Last weekend I attended a homeschool convention and something struck me as I walked through the vendor hall. Why does it seem like so many homeschoolers want to go back in time to the “good old days?” There were vendors selling sewing curriculum, wooden swords, farming books, candle making kits and more. It seems like the longer I homeschool the more homeschoolers I meet who want to move to the country, raise all their own food, teach everyone the violin, and become expert fencers.
There is NOTHING wrong with this lifestyle. I took piano lessons my whole life, it was beneficial. I lived in the country, it was refreshing. My husband hunts ( I think cleaning deer is gross, but I do it anyway). What bothers me is that this lifestyle seems to be promoted and encouraged in the homeschool community while other ways of life are discouraged.
Walking through the vendor hall last week I saw booth after booth selling some part of this lifestyle.
Here is what I didn’t see. Computer programing, marketing, economics, or web design curriculum. After walking the entire vendor hall twice I finally found one small booth selling a single computer programing course. I found a few books scattered throughout the rest of the vendor hall on these subjects but they were few and far between.
According to the US Department of Labor the following are some of the fastest growing industries in the US:
- Management, scientific, and technical consulting services
- Home health care services
- Specialized design services
- Data processing, hosting, related services, and other information services
- Computer systems design and related services
- Offices of health practitioners
- Outpatient, laboratory, and other ambulatory care services
- Software publishers
- Scientific research and development services
The industries of tomorrow are computer, science, and health care related, so why as a homeschooling mom do I need to enroll my child in community college in order for them to learn these skills?
I realize there are homeschoolers who have taught themselves web design, computer programing, and other technical skills without a specific curriculum, but not every child is wired to learn completely independent of a curriculum. While there is nothing wrong with a back to basics lifestyle, I think part of the reason so many people send their homeschooled kids to private or public high schools is the lack of curriculum available to homeschoolers that teach the skills needed to find a job in the 21st century.
As homeschoolers we have the opportunity to create a customized education for our children that will allow them to succeed after they leave the nest. Why are publishing companies missing the boat on this issue? I think as homeschoolers we are doing a disservice to our children by not making curriculum that covers skills like computer programing, web design, and marketing available at the middle and high school levels.
In most states homeschooling gives us the freedom to be forward thinking in our approach to educating our children and some times we use that opportunity to focus on the past. While I firmly believe having a well rounded education is necessary, I feel like what vendors are selling these days are dreams of the good old days, with little thought to our child’s future role in a changing economy.
Our children need life skills but does that need to be the focus of our homeschool day? Life skills can be learned by living, not a curriculum.
Let’s face it, unless you are Amish, you are a consumer of technology. Whether you use QuickBooks to run your home business or set up a website to promote it, technology helps people achieve their business goals. Let’s encourage our children to become creators of technology not just consumers.
It is time the homeschool publishing companies realize that creating curriculum for the 21st century is something homeschoolers want and need to succeed in our changing global economy. While building a backyard catapult is fun, that skill probably isn’t going to get my son a commission in the Navy or a job at Microsoft.
Let’s continue focusing on the basics (reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic) and start pursuing electives that will prepare our children for life in this ever-changing world.
What do you think?
Heather B says
I agree! That is my biggest educational regret–I wish I’d had more economics and tech savvy courses. It seems silly with that in mind that I wouldn’t want to include it in my child’s education. We haven’t started kindergarten yet so to be honest I didn’t even realize this gap in curriculum existed. I hope the curriculum publishers are listening!
Leigh says
Perhaps as parents, we are looking for escape from these “real life” skills.
In September, my dd wanted to start a dog walking service but then lacked the follow thru to do it. Perhaps in time, she will develop the maturity, so I can teach her the way to write a business plan, customer service, advertising and yes quicken. In the mean time, we’ve been stuck on Hamlet and long division.
Her father taught himself computers at age 11, Perhaps she will go that route in which case part of the fun is finding the answer for oneself, No?
Tina says
Yes! Yes! Yes~!
Tabitha (Growing Up Homeschooled) says
I think balance is key. If we want our children to be well-rounded, we have to give them those opportunities. Even as I wish we lived in a different generation, God has plans for our family today. If the publishers do not give me the tools I need, I will just make them myself.
syd says
I love this….you are sooooo right. I’m new to homeschooling with my five year old son so I am no expert. I am however technical minded myself and would love to teach (and learn) these skills.
Angie @ Many Little Blessings says
Excellent post, Toni! I just Stumbled it.
Rachel R. says
I’ve been following the Maxwell’s of Titus2.com for quite a few years. They encouraged “modern” learning for their children and live in the city.
Recently, the two older boys launched a website for learning computer skills – aimed at those who want to learn at home and home schoolers. http://itonramp.com/
TheHappyHousewife says
Thanks for sharing the link Rachel. I’ll check it out.
Nicole says
I will be a new homeschooling mom beginning in the fall. I have been looking everywhere for curricula covering the areas mentioned in this post. Do you have any suggestions? Surely, there MUST be something! We have our major subjects covered by some fantastic options however, I would love to add a few “extras” that my boys (10 & 13) would really enjoy. I’m sorry, but my boys are just not going to appreciate whittling! 🙂 Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Some areas we would be interested in would be computer programming, website design, digital photography, computer animation, digital video production, etc. Thanks so much for any help!
carla says
Probably not detailed enough for what you want….but our public library offers some classes on these subjects. Our city has a technical school that you can take some of these classes for.
Ginny Ingram says
You took the words right out of my mouth. Although my homeschooling days are behind me (my girls are now 24 and almost 21), I continue to do some observing and listening. And what I am noticing is that parents who were unashamedly devoted to homeschooling have given in and sent their children off to public or Christian school. Now in most of the cases I’m familiar with, this has been because of sports (ugh, don’t get me started), but you bring up a good point. While I believe it’s especially important to teach our girls those “old fashioned” skills (which is why we completed nearly all of Ann Ward’s “Training Our Daughters to be Keepers at Home, carefully incorporating the material into our required subjects), we also desperately need to prepare our children for the future. Computers are essential in today’s society, even if it’s just using them at home for word processing, banking, or money management. Yet some parents refuse to even allow them in their homes, or have such dusty relics that there is no way their children can be prepared for the future. I agree – it’s essential that curriculum publishers move into the 21st century and expand beyond the traditional choices.
Mel says
Well said! I was homeschooled from grades 4-9, grew up in the country, and loved both. Although I currently live in the city, I yearn to move back to the country where I can raise my own food and participate in some “back to basics” living that isn’t possible where I live now. But, and you knew this was coming, I own a business that runs several entertainment websites (TV-based) and have plans to branch out into other tech & entertainment ventures. Like you said, technology is a huge part of modern life and while the Internet wasn’t publicly available when I was homeschooled, it’s incredibly short-sighted to ignore it now. Find the balance between tech addict and Luddite, and who knows what our kids will accomplish!
Barefeet In The Kitchen says
I agree with you, Toni. Luckily, my husband is an IT guru (hee hee, my word NOT his) and he has a passion for economics as well. So, we have those subjects in our home on a regular basis. Ha, more often than necessary for certain with no children older than 7 years old yet! However, we enjoy it and it works for us. That said though, we are focused on a lot more basic skills than other families we know. It needs to be balanced.
As far as I am concerned, it is great that girls can bake their own bread. However, if they can’t use the internet to market it or even order more supplies if they are living rurally; how is that helpful? If boys can ride a horse and play with swords and raise animals, that is wonderful if the goal is to stay close to home and manage a farm. If they dream of a future that consists of more than the farm though, it sure would be nice to give them access to the tools that might make that possible.
No Reimer Reason says
This is our first year homeschooling (Kindergarten) and I haven’t been to any homeschool/book conferences yet, so I was unaware of this curriculum issue. I sure hope it changes and evolves soon, because I know my web developer hubby is definitely going to want our daughter to learn some of those skills as she gets older! Technology is definitely an important thing to learn in this day and age.
Amy B. says
Great post — but I don’t think this anything new. Rod and Staff publishers, anyone? I was homeschooled through high school (and starting midway through gradeschool in the mid 90s … yes, I’m young thanks). Long skirts, no TV, college is for people who want to worship satan, the computer is the tool of the devil, big ol’ bows in your hair, subtext: being amish is cool. My husband, raised similarly but on a farm in rural Ohio, actually has a sister whose life goal was, for a very long time, to become Amish. (She turned out fairly normal … even though she doesn’t have an internet connection at home and I think that’s weird).
The result of this? A selection of my buddies from those days have no jobs, no education and have married people in dying fields. (…said the formally print reporter crying over her shrinking newspaper). But in all seriousness, if these people raise their children the same way, they are going to be in a world of hurt. Technology still scares people, the same way music does even so long after Elvis. Moving to a place where tech is not just a necessary evil, but it “redeemed,” as they may say, is going to take a cultural shift that has only just recently happened with some of these people over the subject of facial hair (considered a sign of rebellion to some since the mid-70s).
So … good luck with that.
Tiffany says
Amen! I wonder if some of the interest in the “old ways” is because we desire old fashioned manners and morals in our kids and just take it much farther than that. I’m now inspired to teach my son html. He doesn’t have an interest, but he doesn’t have an interest in Spanish either and he is taking that. Thanks for this post.
Sarah says
As a public school, teacher, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Technology is here, and it’s here to stay. The kids of this generation are already and becoming even more so ingrained with technology, that the old school way of “Reading, Writing, and ‘Rithmetic” is actually a step backward to them in learning. Not to discredit home-based learning in ANY way–even as a public school teacher, if we could swing it, I would home school my child–but the kids of today will be sadly lacking with their same-age counterparts if they are not well-versed in technology. But I don’t think it’s just the kids of today. When I think back on my high school curriculum, what sticks out to me as the most beneficial or what I still use today, and every day? My computer/typing/word processing classes. My one regret? That I didn’t take home economics and learn how to sew. So, I think there must be a balance there.
Julie says
Have you tried Timberdoodle? They seem to have some fun kits on animation and there were some programs on how computers work. Rainbow Resource had some resources for creating web pages. My kids love doing things on the computer and I often feel like a non-traditional homeschooler because I’m all for it.
Monica says
This is very true and gives us a lot to think about as homeschoolers. We have a unique opportunity to take advantage of growing fields and our children’s individual interests.
Leigh says
I am taking this from a different perspective… I am firmly ensconced in the modern world – our computers are going nowhere. In fact, we have an obnoxious computer-to-person ratio in our house (and our boys are only 5 &3). However, we are sorely lacking in many “life skills” – I was never taught how to cook or keep house – and I am making up for lost time on my own. How fabulous is it that those resources are out there for our children?! When my boys express interest in “whittling,” there will be resources out there for them. When they express interest in computers (they already do), there will be resources out there for them, too! In fact, I’m thinking most of those resources may be easier found online! 😉 It is a matter of balance, but I think that the resources available that weren’t 10-20 years ago are fabulous!
Jillian says
YES! I kept feeling like something was missing, and reading your post put my finger right on it. Our kids do wonderfully in reading the classics and math, but I felt like they needed more. I thought about music and languages (and will have them take lessons in those) but I enrolled them in a tech-savvy charter school class for this reason. Our income comes from computers, and though I know how to do all those homesteading things (and will pass them onto our children) they are NOT how we bring home the bacon, so to speak.
Thanks for putting my feelings into words.
Christie says
At our conference, my husband commented last year about the lack of ’21st century’ curricula. This year, he found one person selling a product to teach basic electronics skills (circuit boards, soldering, etc…) Dh asked me if I thought there were few products like this because they don’t exist or because the home school community just isn’t interested. One visit to the vendor’s presentation showed us a lack of interest: my husband was the only person there! Late in the 2nd day, we were the 3rd sign-up on the mailing list, right behind a close friend who, like my husband, is an engineer (we both bought his kits). (I should not we live in Pennsylvania, with a huge farming population compared to many other states, lots of Mennonites/Amish attending the conference as well. So maybe we really are in a technolgical minority where we live…)
One other note, there was a family selling videos of Lego guys acting out Bible stories, made with stop-motion animation. The college-aged son said he is working on a curriculum to teach this method of movie making to kids….maybe we’ll see it at next year’s convention?
Sheila says
Ministries are constantly trying to keep up with technology too. My son is using his computer skills to make music videos for our youth groups worship services. Almost all our visiting missionaries are using power point presentation, etc. Our children will reach the world better and their generation in particular if they use the language tools of their generation.
Cindy says
My husband is a software developer, and I’m glad he understands all that stuff, because I haven’t found a lot in the way of curricula, either. I need him to teach it to the kids. I hope the hs community catches on soon! Maybe Jesse and I will start working on a comprehensive course. Hmmmm. Interesting idea, that…
Flo says
Great post! My kids are grown but I still stay interested in this area. Now I am going to start looking!!!
Flo says
Hubby says Dreamweaver is a good product to start- maybe you can buy the student version> Here is a class in Shreveport:
http://www.shreveportbossierfunguide.com/event.php?id=4883
BTW I know nothing about it, just saw the ad when I was Googling
MamaLaundry says
I, too, attended the Book Fair at our state’s Homeschool Convention last weekend. Since this was our first year of homeschooling, this was my first experience at a convention.
I definitely noticed the same things that you describe in your post. And I wonder what the reasons are? Lack of interest from the HSing community? Lack of product in the hands of the publishers?
While my oldest child will start 1st grade in late summer, I do ponder the things we’ll study in older grades. HTML, graphic design, general web/computer knowledge all top the list. My children need to know their way around a computer and the internet. And it’s my responsibility to expose them to it.
Maybe FiveJ’s should write some curricula! 😉
-Lauren
Heather says
I agree! While I too long for the country and all that goes with it, I agree that there is no balance. I’m tired of feeling limited in the options I can offer my children. How can we get the word out to the publishers that we’d like some variety for our kids, as unique as they are?
Penny Dumelie says
I agree there is a definite lack of curriculum-style learning aids but the information is certainly out there. Of course it means more work for Mom to put it together.
A couple of suggestions:
– Often local colleges and universities will host summer day camps for children and teens including many different types of computer-related classes. While not all encompassing, it’s a good way to introduce a student to a certain topic. It will give them some knowledge and experience; enough to decide if it’s of value or interest to them.
– I self-taught myself html from this website. http://www.htmltutorials.ca/
It’s 44 free lessons in the basics of html. After going through the lessons in order (lots of hands on and practice with moderate reading) I was able to make my own website with multiple pages. It also provided me with enough understanding I can now search for, and find, codes I can use, scripts and design coding like css to enhance my page. I still use the page as reference at times.
I think most teens should be able to work through this site on their own. Children maybe as young as 8 could work through it if they show a real interest and have parental help. (It doesn’t solve the problem mentioned in the post but it came to mind and I thought someone might be able to use it.)
Jolyn says
We’re just now getting ready to start homeschooling, with my oldest already in high school, and I have to say that I didn’t realize that traditional schooling had these areas covered! I certainly didn’t learn economics in high school, nor was it offered. That being said, at my son’s (current) high school, both macro- and micro-economics are offered, but only as AP courses, so they are not open to all students. I am just using econ as a for-instance, but my son’s high school is very large (third largest in Ohio) so they offer more courses, for sure, than most public schools, yet a basic course in econ is still only for the “AP” students, and I would not necessarily count my own son in that category, by their standards. Although he is certainly college-bound… but now I’m rambling.
I guess my point is that you’re not necessarily going to get these courses in a public school, either. And you might find yourself either hard-pressed to find a course, or to get your child admitted into one. Your child’s grades might not be competitive enough, or the class might fill up quickly, which happens even in high school, at least at the large one in this area.
TheHappyHousewife says
Jolyn,
I totally agree with you. In fact my husband just went to a lecture and heard that public schools were cutting computer classes. What?!??!?!
Anyway, my point was, that as homeschoolers we should pioneering this technology, not actually being pioneers. 🙂
tuxgirl says
Please, at least consider teaching your kids computer programming! I worked as a software dev, and my DH is still a software dev. I know of a couple companies that are struggling to fill positions, despite the economy. They have plenty of applicants, but not enough that are good, so instead they push forward while badly understaffed… and that’s because there just aren’t enough people with the skills…
Jolyn says
Please! Recommend a way to (at least start) doing this at the high school level that will appeal to those types of employers!
Jolyn says
Ha! I like that. And I’m hoping one of your commenters will share a best-kept Secret Site that is offering instruction in some of these areas… Maybe it’s like how Back in The Day, people didn’t used to take classes on sewing and baking — they learned them alongside their mothers. They would scoff at the notion of formal instruction. I mean, really. Nowadays, we all learn html code and web site design through networking and trial and error… (at least I do). I think someone’s going to figure out pretty quick they can really make a cha-ching if they produce some of these skills in an instructional, curriculum format. At least, I hope so!
Jolyn says
Whoops. This was meant to be a reply to Toni’s reply.
Amber says
All those types of subjects, in my opinion, are meant to be learned in a college atmosphere. I don’t homeschool because it’s just not for me. If other’s want to home school…great. But at some point you’ve got to let go of the reins. I don’t think there is a single kid out there who honestly wants to take college courses from their mother.
Flo says
My husband once taught intro to programming and simple web design to middle school students. If there is an interest and some apptitude, there is no need to wait until college. Let go of the reins? Not all home-schoolers take classes only from their parents. It’s just that the parents are in charge of the learning instead of the government. When I home-schooled (many years ago), my daughter was able to take programs through a Lyceum. Through them she was able to sign up for programs offered by instructors at the Naval Post-Graduate school. This was far superior to what her peers were doing in public school.
Elizabeth says
I think that a “curriculum” hasn’t been developed because there is already a lot of good material out there both free and book-wise (unless I don’t quite understand what you’re looking for 😉
From my limited experience, I’ve seen a lot of kids that say they are interested in programming and web development for the purpose of creating games but most of them aren’t interested in putting in the amount of effort that it takes to learn a computer language.
However, if there are certain things that your crew is interested in pursuing, I can have David get together some recommendations on where to start and resources. 🙂 I told him he should write an e-book in his “spare” time–LOL.
Shirley says
Great point! I was recently at a homeschool book fair and like the one you were at, this one had alot of those type of booths. Learning all of those skills is fascinating to me, but while looking at some of the stuff, my thoughts were similar to yours. I have one child very interested in the medical field, one that loves science, and a history buff, so I don’t think candle making is going to help them out in that area. On the other hand, my youngest says she just wants to grow up and be a mommy, so these type skills would probably suit her just fine, but she still needs to know how to manage a home, balance the budget, etc.
Allie says
I wasn’t homeschooled, but I am a computer scientist. I went to a smaller engineering/science school for college, and everyone was required to take at least one programming course, so it’s getting more and more important/crucial to jobs (and yes, they now use it in their jobs). Probably the best free language to learn is Python – it’s great for beginners, and it’s also used in larger web design projects, as well as practical software development, so it’s very multi-faceted and can be tailored to the students particular desires. You can check out a great list of tutorials here: http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers Also check college sites for lectures – I know my undergrad posted all their slides online.
For younger students (or those who may have trouble grasping programming concepts), I would really recommend Scratch: http://scratch.mit.edu/ It’s designed specifically for beginners in mind, and has a user-friendly approach to teaching the concepts. Plus, it’s free, and people can showcase their work online. I’ve used Scratch for years to teach elementary schoolers, and it works great!
Penny Dumelie says
Thanks so much for sharing those links. My children will love the scratch site.
Crissy says
Has anyone checked out Scratch programming? http://scratch.mit.edu/ I think its a bit complicated for my 1st grader, but I’m hoping he will get into it when he is a bit older.
I think some of the old ways are lost arts, like home preserving, bread making, etc. In a world that’s becoming more and more depraved, its somewhat natural to want to go back in time to when life was bit simpler, and “safer”. IMO, this is why there is a resurgence of curriculum toward the home based arts.
While I would love to live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, raising my own food, free of outside influences from media (instead of living in a town house in Baltimore), There’s no escaping the world, as Christians we can’t bury our head in the sand and wait for Jesus to come back. We have to live in the world, and equip our children to do the same. Philippians 2:15 says “Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.” If I hide myself and my family away then it would be hard for me to be a light like I am called to be. I think the main issue is motivation, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with living in the middle of nowhere as long as we are not trying to hide from the world, and are still equipping our kids to one day live in this world and be lights on their own.
Heather says
Balance I think is key. Now that I have my own high school student to homeschool, I know we are also looking to streamline the secondary/college education process. Dual credit at the college level is not always a bad option. If going to the local college for classes is not an option one is interested in pursuing, taking advantage of their book stores may be an option for up to date educational materials in these fields.
margo says
We use Monarch online curriculum for my ninth grader, and I was looking at some of the high school electives which can be found here:
They have Family and Consumer Science, Business Computer Information Systems, Civics, and other electives. Their SOS curriculum includes, Consumer Math and Personal Financial Literacy.
Danna Lockerby says
Hmm, interesting. I have all those “back to the basic skills.” Though I’m self taught. My mom used to drop things by my house to have them sewn because she didn’t know how. She also didn’t bake, or can. My stepdad was a way better cook and all my grandfathers and stepgrandfathers cooked way better than my grandmothers & stepgrandmothers.
That being said, my husband and I both worked in the world of software development and technology and have huge interests in economics and marketing. I’m home now raising our 3 & 5 year old boys and homeschooling them. Perhaps we should create some curriculum in the technology area?
Until then, the “for dummies” series of tech books are pretty decent for a beginner, after that the O’Rielly series (they have pencil drawn animals on the cover) are really good. My husband uses his O’Rielly books at work all the time when he needs to pick up a new technology. There are some college economics books that could be modified for Jr. High and High School aged kids.
We’re going to our 1st homeschool convention next month. We’re in Arizona (moved here recently from Seattle). So it should be interesting to see if it’s the same experience here.
Julie says
This got me thinking so I went to, where else, the computer to find websites that might walk my kids through lessons. I found this one, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/default.aspx from microsoft. If the link doesn’t work you could go to Microsoft and search beginner learning development center. I would like to try the scratch site also, it might be more user friendly for younger kids.
Cliff Ravenscraft says
I could not agree with you more. I had a very similar reaction to you when I attended a homeschool convention here in Cincinnati a few months back. In fact, you can listen to a podcast episode we did and read the debate that happened on the comments on our sites at http://gspn.tv/homeschooldebate as the result of this episode.
Tiffany says
I had to come back to tell you that you’ve inspired me to take action. I bought a book (which does feel weird, since this is a web thing) called Step by Step HTML5. It cost about $35. I’ve started working through it with my oldest son, who is 16. this isn’t something he asked to do. It’s something I’m “forcing”, but he is interested. He uses the web everyday, so learning how it all works is interesting to him. Thanks for the motivation to start!
Oh, and the book is good. Easy to understand with diagrams of exactly what you’ll see on the screen as you move through the activities.
Brandie Wentworth says
Could it be that these families are not neccesarily shying away from technology, but looking towards the time when children were taught values and manners. As an example I am sitting on the computer at my local library, we are a town of about 45000 and as I sit here 3 people are on their cell phones-and not quietly. The librarian has not said a word. Back in the day of my childhood you were kicked out of the library for being above a whisper. “Going back to basics” may be the way people feel they have to be to encourage their children to be raised correctly.
Tonya says
With 13 years of homeschooling behind me, I completely agree with you here [currently, one college senior, one high school senior]. I have noticed some of these back to basics as well, but most in my circle of homeschool friends have not over-emphasized them. We try to go with the “bent” of the child. I have one artist/designer type and one more practical type child. Even so, I have tried to introduce arts to both but still retaining the reading, writing, arithmetic and now high-tech model at home. Thankfully, my husband loves the hi-tech–we have taught our kids how to use all the programs on our Macs, plus graphics programs, research skills on the internet, etc. To not teach these in this day and age will put your child a few decades behind in the world outside of school. Even my “artist” child has bitten the bullet in college to take some business courses to help him when he graduates in marketing his own skills and developing a business on his own (in addition to working for a firm). Rounding out a child’s education can only help them when they leave the nest.
Tonya says
P.S. I have never attended a homeschool convention.
Julie says
The homeschool convention I’m currently attending had Homeschool Tech (Technology Based Courses for Homeschoolers.) It’s a start-up company, they will be offering video lessons, online quizzes grade reporting and 24/7 web access. The first course they have ready to go is a computer building and repair course, going in to the history of the computer, explaining the motherboard and actually ending with building a pc as the final project. You can see a sample video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a4LdHTkWHU
They are completely brand new and are looking for beta testers for the first course they have ready. They also had some stuff for robotics but the online courses aren’t created yet. Their information says they’ll be offering courses in computer programming, robotics and electronics and computer building and repair. This might be one answer to what we’ve been looking for. Their number is 502-383-1076, website http://www.homeschooltechs.com and they are on facebook.
I am not affiliated with Homeschool Tech in anyway, it’s a company that I saw for the first time last night at my homeschool convention.
Jessie Donegan says
Hello everyone!
My company was a vendor at the CHEO homeschool convention, and a Teacher / Parent named Kim told us about this blog. We are a new company called Homeschool Tech. We are here to help all of you! We are starting our online university of technology courses. From Computers 101 to Full on Robotics! Come check out our site and if you have any questions we are here to help. We will be attending the CHEF – MO convention July 20 – 22, and we will be at the CHEF – AL the following days We are a new company and we are very excited to be bringing this to the Homeschool World! Thanks!
http://www.homeschooltechs.com
Jonathan Clark says
I can’t tell you how happy I was to see this article. My name is Jonathan Clark and I could not agree with you more. It was this EXACT situation that lead me to create Homeschool Tech University! Our goal is to fill this void in the homeschool market and offer robust, “real-world” technology based courses. We are a new company and I am actually sitting at a booth at our third Homeschool convention as I am writing this. Our first course launches August 29th, and we are currently promoting the “beta-launch” of the course at a few conventions this season. Within a month of promoting we have already partnered with 5 or so additional educators that will be deploying technology based courses through our online university by next year. I typically do not like to promote our business in blog comments, but when I see 50+ people begging for technology courses I can’t resist. THANK YOU for realizing this need and taking the time to spread your concern. You can check out our “Coming Soon” site @ http://www.homeschoolingisabouttochange.com
Crafty Mama says
Wow, interesting point! It never even occurred to me, as I grew up with a dad who was a computer geek, so I became one, too. Now I’m married to a computer geek. 🙂 I didn’t even think about the fact that some parents don’t know much about computers and may need outside help to educate their children on that topic. Thanks for helping me to think outside my little bubble!
Angela says
Hi there. I just discovered your blog a few days ago – love it! This post was so relevant to what I see & experience all around me as we live in a rural area. I think balance is key… showing our children the ways of the past are vital to instilling the moral values that have been lost, as well as teaching them life skills in the case that we do not have computers to depend on. However, our children love technology and we do know it is used in virtually every field, so we would be fools to deny them skills in those areas as well. Just my thoughts. : ) Anyway, I wanted to pass on a program that I discovered that teaches technology training. I am considering the graphic arts program for our children. The site is http://www.aceministries.com/aceconnect if anyone is interested.