Homeschool Heartbeat Radio Program

Many home schooling parents are uneasily facing the day when their children will graduate from high school. What options are available for home schoolers after they graduate? Yesterday, Mike Farris, president of Home School Legal Defense Association, spoke about the internship program at HSLDA. Today, he gives another option for home schoolers who are facing their college years.

Mike:
An apprenticeship offers the chance to learn a career hands-on, far and away the best kind of career training a person can have. The only problem is, apprenticeship opportunities are also hard to find.

In order to widen the opportunities currently available to home school graduates, HSLDA has decided to start a college built upon the model of apprenticeship. Patrick Henry College, a college built with the needs of home schoolers in mind, is expected to open its doors in September of 2000.

Patrick Henry College will offer the kind of hands-on career training that young people need in order to become the future leaders of our society, and specifically, our government. We’re building the college in northern Virginia, about 45 miles west of Washington, D.C. This close proximity to our nation’s Capitol will allow us to offer a major in government as our first area of study. Then, as the college grows, we plan to add majors in computer science and journalism. Eventually, we’d like to add an accredited law school as well.

Students will spend half of their time in the classroom and half of their time working in their field of study. This method of learning will allow students to reap the benefits of both classroom instruction and on-the-job training.