Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Newsroom

Community College Daily Features Âé¶¹Ö±²¥'s Rapidly Expanding Homeschool Programs

August 22, 2023
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“One of the things we do at Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ is try to provide solutions for our community, especially our students.” ~ Dr. Tony Warrick

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The Âé¶¹Ö±²¥'s (Âé¶¹Ö±²¥) was recently featured in -- a national publication produced by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) -- because of Âé¶¹Ö±²¥'s homeschool program's rapid growth, and to highlight Âé¶¹Ö±²¥'s commitment to deepening relationships with southern Maryland's homeschool communities.

The following is an excerpt from the article written by wrote Tabitha Whissemore, a contributor to Community College Daily and managing editor of AACC's Community College Journal:

"As the number of home-schooling families rises, some community colleges are deepening their relationships with home-school communities and providing enrichment programming to enhance students’ education.

At Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ (Âé¶¹Ö±²¥), a home-school enrichment program started with a conversation. Like all community colleges, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ welcomes home-school students on campus for summer youth camps and dual-enrollment programs. But home-school families expressed a need for more support.

In April 2019, Tony Warrick, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥’s youth program manager, met with 12 of these families and listened to some of their problems within the home-school system, particularly related to curriculum and ensuring their children advance academically.

“One of the things we do at Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ is try to provide solutions for our community, especially our students,” Warrick says.

And home-schooling families in southern Maryland are a big part of the community. More than 4,580 students were home-schooled there in the 2020-21 school year, according to data from the Maryland Home School Association (MDHSA).  

Launch and relaunch

One of the solutions was to create a couple of science and technology classes to enhance the home-school curriculum by giving students hands-on experiences. The college, after all, has access to equipment that would be too expensive for many home-school families. The classes were offered at the La Plata Campus, and enrollment for those early classes was good as word-of-mouth spread within the home-school community, Warrick says.

The program went on hiatus during Covid but relaunched in fall 2021 — and enrollment has “exploded,” Warrick says, going from less than 100 pre-pandemic, to nearly [400] enrollments for the [upcoming] semester. Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ is even expanding the program to its Leonardtown Campus.

Some of the most popular classes are the engineering and robotics courses. Many of the instructors are adjunct professors, and Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ hires some community professionals who have specific expertise and the skills to teach elementary-age children.

Beyond the academics, the students learn about classroom etiquette and are exposed to a college campus.

“The things they learn here will set them up in life,” Warrick says." 

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To read the full story in CCDaily, please visit .

There are four more weeks left for homeschool families to register for the next session of classes. For more information on Âé¶¹Ö±²¥’s Kids’ & Teen College and to explore the class schedule, visit .

To learn from homeschool families about their homeschool experience at Âé¶¹Ö±²¥, you may be interested in reading "Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Expands Homeschool Programming to Leonardtown Campus as Enrollment Continues to Soar."