Step By Step
Thank you for visiting Faithful Scholars site. We work diligently to distill the overwhelming amount of homeschooling information into easy to understand articles and answers – particularly for SC. Note that each association is able to set their own standards, so if you read something different on another SC Option 3 accountability associations, it is simply that their standards differ from ours. Faithful Scholars does not aim to have our students competing against public schooled students, but rather against Ivy League focused private schools.
We are a South Carolina 3rd Option Homeschool Accountability Association. You can think of us as your license to homeschool. Membership in Faithful Scholars, at its most basic level, means you are legal to homeschool in South Carolina. We strive, however, to encourage, support, and inform our members at all stages of homeschooling–in short, to walk beside you and hold your hand whenever you need it. Your homeschooling friends will provide a wealth of information and encouragement, but consider us your go-to for the homeschooling questions you really don’t want to get wrong and utilize your free (FULL) membership to FS Village for coaching, mentoring, questions, shares, community, and even more support.
REGISTRATION/MEMBERSHIP
The Faithful Scholars registration process is fairly simple.
1) Fill out an application and pay your membership fee using our online application.
2) If your child is currently enrolled in a public school, notify them in writing of your intent to homeschool, including date of withdrawal and provide them with a copy of your Faithful Scholars Member Letter to serve as proof of legal homeschooling status. We advise asking for your student’s records at this time, but we do not need any records sent to Faithful Scholars EXCEPT transcripts for high school students or middle school students taking high school level courses for credit.
CURRICULUM
There are a TON of curriculum options, and it can be hard to narrow the choices down. Consider both your child’s learning style and your teaching style. A good rule of thumb is to look at sample pages and imagine yourself teaching from the curriculum and your child learning from it. If you look at a lesson, and your head starts spinning, move on. If you look at a lesson and have a gut feeling your child will commit mutiny, move on. There’s no perfect curriculum. The important thing is to find something that will work. That’s it. It just has to work. Your curriculum is a tool, not a tyrant. You are the most important element in your child’s education, and you need to be comfortable with the curriculum and willing to adapt it as needed.
Some general guidelines when selecting curriculum:
1. Consider your values, goals, and needs. If you have more than one child, can the curriculum be adapted for multi-level teaching? Is it consumable or can you reuse the curriculum year after year for each child?
2. How parent-intensive is the curriculum? Is there a lot of prep work or is it open-and-go? Can the child work independently or will they need a parent to guide them through the lessons?
3. Does the curriculum include daily/weekly lesson plans, rubrics, grading sheets etc.?
4. How rigorous is the curriculum? Will it frustrate a struggling student? Will it bore an advanced student? For high school curriculum, is there an honors track written into the curriculum?
5. If you are religious or decidedly NOT religious, what is the worldview of the curriculum and how is it presented?
6. This should have been #1, but remember to cover the required subjects: “the basic instructional areas of reading, writing, mathematics, sciences, and social studies, and in grades seven through twelve, composition and literature.” Consider any elective/enrichment courses you may want to add in. This isn’t as big a deal for younger students, with whom you have the freedom to explore lots of “extras” without committing to an entire semester or year, as you’ll need to do in high school. Speaking of younger students, remember that homeschooling is about nurturing a child’s natural curiosity and wonder and building character and relationship, NOT marking things off a checklist!
7. My favorite resources for curriculum are Katie’s shelves of free, pre-loved curriculum (9am-12pm every Wednesday at her Fort Mill home-office) and Rainbow Resource Center.
CO-OPS
Many families choose to join co-op (i.e. group classes with peers taught by a parent-instructor). Faithful Scholars is not a co-op.
Most co-ops may be found on our co-op map or our co-op list or our on-line list. These are ever growing and changing, so please send us needed changes.
WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
If you’re a little confused (or a lot) as you wade into homeschooling, that’s perfectly normal. Most of us were confused and nervous in the beginning, too. But as you wade into homeschooling, you learn that the water isn’t that scary, you can, in fact, swim, and there are lots of wonderful people swimming alongside you, as well as a few strokes ahead. Your support and reclaimed education will be shared with many friends whom you will meet as you dive deeper.
Two recommendations:
1. Become familiar with our website. Keep a list of questions as you explore and reach back out with any questions that remain unanswered.
2. Join FS Village. This is a free online social media platform just for homeschoolers to support one another, with paid spaces where Faithful Scholars representatives answer questions and provide articles and other resources to help you as you teach your children. You can access the free spaces now. Once we’ve processed your Faithful Scholars Accountability Association application and payment, you’ll receive access for a FULL free membership to the paid spaces on FS Village, which offer deeper, personalized content. If you don’t join Faithful Scholars, you can still join FS Village for a fee of $10/month or $50/year. The free FS Village membership is nice, but does not give you access to coaches, mentors, and specific by level and need spaces.
Finally, trust yourself and trust the process. No one in the world is more invested in your children’s education than you are. No one will teach them with greater love and passion. You’ve got this!