HOW CAN IT BE FREE?
Fair questions! Here are the answers:
Question: Are your core-curriculum courses really tuition-free?
Answer: YES! You'll usually see our "K-12Free" designation in our various course listings! We offer a combination of tuition-free core curriculum courses and optional elective courses and optional services. All core curriculum courses are tuition-free... the only thing we ask is for shipping/handling processing (see next QA). Course materials are available as free downloads or online texts. Most courses have returnable Video-CDs which are loaned for the learning year without rental fee (no cost so long as they are returned to us(see below). Visit our Course Pages for specific course descriptions.[top]
Question: Are there other costs I will have to pay?
Answer: We ask a modest $4.95 fee for each tuition-free course to help recover some of the labor and expenses associated with Registration, Shipping, Handling and Processing. We only charge enough to cover the costs of shipping, packaging and labor to ship and pack. We also offer optional elective courses and course upgrades which are not tuition-free but are offered at about 50% - 75% discount. These are optional and never required. You never have to enroll in any elective course ever and, should you decide to do so, you could enroll only in all of our tuition-free courses from grades K-12 and only ever have to help out by remitting the shipping, handling and processing fee. Also it is important to note that all video CDs that are sent out MUST be returned if you stop attending k-12FreeHomeschool or at the end of the current school year whichever comes first. Any video CDs not returned are charged a $10.00 per CD replacement fee. This replacement fee is charged only if you do not return the CDs.[top]
Question: How can you folks afford to give away tuition-free (K-12Free) courses?
Answer: In exchange for receiving the services of K-12FreeHomeschool.org you agree to respond to questions, surveys and offers from our corporate sponsors. Examples would include your willingness to comment on the quality and grade-level appropriateness of a given course. Providing your suggestions and/or criticisms of our courses. You agree to consider providing an optional donation to us to help meet our expenseis (donations are optional, NEVER required). All parents and students are automatically enrolled in our K-12Free Club. Club members receive email and/or postal offers about products and services that may be of interest to homeschoolers; you agree to read and sometimes 'grade' these offers and are NEVER required to purchase anything. You agree to consider helping out other homeschooling parents via our Parent/Teacher Message board (participation is requested but NEVER required). Some information that you receive will be about products and/or services that are in development and/or not available to the general public... in these situations you agree not to forward this information to any 3rd party. K-12FreeHomeschool pages display our site corporate sponsorships which allow you to visit their sites and/or considering their offers. You are NEVER required to visit a sponsor' site or purchase anything. These are just some examples and may be modified at any time.
Your responses are very valuable to us and by providing us with the benefits of your opinions. By participating in these activities you help us improve and further develop our offerings. Your participation is your way of contributing instead of contributing with required tuition and it allows us to provide you with these free and/or highly-discounted products and/or services.[top]
Question: Who can enroll in K-12FreeHomeschool.org courses?
Answer: www.K-12FreeHomeschool.org accepts a very limited number of yearly enrollments... usually only about 1700 students. We only serve homeschoolers who meet certain criteria and who also agree to respond to quality surveys and marketing trials. Once initial enrollments are filled all applicants are placed on a waiting list. You will be informed as to your enrollment status shortly after your enrollment form has been completed. Applicants who have remitted payments because they selected options (if any) and who are also placed on 'waiting list' status will be immediately refunded any charges until a space becomes available. As more corporate sponsorships begin then additional enrollments will be accepted on a weekly basis. Here are some of the details which can change without notice. We expect there to be a much higher demand than spaces will allow so please enroll early.
Criteria for Student Enrollment:
- Registering parent and their student(s) must reside in the United States all at the same physical address and be United States citizens. At this time we are not able to accept non U.S. citizens or U.S. citizens living abroad.
- Parents must complete a full online enrollment form and remit incidental or elective fees (if any) and maintain their account in good standing using a valid credit or debit card. This card is used to help with identification and is kept on account for incidental purchases (if any). It must be registered to the enrolling parent at the permanent address that the parent uses during the enrollment process and that address is the residence of both the cardholder and the student(s). Parents and their enrolled students must reside at the same street address. For security and accounting issues we are not currently able to accept payments via check or money order.
- Parents and/or students may not currently have applied for or attend (or have previously attended) any online course(s) from any other private online provider. The sole exception would be attendance at a public online charter school. Only homeschoolers with no previous experience with online learning are currently being accepted. (This criteria meets our corporate sponsorship requirement that all opinions from parents and/or students are from a "fresh" view with no previous exposure to K-12 online learning).
- Parents must agree to comply with any/all government homeschool regulations and meet all homeschool criteria in your area of residence. Parents employed by or who have immediate family members employed by any company involved in online K-12 education, public online charter school, curriculum developer/publisher and/or any other competitive activity may not apply for enrollment for their student(s) at this time.
- For security purposes and quality communications, parents and students must submit and maintain on file a working telephone number, email address that is regularly checked, valid street address of actual residence (no P.O. Boxes or 3rd party mail services), credit or debit card for incidental purchases and identification that is associated with the street address of residence of parent and student(s).
- Parents and students are not permitted to express negative and/or complaint types of communications in any public area of the K-12FreeHomeschool.org site.Chat and message board areas are examples of places that are used to help parents with curriculum questions. We do not permit general conversations or idle chatting or "complaint" types of posts. THat doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you if there is a problem however we encourage communications about problems with other parents, students or the K-12 Free Homeschool services in general via email at MemberServices@K-12FreeHomeschool.org placing the word "problem" or "complaint" in the subject heading. We will address your concerns and/or complaints within normal response times. Violators of this policy are subject to account closure.
- Parents and/or students who do not qualify for enrollment because of these previously listed criteria and who attempt to enroll or successfully enroll in K-12FreeHomeschool.org are subject to account closure at any time and complete expulsion from the online learning system. No refunds are processed for any account terminated because of violation of one or more of these terms. Violators are subject to legal remedies as allowed by law. K-12FreeHomeschool.org may accept and/or reject any student and/or parent account for any reason at any time.[top]
Question: Why are there advertisements on this site?
Answer:Much of our support comes from parents and students like you, as well as corporate sponsorships. Parents and students will see advertisements from our various sponsors that link to their sites. Support received from corporate sponsors is used to help underwrite the K-12Free Courses and K-12Elective Discounts.top
