DEAR SUN SPOTS: I read your column every day. It is great I have learned a lot from the information you give out. Keep up the good work.

Could you please give me some information on how to home-school children. Is there anyone who is home-schooling whom I can contact to see how this works? If someone is home-schooling, can they take on kids who will benefit from this? Thank you for your help.— No Name via email

ANSWER: Home-schoolers appear to make good use of the Internet for both teaching and for contacting each other. There are several websites you might want to visit, including:

* maine.gov/education/hs/ — This is the Maine website on home-schooling. It provides information about requirements, forms and laws, and home-schooling resources. The contact person is Randy J. Kassa, Homeschool Enrollment , Maine Department of Education , 23 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0023, 207-624-6600, homeschooling.doe@maine.gov

* homeschoolmaine.com — According to its website, the “Midcoast Maine Homeschool Center is a community of learning, support, and community for homeschool families from a variety of backgrounds. The world is truly our classroom!” There is a $60 fee to join.

* greatschoolsforme.org — “GreatSchoolsforME.org provides site visitors with a wealth of information on customized learning in Maine, Maine schools, student performance, and comprehensive data on school spending.” This group is affiliated with the Maine Heritage Policy Center, “a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization based in Portland. The Maine Heritage Policy Center formulates and promotes free market, conservative public policies in the areas of economic growth, fiscal matters, health care, education and government transparency.”

* homeschoolersofmaine.org — The site says that “Homeschoolers of Maine is a volunteer-based ministry founded in 1990 by Ed and Kathy Green. The mission of this ministry is to support home-schooling families in their God-given and constitutional right and responsibility to oversee the education of their children. … The Christian principles on which HOME rests allow HOME leaders to minister effectively to all home-schooling families in our state. HOME is funded by annual conventions, subscriptions to our newsletter, founding family supporters, various fundraisers, etc. We depend upon the generosity of individual home-schooling families to finance the ministry of HOME. Our counseling and most other outreaches are free to all home-schoolers.”

* hslda.org/hs/state/ME/ — “Home School Legal Defense Association is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms. Through annual memberships, HSLDA is tens of thousands of families united in service together, providing a strong voice when and where needed.”

* time4learning.com (http://tinyurl.com/nbqxtjo) — Provides curriculum software — for a fee, of course. Because of the increasing popularity of home-schooling, many companies are now producing curriculum materials. It is up to the parent to make sure that those programs match Maine’s requirements.

Local readers who are home-schooling will undoubtedly have other resources. If they share them with Sun Spots, she will pass them on through the column.

As for whether there are others out there willing to home-school your children, Sun Spots cannot say. She did ask Randy Kassa at the state Department of Education if it is allowed, and he said yes. He gave the example of a parent who is home-schooling a high-schooler whose math skills have exceeded the parent’s. That parent could ask someone, say a neighbor who is an engineer, to undertake the teaching of calculus.

He also said that in some case several home-schooling families work together to share teaching duties. He said that some very small private schools got started that way, with several families working together to teach their children and ultimately ending up with a “school” of maybe just a dozen or so children.

So finding a group that would suit your children is possible, but it will take some legwork, such as contacting people through websites. If you attend church, you might also inquire there.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Please include your phone number. Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be emailed to sunspots@sunjournal.com.

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