Homeschooling your kids comes with a number of challenges to meet. You might worry about their social interaction, whether they’ll get to have prom like their public school-going peers, or even whether they want to participate in programs offered by a public school like band practice, cheerleading, choir, math groups, and others. 

Public schools offer some popular and interesting events that may intrigue homeschoolers.  Many teens will want to go to dances, learn how to drive, play on a team, or explore music. So, what are the answers to those challenging questions? There are several options:

Work Through the School District

Contact the local school district and see what its policy is on permitting homeschoolers to join the school’s events, teams, or groups. Be specific in what you are asking when you call. Schools might allow a teen to attend driver’s education classes, for example, but not permit attending the prom—or vice versa. Some schools are happy to accommodate homeschooling families with access to all activities, while others choose to completely restrict it.  In addition to contacting the local public school, consider reaching out to area private and charter schools to see what their policies are on incorporating homeschoolers.

Look at Community Programs

While schools do offer some great activities, they are rarely the ONLY place to offer them. Look around to see what other choices you might have.

• If your teen wants to join a local sports team, check out the local YMCA to see what sports it has to offer. You can also see if there are any local leagues sponsored by businesses or community groups.  Be sure to contact community centers, as they frequently offer a chance to play a variety of sports. Look at resources online such as Craigslist or Meetup.com to find clubs, teams, and other activities.
• Students who play instruments or sing can look into private lessons, as well as explore city orchestras  and local music groups. Choirs are available through churches and other independent groups. Community theatres offer a chance to explore drama.
• Driver’s education courses are offered by many groups, including police organizations and independent companies. School enrollment is not necessary to participate in most of these courses. Parents can also purchase packaged driver’s education programs online and teach the subject themselves.  National Driver Training Institute offers homeschooling programs. Just make sure you’re aware of the driver education laws in your state.
• Homeschoolers can typically attend prom if their partners are enrolled in the school. Perhaps your son or daughter’s main goal is just to dress up and go to a dance, rather than specifically the prom. If so, community dances are available in many cities.

Start Your Own

One trait homeschoolers tend to be known for is creating their own activities when they can’t find what they need within their communities. Support groups often have enough members that they are able to start a small sports team, a choir, a band, or an acting troupe. It takes time, effort, and dedication, of course, but many parents are willing to do it to help their children.

Homeschool proms are becoming more and more popular across the country. A 2 Z Home’s Cool  lists a growing number of states that host these dances annually,  including:

• Alabama
• California
• Indiana
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Texas
• Tennessee
• Virginia

(For parents who are starting from scratch to organize a prom in their area, there is a helpful site with many resources on it at http://home-school.lovetoknow.com/Homeschool_Prom. It offers information on how to find the best location for the prom, how to budget the money, where to find flowers, food, and beverages and more.)

Homeschooling teens—and just parenting them—can be a complex combination of challenging and delightful. Having the answers to the most common questions that can arise is one way to make the trip a little easier—for everyone involved. To learn more about homeschooling, check out Homeschooling 101: An Introduction to the Laws and Legalities of Homeschooling and The Most Important Questions to Ask Before Deciding to Homeschool.

Tamra Orr is the author of six books on the topic of homeschooling, including Homeschooling FAQs: 101 Questions Every Parent Should Ask, The Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling, and After Homeschool: Fifteen Homeschoolers Out in the Real World. In addition, she homeschooled her four children from Kindergarten through high school graduation.

Every four years, athletes from around the world gather to compete in the Summer Olympic Games. While the athletes are competing to win gold, the games give kids a chance to learn more about the events the athletes are competing in, as well as the part of the world where the games are held. This year, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games are being held in Rio de Janeiro, the second most populous municipality in Brazil. Despite the controversy surrounding the games and their location, there are a lot of reasons to get excited. We’ve rounded up some fun facts about the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to help get kids excited too.

1. Rio de Janeiro is the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. For a fun geography activity, look up the locations of previous Olympic games and mark them on a world map.

2. Over 10,000 athletes will compete in the games. The U.S. will bring over 500 of those athletes, which you can learn about on Team USA’s website.

3. It will cost Rio de Janeiro over $9.5 billion to host the Summer Olympic games.

4. Golf will be played at the 2016 Olympics. The sport has not been part of the Summer Games for over 100 years.

5. In many countries, the competition just to make the Olympic team was tough. Queen Harrison, a hurdler, missed qualifying for the U.S. team by two one-hundredths of a second.

6. Over 45% of the athletes in Rio will be female. That’s a higher percentage of females than ever before.

7. Dipa Karmakar will compete as the first Indian female gymnast in 52 years to qualify for the Olympic games.

8. Yusra Mardini, an 18-year-old swimmer, will compete under the Olympic flag as part of the first team of refugee athletes.

9. Leila, Liina, and Lily Luik will be the first set of triplets to compete in the same Olympic sport. They are marathon runners from Estonia.

10. Simone Biles, the most decorated female gymnast in history, is the shortest member of Team USA at 4’8″ tall.

11. To prepare for the Olympics, workers in Rio de Janeiro built 43 miles of new roads and planted thousands of trees.

12. Canadian horse-jumper, Ian Miller, will compete in his 11th Olympic Games. He’s 69 years old.

13. Michael Phelps, the most-decorated Olympian of all time, will attempt to increase his medal count at the 2016 Games. He currently has 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold.

14. The country of Kosovo will compete in its first Olympics this year, sending eight athletes to the Games.

15. Nino Salukvadze and Tsotne Machavariani, shooters from the country of Georgia, are the first mother-son duo to compete at the Games.

16. Singer Katy Perry released her first single in two years, a song called “Rise,” which will be used as an anthem for the Olympic Games.

Want to learn more about the Olympics? Work with your kids to complete our Summer Olympics Scavenger Hunt or one of our other Olympics-themed worksheets found on our seasonal worksheets page.

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Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.