Catholic Homeschooling

"Homeschooling” definitions

1. Homeschooling

  • Adapts curriculum-based learning to home situation
  • Traditional definition: Parents who teach their children at home in all academic subjects including religion
  • Secondary definition: Parish doesn’t have religious education that meets at the church (for lack of money, space, staff) and the religious education is done at home (but typically attend schools during the day)
    • throughout the school year
    • intensive sessions during the summer with some limited sessions during the school year

2. Unschooling

  • Specific style of homeschooling that focuses on child-centered learning
  • Constitutes between 10 and 50% of homeschooling
  • For general information about homeschooling
  • Catholic homeschoolers
    • 80,000-100,000 students
    • About 5% of total Catholic students
    • About 20,000 students in Catholic home study programs or 20% of total Catholic home schoolers
Homeschooling structures

1. Home Study Programs: defined curricula/study programs

  • Seton Home Study (largest): Enrollment of over 11,000 students
  • Kolbe Academy: 3,000
  • Mother of Divine Grace School: 3,000
  • Our Lady of Victory: 1,500
  • Our Lady of the Rosary School: several hundred

2. Various organizations provide resources to, programs for, and connections among homeschoolers from K-12

3. Local and national conferences

4. There are examination and certification processes that are followed

How religious education takes place
  • Some parishes give parents texts that are used in the classroom
  • Some parishes require that families participate in a certain number of parish-based activities
  • Parents don’t necessarily want to use the standard classroom model
  • Traditional curriculum are not the best format for homeschoolers
Resources