COLUMBUS, Ohio — Parents who home-school children are creating resources to help newcomer parents and children navigate homeschooling during the pandemic.
“When we decided to home school, we had years of research and learning about it and we came to it from our own decision,” said Meghan Creitz.
Creitz said many parents now are not coming from that same experience. COVID-19 has pushed many to take up a new way of learning in order to keep safe. She’s a veteran home-school parent who decided to start “The Home-school Advocate” consulting agency to help parents through their transition.
“The big questions we’re getting are how to get started and how to find accurate information,” Creitz said.
Central Ohio has several resources to help parents gather information. The Ohio Home-school Legal Defense Association provides information about getting started and the legalities of homeschooling.
Other recourses include “5 Hour School Week” and other Facebook groups created by homeschooling parents to provide insight and support for one another.
Cindi Cooper created one of those groups when other parents started messaging her about how to get started and how she makes it work.
Cooper said the good news is Ohio makes it easy for parents to start home-schooling at any time. Legally, parents can pull their students from public school to begin homeschooling at any time and can enroll them in public school at any time.
Cooper said the freedom she and her children have to learn as they like makes it worth it.
“There's a thousand opportunities to have your kid be around other kids and learn. The metro parks offer free classes, the libraries offer free classes, there’s a lot of classes through the Columbus Zoo and COSI,” Cooper said.
Those resources have created opportunities for her children to learn about themselves and the things they want to explore while still interacting with other children. Both mothers say they often get questions about their children not having social time and say that’s not true.
Jill Emmelhainz daughter was in elementary school when she and her husband decided the teasing their daughter was experiencing was going too far.
“We actually brought her home from third grade to be home-schooled, specifically for social reasons,” Emmelhainz said.
She is now entering her 29th year of home-schooling with the youngest of her seven children. She said there are several things to consider and remember when a family is new to homeschooling. That includes understanding that home-schooling is different and works differently than public school.
“They can be done with their schooling in about 2-3 hours a day if they're concentrated,” Emmelhainz said.
She said having an open mind about how learning looks will help parents and students when trying a new form of school. If you’re a parent trying online public school, there are tips for you too.
“Step back and if it’s a public online school in some way shape or form, let the teacher correct things as a parent it's not your job to correct things,” Emmelhainz said.
The three suggest listening to your child and finding what works best for them when it comes to successful homeschooling.