Local Facebook Groups:

• New to Homeschooling in Williamson County – CLICK HERE
• Tennessee homeschool Support – CLICK HERE
• Franklin and Brentwood TN homeschool Group – CLICK HERE

Local Homeschool Resources:

• Spring Hill area parent educators
• Middle Tennessee Home Education Association
• Homeschooling Williamson County
• The Homeschool Mom
• TN State Government Homeschool Information
• Homeschool Legal Co-op – Membership helps these guys look out for us at state and national level, and gets you quick access to a lawyer familiar with your local homeschool laws for questions, and defense if you run into problems.

Umbrella Schools:

This is how most homeschoolers report grades and attendance in TN.  They handle withdrawing you from your public school after you are registered with them. This is not your actual school, some offer online classes, and curriculum advisors, but they are primarily a reporting tool to keep you legal. They are a middle man that will ensure your attendance and grades are filed in compliance with TN requirements.

• Honor School of Tennessee – The least expensive “bare bones” option.
• Home Life Academy – advisors to help get you started, variety of online classes that can be optionally used as part of your curriculum
• The Comenius School – Affiliated with Franklin Classical School.
• Grace Christian Academy Umbrella – Affiliated with Grace Christian Academy

Curriculum Shopping websites:

• Rainbow Resource
• ChristianBook.com

Homeschool Tutorials: 

Some of these groups offer full curriculum service covering all core subjects, some offer enrichment classes, and some offer a variety of al la carte style classes.

• Haven Academy  – K-7th. M-Th with Friday option in Franklin
• Heart Christian Academy – preK-12th. 2 days a week Brentwood and Columbia
• Concordia Arts Academy – preK-12^th. M-F Variety of programs,class plans for various grades, in Franklin and Thompsons Station
• Ironwood Academy – 1st-12th. 2 days a week in Franklin.
• Behold Community Schoolhouse – 5-13 years old. 2 or 4 days per week, Friday option in Franklin
• Murfreesboro Homeschoolers Tutorial  – 1st-8th. Mon and Wed – 9am – 3pm in Murfreesboro.
• Renew Christian Academy – 6th-12th. Tues and Thurs – 8:30am-3:30pm in Franklin.
• SHARE (Spring Hill Area Resource Education) – K-6^th. Tuesdays in Columbia
• Classical Conversations – preK-12th. 1 Community Day per week, several local communities
• Heritage Homeschool Group – Thursdays, K-12, Thompsons Station
• West Harpeth – 6-12^th. Tuesdays and Thursdays

Homeschool Curriculum options:

Great list of additional curriculum and resources organized by style with brief explanation of styles (Classical, Charlotte Mason, Montessori, etc.) See following pages.

Hillsdale Homeschool – K-12th

Liberty University Online Academy – K-12th

Freedom Project Academy – K-12th

Gather Round – preK-12th

Abeka – preK-12th

Enlightium Academy – K-12th

Power Homeschool – preK-12th

Private Schools:

Trinitas Classical Academy of Franklin (Classical) – preK-12th, M-F, 7:55am-3:25pm

Generations Christian Academy  (Traditional) – preK-10th. M-F,  8 am – 3 pm

Franklin Classical School (Classical) – K-12th, M-F, 8am – 2:45pm

Thales Academy (Classical) – preK-5th, M-F, 8 am – 3 pm

Grace Christian Academy (Traditional) – PreK-12th, M-F

Franklin Christian Academy (Traditional) – 5^th-12^th

Spring Hill Christian Academy (Classical) – K-6th 

Harpeth Montessori K-6th

Pre-Schools:

Wonder Woods Nature School – ages 3-5

Bloom Preschool  (Classical-Montessori) – ages 3-5

Mustard Seed Preschool (Classical) – ages 3-5

Five Flavors of Homeschooling:

• Traditional – A separate textbook and/or workbook for each subject. Read the information, answer the questions (multiple choice, T/F, short answer).  Remember the facts until the test.

• Classical – Based on the Trivium. Grammar Stage (ages 6–10): absorb and memorize facts. Dialectic Stage (ages 10–12): emphasize logic and why’s behind facts  Rhetoric Stage (ages 13–18): add persuasive use of language

• Charlotte Mason – Living books instead of textbooks. Narration instead of questioning. Emphasizes ideas over dry facts. A wide variety of subjects; a broad curriculum.

• Unit Studies – Arranges all subjects around a common theme. Usually lots of hands-on projects.

• Unschooling – Child-directed. No set curriculum or agenda.

Find Your Favorite  (T=Traditional | C=Classical | U=Unit Studies | L=Charolette Mason | N=Unschooling)

If you . . .

• are concerned about keeping lock-step with the local school system (T)
• don’t necessarily want a plan; prefer to be spontaneous (N) 
• place great emphasis on having facts memorized (T, C) 
• love hands-on projects and activities and don’t mind spending the time to prepare  them (U) 
• think the teacher should be the fountain-head of all knowledge (T, C, U)
• want school to be rigorous and challenging (C) 
• don’t want to be different (T, C, U) 
• love the idea of learning from good literature and books that make the subject  come alive (L) 
• want to use natural, gentle methods while holding them to a high standard (L)
• like having the child decide what to learn and when (N) 
• want to linger with art, nature, handicrafts, music, and more (L, N)
• want to teach the way you were taught; not have to put forth the effort of decision  (T) 
• believe that true education comes from a personal relation with what is being  studied, not just recognition (L, N) 
• want your children to learn how to self-educate (L, N) 
• live and die by standardized test scores (T, C) 
• want to teach all your children together for as many subjects as possible (L, U)
• want each child to be on his or her own separate track for everything (T, C, N)  
• want something that will work for a special needs child (any) 
• something that will work well for a large family (any) 
• something that will work well for an only child (any) 
• need to tuck homeschooling around your work schedule (any) 
• need something your spouse or the grandparents can do parts of (any, depending  on the spouse or grandparent) 
• want your child to be prepared to do well in college (any) 
• want your child to be prepared to do well in adult life (any) 
• want to emphasize good character development and Biblical discipleship (any) 

Different publishers cater to different flavors of homeschooling

Choosing Curriculum  

You can . . .

1. Get it to-go.
2. Put together ready-made components.
3. Make all of it from scratch.

Read the labels!

• Is it a good fit for this season of life?
• Does it help you reach your goals?
• Does it help you meet legal requirements?
• Does it agree with your personal standards?

Using Curriculum  

• Teach the child, not the curriculum.
• Make the curriculum your servant, not your master.
• You have freedom to change if something isn’t working.
• Curriculum is not a magic bullet.

Curriculum and Resource Providers:

Traditional

• A Beka
• Accelerated Christian Education (ACE)  Alpha Omega
• Bob Jones
• Christian Liberty Press
• Christian Light Education
• Landmark’s Freedom Baptist Curriculum  Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum (PAC)  Rod and Staff Curriculum

Classical

• BiblioPlan
• Classical Academic Press
• Classical Conversations
• FreedomProject Education (online classes)  Memoria Press
• Veritas Press
• Well-Trained Mind/Peace Hill Press

Charlotte Mason

• A Delectable Education
• Ambleside Online
• Living Books Curriculum
• Simply Charlotte Mason

Unit Studies

• Amanda Bennett
• Cornerstone Curriculum
• Five in a Row
• Heart of Wisdom (combined approach)  Konos
• Weaver (from Alpha Omega)

Unschooling

• (whatever)
• Combinations
• Heart of Dakota
• Master Books
• My Father’s World
• Mystery of History
• Sonlight
• Tapestry of Grace