Kepler Provides an Abundance of Flexibility
November 5th, 2019
One of the many reasons parents choose to homeschool their children is for the flexibility it affords their family. By choosing to school at home, parents are able to retain for themselves the freedom to teach their children according to a schedule that makes the most sense for their family.
For instance, if schooling in the afternoon or evening is better for the family, they have the freedom to study at that time. If schooling three days a week or even on the weekend is more advantageous, they have that choice too.
In a recent post, we discussed the various ways current technology provides new opportunities for families educating their children at home—technology like live, online classrooms. We noted that not only can students earn their high school diploma from the convenience and comfort of home, online education also allows students and teachers from around the world to study in the same classroom. Students can literally meet and interact with people they otherwise may have never met.
Online education can provide all the flexibility of homeschooling with the added benefits of an international brick and mortar school.
At Kepler, homeschooling parents have the opportunity to employ experienced teachers who share their worldview, provide their children with a high school diploma, and retain the high degree of flexibility they are accustomed to because they are able to choose course times that best fit their schedule and pay tuition costs that makes sense for the family budget. Consider some of the following choices that contribute to the abundant flexibility Kepler provides students and their parents.
Choose by Teacher
The majority of teachers at Kepler have earned graduate degrees and possess years of experience as classical educators. Rather than designing a course to be taught at a specific time and then searching for a teacher qualified to fill that course, Kepler empowers master teachers to design courses that meet the rigorous standards of our student diploma track, and then teach those courses at the times that make the most sense for them and their students. This aspect of a “marketplace” approach increases the scope of course availability and provides students with the flexibility of choosing a course based on a preferred teacher.
Choose by Course
Additionally, students have the flexibility of taking advantage of a diploma track or they can just take courses a la carte as a way of fulfilling their own homeschool program of study. In either case, this is just one more choice Kepler offers students and their families.
Choose by Time
Students studying in an online environment will have a few hours of fixed routine when they meet for live classes. Other than those times, students have the choice of when and where they complete their studies. And due to the shear number of teachers we anticipate teaching on the Kepler platform, there will be similar courses offered at various times. In other words, there will be multiple offerings of similar courses which increases the likelihood students will find a course that meets at a time convenient for their schedule.
Choose by Cost
Kepler allows teachers to set their own course tuition according to free market principles of supply and demand. This means there will likely be scenarios, for example, where a qualified, first-year teacher (all teachers are vetted and will complete Kepler’s teacher and course creation training) may choose to discount their teaching services because they are in want of more experience. On the other hand, parents may opt to enroll the student in a course designed and taught by one of Kepler's more experienced teachers who charges a fair market rate for his or her teaching services. Some may even take advantage of professional mentor-track courses taught by college professors or published authors offering their teaching services through Kepler at a premium.
Choose by Tradition
Because Kepler is a mere-Christian platform that welcomes all traditions within orthodox Christianity, some parents may opt to enroll their child in a course based on that criteria. All teachers at Kepler are committed to orthodox Christian faith as expressed in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds and affirm basic moral precepts affirmed in Scripture and consistent with historic Christian beliefs.
That said, Kepler acknowledges there are marked differences in the secondary and tertiary beliefs of various traditions, but we respect the biblical virtues that exist in each tradition and welcome teachers who share this same perspective. We further encourage teachers to teach out of their religious convictions while remaining respectful to those with whom they differ. In sum, Kepler vets each teacher carefully and publishes their statement of faith and tradition so parents can be confident when choosing their child's teacher.
Abundance of Flexibility
No matter by what criteria students and their parents choose their courses, in all cases, students enrolled at Kepler will use state-of-the-art technology to attend live online classes taught by qualified, classically educated Christian teachers. At the same time, Kepler provides students with an abundance of flexibility by offering a plethora of choices between high-quality teachers who will teach exceptional courses at a variety of times within a range of costs, and from a number of Christian traditions.