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As you probably know by now, CLASS has launched what we call our High School Choice Plan. You might be wondering what it’s all about and why we did it. Let me explain, starting at the beginning—no, not when the earth was void—but several years ago anyway. In the early years of the CLASS ministry, namely the late sixties and early seventies, there was not much more than a handful of homeschoolers out there making up the nascent modern homeschooling movement. Typical of those on the bleeding edge, they were rugged pioneering types. They were committed to homeschooling their children no matter how difficult it was and no matter what anyone might say. These families literally built their curriculum out of whatever they could scrape together from wherever. Even for such resourceful folk, that was not easy, because in those days, virtually no curriculum materials had been created with them in mind. CLASS was already committed to Christian education, and we saw an opportunity to meet the needs of a fledgling homeschooling community that was springing up around the nation. We developed a K–12 program and were soon shipping it nationwide and beyond. Families no longer had to scour the countryside for textbooks, workbooks, how-to books, and the myriad other things needed to “do school.” You might say we were an early one-stop-shop for home educators. We knew there were more families who wanted to teach their children at home, but some weren’t as confident that they could put it all together properly. CLASS helped these families out by assigning a complete curriculum for the grade level requested. This approach proved popular and our program began to grow by leaps and bounds. Of course things don’t stay the same forever. 2009 is not the seventies. Those pioneering families have graduated their children, and a new generation is teaching the next generation at home. Homeschooling itself has changed. It had been difficult and even scary in the early days, but it has now become virtually mainstream. Many families who don’t think of themselves as pioneers are successfully teaching their children at home. CLASS has changed too. Frankly, it is no longer necessary for us to assign every course for every student. Families are becoming educationally savvy, and they want choices. And CLASS has always been about choice! Even in the early days, CLASS offered two plans: the CLASS Plan for those who wanted greater accountability, and the Family Plan for those who wanted independence. Today, we also offer you the opportunity to select preferred courses and publishers. Choices are available both at the elementary level and at the high school level, but in slightly different ways. At the elementary level, we offer the option of alternate courses. This means simply that if you prefer a different course from the one routinely assigned by CLASS, you can indicate your preference among those available. While not every subject has alternates, many do. Alternate courses are available at the high school level as well, but our High School Choice Plan adds a whole new dimension to choice. In a nutshell, it means that aside from a few required courses, the family can fill the remaining subject area credits by choosing from our available courses and publishers. You can actually choose the vast majority of your courses! We believe CLASS is unique in offering this level of choice and variety. What is the benefit to you? Until now, CLASS has assigned the entire curriculum for each student to meet our high school graduation requirement of 20 credits. If the student needed additional courses for college entrance, electives were available. That meant taking credits in addition to the 20 required. CLASS still requires 20 credits for graduation, but High School Choice means that you can begin to achieve your academic goals without necessarily having to take extra credits. Let’s say your high schooler is planning to attend college. Historically, such students might have had to take several high school electives in addition to the twenty credits in order to meet the entrance requirements of their chosen college. With High School Choice, you can begin—even as early as 9th grade—to structure a curriculum that will meet your student’s college entrance requirements, and you may be able to do it within our 20 credit requirement. Obviously, some students may still need an extra credit or two. It depends on your goals. On the CLASS Web site, we have presented several possible course-selection scenarios for students who have specific academic goals. So, do you have to choose all of your courses? No. If you prefer to have CLASS assign all your courses as we have in the past, we can still do that. If you prefer to choose some of your courses and let CLASS fill in the rest, we can do that too. It’s your choice. If you have students of high school age, you really ought to investigate High School Choice with CLASS. Mark L. Beuligmann, M.S. Ed. Administrative Director Christian Liberty Academy School System |
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