Early in January, one of our contributors wrote about choice in our public schools. January is the big month for public schools, when parents can visit and peruse and consider which kind of program is best for their son or daughter.

What may surprise you is that January is also the beginning of “choice” season for homeschooling families as well. In spite of the name “homeschooling,” many homeschooling students spend as many hours pursuing educational and extracurricular interests outside their home as they do sitting at the kitchen table.

For some this means athletics, fine arts, theater, or scouting programs. For some, it means field trips and learning in the real world (as we shared in our post on local resources for homeschoolers in the Midlands). And for some, it means joining a community where homeschooling students come together for instruction in different subject areas.

Here in the Midlands there are four such programs that offer classes for homeschooling students. These are not co-ops, in which parent leaders decide on the classes and band together to teach them for relatively little financial cost. Rather, they are programs with paid tutors or instructors that charge tuition and other fees.

The Benefits of Choice Programs

Why would a homeschooling family want to consider something like this? Isn’t the whole goal of homeschooling independence and nontraditional educational settings?

Well, not necessarily. People homeschool for all kinds of reasons, most of which are not in opposition to taking some classes outside the home. Programs like the ones listed below offer many benefits to homeschooling families — the chance for both students and parents to build supportive friendships with peers, to explore academic and extracurricular areas that a parent may not feel confident to teach, to pool resources and ideas for courses that may be too expensive for a family to pursue alone, and — truly! — to allow a homeschooling parent to have a break from being “on” all the time.

The programs below are all very different from one another, but they all offer these benefits. All are also in the season of sharing information and taking registrations for the 2015-2016 academic year, so it is a great time to check them out! (All information has been taken from official websites and confirmed with leaders of these programs.)

Choice Programs Available to Homeschoolers in the Midlands

Arrows Academy

Mission: Arrows Academy Core program was developed to hold classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that would cover a variety of subjects. While students complete weekly assignments at home under their parents’ supervision three days a week, Arrows days are similar to days spent at other Christian schools. Their name comes from Psalm 127:4, and partnering with parents to raise Children to love and serve the Lord is at the heart of this homeschool school.

Location: Christian Life on Bush River Road

Ages: Preschool through high school

Day and time: Tuesdays and Wednesdays; preschool is froom 8:30-12:00; 5K and up are from 8:30-3:00

Content:  All content areas for 5th & up; subjects taught in 4th & below vary according to grade

Cost: Ranges from $1075-$1750 depending on age

Parental involvement: Parents are partners. They drop students off in the morning and pick them up after classes. Some parents work at the school as teachers or assistants. All are encouraged to be involved as volunteers.

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Classical Conversations

Mission: “Classical Conversations supports homeschooling parents by cultivating the love of learning through a Christian worldview in fellowship with other families. We believe there are three keys to a great education: classical, Christian, and Community.”

Overseeing body: Classical Conversations, Inc.

Location: There are ten licensed CC communities in the greater Columbia area. You can look here to find one that is near you.

Ages: 4 through high school

Day and time: The day for each community varies, but each community meets one day a week; Foundations programs generally meet from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Essentials (ages 9-11) from 1-3; Challenge (ages 12 and up) programs go for a full day, often from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Content: Foundations: memory work in history, science, math, English grammar, geography and Latin, science experiments, fine arts, student presentations; Essentials: English grammar and structure, writing, and mathematics; Challenge: a full college prep program.

Cost: tuition and fees (registration, facility, and supplies) come to a little more than $500 for the year for each of the Foundations and Essentials programs (24 weeks), and about $1500 per year (30 weeks) for Challenge.

Parental involvement: Foundations and Essentials are not a drop-off programs. Parents attend classes with their children and tutors (who are also parents) model ways to practice memory work at home. Challenge programs are drop-off programs as students are encouraged to be more independent, but parents are always recognized as the primary homeschool teachers of their children. Parents also receive free training at annual Parent Practicums and through webinars and other events offered throughout the year.

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Excelsior

Mission: “Excelsior is a family-oriented Christian resource used in tandem with homeschooling. We are privileged to assist home schooling families in the Midlands as they direct the education of their students.”

Location: classes meet at First Baptist Church of West Columbia

Ages: age four through high school

Day: Tuesdays and Thursday

Content: Elementary and middle school students can take history, literature, foreign language, art, and optional electives; high school classes are college-prep with honors options.

Cost: Fees range from $60-$125; Academy core tuition for elementary and middle school tuition is $540; elective classes are $300 each; high school classes range from $390 to $480 per class depending on whether it meets once or twice a week.

Parental involvement: Parents drop students off for classes. Parents are expected to be the primary teachers for their children, and must oversee their homework and ensure that they understand their assignments.

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Principia Center

Mission: “The Principia Center exists to impart knowledge to students in a manner that equips them to live confidently as Christians, able to articulate their own world view and to understand the views of the world around them.”

Location: Northeast Presbyterian Church

Ages: grades 7-12

Day and time: Mondays, for 32 weeks during the academic year

Content: English, math, science, social studies, and world languages, among other classes

Cost: up to $250 in fees; classes are $275 each for middle school and $375 each for high school

Parental involvement: Parents drop students off for classes. They are encouraged to volunteer with the community.