for enrollment, your payment will be refunded in full.

So, are there any costs involved? Short answer is yes, but they are very minimal. The school asks for a modest $4.95 per tuition-free course to cover general operating expenses including those relating to shipping charges and processing fees. If you compare this cost to the tuition required for enrollment into other online programs, you'll not blink an eye at this fee.

I'd also like to mention that this school offers electives, which are not tuition-free, but are offered at a significant discount over other online schools. Note the electives are not required in order to participate in the program. They are in fact 100% optional.

If you'd like to learn more about this program, spend some time on their site and order the K-12FreeHomeschool.org Course Catalog. I'm there now!

If you join, let me know! I'm interested in following this site myself and will likely consider it next year for my own children.

3 comments:

Cassie - Homeschooling Four said...

I came across your blog and I love all the great ideas you have. I look forward to visiting again.

zookeeoerof3monkeys said...

I found you on a search. this is really nice. I like the idea of the free k-12 homeschooling BUT (there's always a but) you have to pre pay $25 then they tell you where you are on the waiting list. I think I'm going to check into them a bit more before I give them my credit card number. It does sound fantastic though!
Kim

Anonymous said...

my experience with k12freehomeschool was not great. my children were disenrolled after 30 days of inactivity (fine, their policy states that will happen). they emailed me informing me of the disenrollment status. TWO(2) days later, my credit card is charged 3 separate charges of $110, $90 and $10. according to their policy, i have 30 days after disenrollment to get their material to them. well, i am no genius, but if i receive an email informing me of "disenrollment" then two days later i am charged, i do not believe i was given 30 days, as the policy states, to return the material. it is just me? (by the way, there is no specified date of disenrollment, just an email stating your status is now "disenrolled")