My son was supposed to enter the 6th grade at the local public middle school this year.  However, my wife and I both agreed not to send him.  We felt he just wasn’t ready.  He was allowed to move up to the 6th grade, even though he received 4…yes, that’s right…4 F’s on his final 5th grade report card.  He had struggled with his 5th grad studies throughout the year.  He had received some extra help at his school, and his mother and I helped him with his homework every night, which would take hours.  We felt we would be setting him up for failure if we sent him back to public school.  I sent a letter withdrawing him from the school.

My son has ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.   He takes medication for it, but even with medication, I know it can be a challenge for him to concentrate.  He needs the kind of individualized attention he just isn’t going to receive at a public school.  My wife told one of his teachers that we were considering “homeschooling” our son.  The teacher thought it was a great idea.  I was shocked.

My wife and I are not teachers.  Neither of us holds a college degree.  However, I could not help but think that we could teach our son what he needs to know for the 6th grade.  We certainly couldn’t do any worse than the public schools have done up until this point.

I looked into purchasing a curriculum for my son’s studies.  I was amazed at the number of options available.  There are just as many homeschool curricula out there as there are distance learning programs.  We decided to choose the Lifepac series by Alpha Omega Publications.  It’s a Christian-based curriculum, which isn’t a problem for my family because we are Christians.  However, it isn’t all Bible lessons.  There are courses in History, Science, Language Arts and Math.  The material looked challenging enough, so we decided to make the purchase.

We are also supplementing the curriculum with materials we are finding online, plus additional workbooks we have found at local stores.  My wife has been doing the bulk of the teaching, since she is the one at home with him during the day.  She was shocked at just how much our son did not know.  It appeared he was not at a 5th grade level with his studies, let alone the 6th grade.  I purchased the assessment tests available from Lifepac, so we could determine what grade level he should actually start with this year, and then we will help him catch up until he is able to study at a 6th grade level.

As I looked over his course materials and the way he has been studying this year, I realized there was very little difference between his method of studying during homeschool, and the way I study for my courses at Penn Foster College.  We both study on our own using textbooks, CD-ROMs, work assignments and additional study on the Internet.  We both have to take self-assessment tests and semester-end exams.  The only difference is I have to take a proctored exam at the end of the semester and return my exam results to Penn Foster.  My son is graded by my wife.

So, in effect, my 11-year-old son is also a “distance learner”.  If it’s good enough for his old man, I guess it’s good enough for him, too.