The accrediting process is extensive, and a bit vague as to how it actually is carried out.

BUT, the goals for accrediting are the most interesting part of the process.

I knew it was a yearly review and could be quite involved, but I didn’t know the steps, so I went to the NEA website.

VERY INTERESTING!

haha, after reading that, I firmly believe homeschool families deserve to be accredited.

to see what I mean, check it out:

nea.org/accountability/accreditation.html

that last part is accountability/accreditation

and then there is a (.html)

🙂

BUT, you can definitely be a part of an accredited program by chosing the “umbrella school” approach, or you can chose to use the curriculum of an accredited program.

Examples would be ABEKA. You can enroll in ABeka academy and your children will actually be basically, off site students.

Or you can choose to use their curriculum, but not be in the academy. Same material, just a different level of accountability.

Both ways, you are using curriculum from an accredited school.

PS: as far as what accrediting means, depends. Do you need to have an accredited program with a diploma to have validation of your homeschooling? No, not in the least.

Would you use accrediting when deciding which college to send your children to, or what online school to choose, or anything like that? Sure. If you are not familiar with a program, that is one of the things you look at. Some school districts require a transcript from an “accredited and accepted” homeschool program to enroll homeschool students.

So the value of an accredited program varies, depending on your need.

Accredited schools, IMO, don’t mean a whole lot anyway. I’ve seen plenty that probably shouldn’t be, and others that should be that aren’t.

What are your reasons for wanting to be accredited? You would most likely have to meet your state’s curriculum standards, and most HS’ers I know are trying to get *away* from those “assembly line” issues.

We also have gone ahead and signed up for an umbrella school to keep our records for High School. That actually helps put together her transcript but the curriculum is still controlled by me. She also gets a nice looking diploma with the name of the school for what that is worth. If you are interested in that, just email me.