As with children from traditional schools, home schoolers can benefit from guest speakers and field trips to special environments. Now organizations and institutions are starting to respond to that need.
Home schooling mother of four Diane Schinker commented: "We've taken field trips to the fire department, to the recycling center..."
Today she brought her children out for a story reading and art lesson at Kearney's Museum of Nebraska Art. Author Sandy Leonard read to the home-schooled audience from one of her children's books, and a drawing session led by instructor Susan Hart followed.
Susan Hart: "We had some parents ask, 'Did we have art classes that we could just come to?' So we developed one. This is good for their creativity, as well as social. They can come and be with other students, you know, other children."
Home schooling Nebraskans have more options than ever, with the cooperation of cities like Kearney, and with lesson plans like those developed by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln-Extension's Child and Youth Development Center.
Home schooling volunteer Roxanne Tillotson has seen big changes benefiting Kearney's home schooled students.
Roxanne Tillotson: "When we first started, which was 25 years ago, it was hardly known. People were like, what is that? What is going on?"
But, she says, the situation has improved, with new opportunities being made available: "Some home schoolers during their high school years have taken college courses at the university."
And those changes augment what home schoolers say is the heart of education.
Diane Schinker: "I'm at home with them, we're one on one, if they're struggling with something I'm able to sit with each one individually."
