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In recent years, home-schooled children seem to be “winning.” They have conquered national spelling bees, obtained generous scholarships to elite universities, and have even been crowned beauty queens. If home-schooled kids are enjoying such success, it is understandable why any parent would ask, “Is regular or home school best for my child?”

Like many questions about your child’s education, this particular one does not have an easy answer. It is important to consider many factors before deciding whether your child should stay at home to learn or should be sent to a regular public school.

Home environment vs. school environment

For many advocates of either homeschooling or public school education, the environment offered by either situation is the determining factor as to whether a child should be home-schooled or sent to a regular public school.

The calm, safe environment of home school

Proponents of homeschooling believe that children thrive better in a safe, comfortable environment with which they are familiar. Ironically, so do advocates of public schooling.

However, home-schoolers believe the home is the safest, most secure environment in which a child can learn. At home, a child does not have to deal with peer pressure or with fitting in with the popular cliques. A child can just “be.” This gives the child the opportunity to focus on the lessons being taught and on the educational expectations required of him or her.

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The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 stated that single-sex education could be provided by recipients of federal education funds, but the lawmakers left the details to be worked out in regulations. Regulations issued in 2006 clarified the conditions for providing single-sex classrooms and extracurricular activities and expanded the former rules on single-sex schools.

Traditionally, public schools, unlike private schools, did not offer single-sex education. Today, at least 366 public schools throughout the nation are either entirely single-sex or have single-sex classrooms. More and more school districts are evaluating the pros and cons of single-sex education. While most public schools will remain coeducational, there may be a good reason to make single-sex schools and classrooms available to some public school students, particularly in schools with underprivileged students and in schools showing repeated poor performance.

It Could Happen Anywhere

Parents, teachers, and students in the school district of Greene County, Georgia, were surprised to hear that their schools were embracing single-sex education in a big way. The school board unanimously decided that beginning in the fall of 2008, all classes in all county schools will be single-sex classes. The move was designed to combat the significant problems of this rural school district, such as poor test scores, increasing dropout rates, and teen pregnancies. Under the plan, elementary school girls and boys will attend separate classrooms and those in grades 7 through 12 will attend separate schools. Greene County is the first entire school system in the U.S. to

Online High Schools are a non-traditional form of education that uses the internet to deliver distance education. This type of online education is offered by existing traditional high schools (both public and private), universities, charter high schools and private cyber high schools.

There are several types of online high schools:

Cyber Charter High Schools

Cyber charter schools are identical to normal bricks and mortar charter schools, except that the learning is delivered to the students via the internet. As with traditional charter schools, cyber charter schools are self-managed, and receive state or federal funding to support their existence. Online charter schools follow the guidelines set by local school districts, but offer flexibility in terms of curriculum and set-up. Students can enroll at online charter schools free of charge and are normally issued with computers and free dialup access. There are approximately 31 virtual charter schools in 12 states that can provide an online education. Those states include Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Some of these schools are:

• 21st Century Cyber Charter School [est. 1999]
• Pinnacle Charter High School [est. 1998] http://www.pinnacleeducation.com
• Choice2000 [est.2003]

Online Private High Schools

Online private high schools are similar to regular private high schools. They are funded privately, so students need to pay tuition when enrolling. This can become rather expensive. The list of accredited high schools below was recommended by Online High Schools – :

• Penn

Another school year, another adventure! Just as the first day of school is the cause of much excitement, so is all the required shopping that goes with starting off a new school year. With all the unknowns that a new school year can bring, it's nice to start planning early on what you will need to bring with you to school.What you will need for your new school year depends on where you go and what grade you are in. For example, some schools require kids to donate communal pencils or boxes of tissues at the beginning of the year. Other schools require students to only bring in personal supplies that they will use themselves. Sometimes this includes art supplies. The best thing to do is to check with your school.In the meantime, we have put together a sample list of school supplies that children attending public school will probably need to purchase. Often, local office supply stores will have on hand the supply lists for local public schools.

Elementary Public School Supplies

• Art supplies: glue stick, scissors, crayons, colored pencils, markers, watercolor paints, play-doh (for the lower levels), sketch pads.
• Pencil, Pencil Sharpener, Eraser.
• Notebooks (spiral and/or composition). Teachers often ask that students bring in composition notebooks so that they cannot rip pages out without them being noticeable.
• Loose Leaf Paper.
• Graph Paper may be required for math subjects.
• Folders to contain classroom handouts.
• 3 Ring Binders to contain loose-leaf paper.
• Personal Dictionary may be required for the higher levels.
• Plastic school box to hold

What Is A Charter School?

Charter schools fit in .

• They are funded with public money except for their facilities.
• They are an alternative to regular public school systems.

A private group of people can submit for a charter to run their school.

• Charter schools receive waivers from public school districts in exchange for promising better academic results.
• Charters are usually given three to five years to demonstrate academic achievement, during which time officials monitor students’ academic performance.
• If academic performance lags behind comparable public schools, then the charter is pulled, and the school is closed.

Canva generated this picture of a charter school math class.

The Evolution of Charter Schools

Since the Minnesota legislature passed a law creating the in 1991, charter schools have seen an enormous increase to over 7,800 schools by 2021. By the 2021-2022 school year, charter school legislation had passed in 46 states and Washington, D.C.

• This phenomenal increase in the number of charter schools proves that it is an educational innovation that is not confined to reforming existing schools.
• It is also an avenue by which new schools can be created.

Chartering gives schools the freedom to tailor programs that are reflective of the community's needs.

• Chartering also allows the school to run autonomously outside of the existing public