If you are considering teaching online, or if you are a homeschooling parent and would like to have your kids learn online while at home then maybe you need to do a little bit of research. Maybe you need to consider what’s out there, and the various hybrid courses and technology issues which surround the world of Internet courses and online teaching.

The other day, there was a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that discussed why there never needed to be any poor weather days that prevented school. If the inclement weather was so bad that the school buses couldn’t run, or the blizzard made it impossible to get to school, then each student could learn at home on their own computer. The article made some compelling arguments, and I found similar points of contention in a book on the subject.

In fact, I’d like to go out of my way right now to recommend this book to you, and it is a book that I do own of my personal library. The name of this book is; “Teaching Online – A Practical Guide” (College Teaching Series – Second Edition) by Susan Ho and Steve Rossen, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA, (2004), 339 pages, ISBN: 0-618-29848-7.

There is a great overview of online teaching and what it’s about, and although it is written from the perspective of the institutional educator, it surely helps parents understand what they are dealing with when they choose which courses, online syllabuses, and information they wish their children to read and learn. Teaching in an online classroom is not easy, but those that have the skill and talent to pull it off, are the most desired and sought after instructors.

Why not pick up a copy of this book so you can familiarize yourself with low-tech and high-tech solutions used in Internet education. You can also find discussion forums where you can interact with teachers, and how they use whiteboards, chatting features, and instant messaging to make the online classroom feel at home. Why not learn what the teachers go through when they put together their training programs, and how they prepare themselves for their students.

It seems to me as a parent I want to know how the online teaching system works, what type of software and hardware works the best, and how the teachers are going to interact with my kids. You need to know these things up front, it’s very important, and that’s why a recommend this book to you. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

The Apologia science line has grown over the last several years to include:

General Science (7th grade)

Physical Science (8th grade)

Biology (9th grade)

Chemistry (10th grade)

Physics (11th grade)

Advanced courses:

The Human Body (advanced biology)

Marine Biology (written by Sherri Seligson in the Apologia format)

Advanced Chemistry

Advanced Physics

My children and I have personally used Physical Science, Biology and The Human Body, advanced biology. The books are decidedly Christian, very interesting and well-written in a conversational tone.

Experiments are presented throughout the book to help reinforce understanding of the concepts taught. The general and physical science courses include experiments that are done with easy-to-find materials, though it is a good idea to check and make sure that you have all needed items ahead of time, so you won’t be running to the store for a missing item.

The biology course is written so that it is easy to skip the experiments requiring a microscope if you cannot afford one, as there are plenty of experiments that don’t require a microscope.

I highly recommend getting all of the suggested experiment supplies for the advanced courses, as they become a more integral part of the course. My 11th grade daughter thoroughly enjoyed going through her advanced biology course. She typed her own blood, dissected a cow heart and a fetal pig!

Last, but certainly not least, Apologia Educational Ministries offers ongoing support. They have a contact number and contact e-mail address at the front of the book. My children found the concepts in the book well-explained and never did contact Apologia, but the offered curriculum support could become important with more math-heavy science subjects, such as chemistry and physics.

Free online homeschooling programs relate primarily to it being free of tuition fees. The best way to use these homeschool programs is to use it as a guide and utilise books from the library and online resources to supplement this.

Parents want to have the best education for their child. The internet is a valuable educational resource since online tools will help in the skills they need. Online homeschooling programs can enhance the chosen curriculum and provide a thorough learning basis for a variety of subjects.

There are many free online homeschooling programs available and one must have a definite task in mind when seeking online resources in order to stay focussed. Much information and tools can be downloaded from websites and this enables a proper review of materials before any decisions are made.

Online homeschooling programs have developed extensively over the past 10 years. There are specific online schools, tailored courses, and those with educational modules geared towards a child’s own pace of learning. This choice may be preferable if parents want to spend less time on homeschool lesson plans by going with a more defined curriculum

Given the choice available, parents must take the time to review both the paid and free online homeschool lesson plans before committing to anything. Online reviews and the community of other families involved in homeschooling could be sought for more honest opinions.

Homeschooling programs online can play an part in a child’s education. The power of the internet as a great learning resource should not be ignored, but instead, be harnessed for its wealth of information.