The current crop of homeschoolers has one major advantage over the movement\u2019s pioneers: modern technology has put all of history\u2019s collected knowledge at their fingertips. No homeschooling parent need become an expert on differential equations or Newton\u2019s Third Law of Motion. He or she can simply visit YouTube\u2019s Khan Academy channel and find thousands of video lectures on these topics. Rosetta Stone, the well-known foreign-language software company, offers a specially tailored homeschool reading curriculum for just $99 per year. Wade\u2019s children use a free website called Duolingo to practice Spanish. And many popular curriculum packages and distance-learning education programs provide Skype-based tutorials, online courses, and other learning supports.<\/p>\n
Cities offer homeschoolers rich educational opportunities. The Fredettes of Philadelphia have used their storied city to supplement American history lessons. Their travels have brought them to the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall, of course, but they\u2019ve also visited a glassblower\u2019s studio, taken archery classes, and toured the facility where the Inquirer, the nation\u2019s third-oldest daily newspaper, is printed. \u201cWe even went to the Herr\u2019s potato-chip factory and watched the chips coming out of the machine,\u201d\u009d recalls Fredette. The children\u2019s favorite trip was to the studios of FOX 29 News, where, as part of a unit on meteorology, they watched a live broadcast of the midday weather report, complete with green screen.<\/p>\n
Boston is known as a college town. Kerry McDonald lives across the Charles River in Cambridge\u201d\u201d\u201cbetween M.I.T. and Harvard,\u201d\u009d she says. On her City Kids Homeschooling blog, McDonald writes: \u201cWe use the city as our primary learning tool, taking advantage of all its offerings, including classes, museums, libraries, cultural events, and fascinating neighbors\u201d\u009d\u201d\u201dincluding a Tufts University biology professor who brings home snails and mollusks for the kids.<\/p>\n