We thank everyone in the Learning Community who has embraced and supported my daughter and our family over the years. The Learning Community was there to help guide our daughter when no other organization could even come close. It's educational consultants, administrators and fellow parents have been a source of inspiration and hope.

When we started homeschooling five years ago, my daughter was illiterate. Now, at the ripe old age of 13, she is a professional journalist, writing for The New York Times and teen magazines. In fact, she is in the process of becoming a published book author as well. Most of all, she's been able to restore her health and happiness.

My daughter's well-being and accomplishments would have been impossible without homeschooling and the endless opportunities provided by TLCI, especially during difficult times—it’s been a lifesaver! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

I want to tell you how much I appreciate [TLCI consultant's] involvement in our homeschooling. Her support for our fairly unstructured program has given me the confidence I need to spend much less time second-guessing myself and just get on with life and learning.

We have just finished another year with TLCI, and as always, we are pleased with our connection to this fine group of spirited people. Learning is so exciting, and being associated with TLCI helps me to appreciate the sheer beauty of education.

This year also marks the tenth year since my husband was killed, and I am very mindful that TLCI has been very instrumental in helping me to continue homeschooling as a single mom. Thanks to you and to our consultants for all the support along the way.

My daughter graduated cum laude from Salisbury University on May 17th. She never attended any traditional school and has been thriving academically with TLCI and in college. Happily, TLCI enabled her to nurture her creativity in her own flexible style, and she has taken her gift into a creative writing concentration at SU.

My oldest son started his college career this past year and is doing well. He has not settled on a specific major yet. He has also been able to nurture his creativity with TLCI.

My youngest, of course, is still with TLCI, and I look forward to an exciting and productive year for him and me as we embrace his senior year.

So--thanks for offering us this wonderful opportunity to pursue individual learning along with great community support. Keep up the good work.

Our daughter finished up her high school education through The Learning Community International and enjoyed it immensely. She liked being able to choose books she was interested in reading, and she became much more of a self-directed learner and also learned to manage her time better. The flexibility of the program allowed her creativity to flourish and also allowed her to pursue other activities she never had enough time for when in a traditional school setting. Working with TLCI was a delight. I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity for our daughter and our family.

Thank you for awarding my High School Diploma based on the areas of study I have experienced. It has been a tremendous aid and has helped open many doors as I have pursued entrance into a university.

I recently accepted a Presidential Scholarship from Towson University and am going to be a full time student this semester. I have also accepted two Delegate Scholarships along with a Senatorial Scholarship which will automatically be renewed for a total of four years or until the completion of my degree (whichever comes first).

It is my intention to study hard in pursuit of my degree in Biology, and, after undergraduate completion, continue studying toward a Ph.D.

Again, I wish to thank you and the Learning Community.

Sincerely,

Frankly, as a parent trying to take a good deal of responsibility for my son’s education, I find the TLCI network very informative and helpful.  It is worth every penny of the tuition rate—we’ll treat it as an organizational membership fee.  (A parent who has a child enrolled in school but finds TLC valuable enough to stay enrolled anyway!) Best wishes,  Naomi

We really appreciated the support we got from TLCI, and will happily recommend your program to other families considering homeschooling.  I would like to say how incredibly helpful and supportive my consultant was throughout the school year, and especially when we hit bumps in the road during our transfer process.  She was friendly, professional and efficient at all times, and very, very encouraging to both my daughter and me. 

I cannot tell you how happy I am with the Learning Community and how Leandra continues to flourish.  She now is living in Mexico with a family that has a child the same age, and is studying intensive Spanish.  She is becoming certified in Scuba, reads Mexican authors, and is volunteering a couple times a week at a local school assisting with teaching children English.

Thank you.

We cannot thank you enough for all the help you and others in TLC gave us and Hanna as she pursued her pre-college education.  It was a wonderful foundation for her college life.  We wish you the best and know that your current students will enjoy the success that Hanna has to date.

I was a student of the Learning Community in from 1998-2000.  I was a very unhappy high school junior when I asked my parents if I could home school my way out of my misery.  Leaving high school and coming to the Learning Community changed my life forever. 

I had a great college experience at Montana State University, and now I am about to graduate from The University of Baltimore School of Law.  I want to thank you sincerely for creating the Learning Community and giving me the turning point I needed to enjoy the rest of my education and to become a life-long learner.  Again thanks so much for everything; you made a big difference in my life.

The Learning Community was a Godsend for our daughter.  Along with two admissions into the Learning Community, her high school experience included public school,  a Christian boarding academy and community college.  But she came back to the Learning Community for her senior year, and graduated with college credit.  It was the Learning Community that was the impetus for preparing her for a possible future in law enforcement. The Learning Community prepared her for whatever she decides to do, not only with her career, but also more importantly with her life.

Thank you once again for all you do everyday for the students of the Learning Community.

I appreciate so much the opportunity Martin had to receive his high school diploma through The Learning Community, and I appreciate the help you gave Martin and me in completing his senior year. I'm proud of him, and he feels good about himself.  He's hoping to eventually attend WVU for a degree in Medical Technology.

Thank you,  

Thank you so much for everything you did for our son Matthew Lindberg-Works‚ graduation from the Learning Community last May.  And also thank you all for the wonderful graduation celebration in Annapolis.  Matthew felt honored to participate in the festivities.

My sister and her husband drove up from Virginia Beach to represent our extended family, and both said it was the best graduation they had ever attended.   Which is saying a lot, since my brother in law is in the Navy, where there are MANY graduation events.

Thank you,

Dear Nancy,

I have been concerned about whether my daughter should be doing more than she is. Then I read Barbara Klein’s comments in the November newsletter about paying attention and respecting the individual needs of the whole child, and where he/she is right now, so we can recognize the course to follow in their education.

Thanks, Barbara, for you article. It was just what I needed to get my perspective and to recognize my daughter’s direction in all phases of her life.

Sincerely, 

I am the mother of a former TLC homeschooler. TLC was wonderful for Sara, as it enabled her to escape from public schools, build her individual, flexible learning program (a combination of Montgomery College courses and individually tutored courses) and to continue to be a pre-professional dancer with the Maryland Youth Ballet and to develop her art portfolio.

As a consequence, Sara has been admitted to Simon’s Rock College of Bard, a unique college for talented younger students affiliated with Bard College, in the fall of 1999. She is now a freshman in their BA program (during what would be her senior high-school year) and doing excellently. We are both very thankful to TLC and to our consultant for helping Sara find her way to success and to College.

We are truly blessed to have discovered the option of home schooling and your wonderful group. During the two years she has been taught at home, our daughter has progressed from about a 4th grade to a 7th grade reading level.  While her reading is painstakingly slow at times, reading at this level is quite an accomplishment for a person who does not see the letters in words in a straight line, and who does not naturally read left to right. To her, the letters literally dance and zigzag across the line and the page. Writing is one of the most difficult tasks for her, but she has learned to keyboard, which has facilitated organizing her ideas. As for math, she has progressed well beyond the Algebra I taught in most schools; she excels at math.

Contrary to all the dire warnings and repeated expressions of doubt for her socialization, our daughter has had more opportunities for positive social interactions since being taught at home. Many people in our church have commented about the positive changes.

Thank you again for all your support during our home schooling. It has been a lifeline to our daughter.

It has been an eventful and exciting semester for me. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the opportunities available to me now. I no longer have to get up every morning, at the crack of dawn, to drive, in the dark, to a mind numbingly boring and close-minded place where people have no idea how exciting the world outside can be. I no longer have to sit quietly and listen to the tired preaching and rhetoric spouting from the ridiculous and useless fountainhead that is the [local] school board. On my own I can challenge myself in any way I choose. Whether that challenge be physical, intellectual or philosophical, I can explore and understand through my own ambition. For this, I thank you.

The first year with the program, I chose a slightly more structured curriculum than most. The vast majority of my learning was done through community college. I took courses in English, French, Accounting and Aviation. Overall, I found the college environment to be much more conducive to the way I learn. I also worked during the summer as an intern for a rock climbing shop and guiding service in West Virginia. This internship gave me a good basic understanding of the intricacies of retailing as well as those of a service-oriented business.

One of the most exciting developments has been my change of venue. I moved, by myself, to another county, where I have a job at a ski resort and am a part time student at the local community college. This time I am taking English 102 and Journalism. If I am lucky, I will also eventually be enrolled in American History.

Possibly the greatest advantage to my new location, however, is the ability it gives me to put in some serious skiing time. Skiing is one of my passions, and I feel that this is the time in my life when I should indulge in my passions while I can. If fate smiles upon me and my life goes as I hope, I will, someday, be able to merge all my passions into one and make them my life's sole purpose. In order for that to happen, however, I must first become an expert at all of my passions. And thanks to you and the opportunities your program has given me, I can begin building my life as I envision it.

It is with regret that we must inform you that we have been obliged by economic necessity and other circumstances to enroll our daughter in the Montgomery County school system. For the past several years, we have been attempting to make it on my wife’s job and my part-time earnings working at home, but we have found that this is not adequate. Starting this week, I will be working outside our home, and therefore there is no alternative but to send our daughter off to school.

We want to thank The Learning Community for all the freedom, flexibility, and autonomy which you have afforded us over the last few years. We feel that by keeping our daughter home until the age of almost 12, we have at least given her a stronger basis for personal identity, independent character, and critical thinking than would have been the case if she had been attending school during these years.

We would like to commend [our consultant] highly for all her kind assistance. We also would like to thank you for your distinguished and tireless work in this cause. We hope very much that, if our local middle school should prove to be the wrong solution for our daughter, we can return to The Learning Community on relatively short notice.

I want to thank you for a great year with TLC.  I am really happy that I did it, even though going into it I wondered about spending the money for Sarah’s official “Kindergarten” year. I found lots of value in joining TLC; especially valuable is in the consultant.  She was quick to reply & detailed in her comments. I value -- and have been encouraged by -- her commitment to the “child first” philosophy ably described by Barbara in the March 1999 newsletter article. 

I am writing basically to thank you for all you’ve done for me so far. You have allowed me to be more of an individual by putting me in control of my education. That means a lot to my mother and me. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your help. My diploma and transcripts from The Learning Community gave the colleges I applied to a reassurance that I had sufficiently and successfully completed high school through being unschooled. My official Learning Community transcripts and diploma gave them proof that I have been strong academically, despite not participating in an institutionalized learning program.

Your official transcripts validated my accomplishments from my three years of homeschooling. I can’t thank you enough for that. I received a letter in the mail from Pratt a little while later, congratulating me on being awarded a Presidential Merit Scholarship in the amount of $6,000 per year. I am thrilled (and so are my parents)!!! I don't know if it would have been so easy for me to receive this, had The Learning Community not been there to validate my academic record. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thank you for helping my educational road-less-traveled be not so difficult to walk.

TLCI has definitely made a positive difference in the lives of many young men and women. Specifically, I want to express my appreciation for the very positive role TLCI has played in the lives of my two children, Michael and Simone, who are living testimonials that TLCI can and does make a crucial difference in the educations and lives of students.  

Thank you TLCI, and keep up the good work!

I would like to tell you how excited I am to begin homeschooling my daughter.  It was your enthusiasm during our conversation that assured me that I was doing the right thing. It has only been a few weeks but I am enjoying this program as much as Emily. She is so much more interested in her studies now. And there are no more stressful mornings!!!  Thank you.

TLCI has given our family a much greater sense of security over these last nine years of homeschooling, and I just want to thank you for your continued efforts and vigilance in this area. I am very happy that TLCI was recommended to us (by two psychologists, of all sources!) back when my son was having issues in the public system.  Our family is very grateful to have been a part of TLCI.  

Thank you, TLCI, for helping to keep us legal, recognized, and respected as legitimate educators in the state of Maryland!  Your work changes many lives.

THANK YOU for keeping any eye on current events that affect all homeschoolers and taking action to protect us.  We are blessed to have you as director of TLCI.  Your passion for home schooling and your knowledge of a family’s right to do so cannot be measured.  THANK YOU for taking initiative to add protection to TLCI and preserve our right to home school our children. 

THANK YOU!

As a parent of a child who has special needs, I chose the homeschool option in the middle of the fourth grade. He is now in the seventh grade at Ridgley Middle School and is thriving there. Homeschooling gave him an opportunity to explore who he was as a person and what he wanted to get out of education.

He worked at homeschooling in such a way as to work on those areas where he had weakness, explore those areas were he had strengths, and learn to use play as a way to develop those activities which he enjoyed. This was crucial to his developing confidence in himself, which is imperative in moving forward with education. The path that he was on in elementary school was causing him to become insecure and inept in some areas of his development. The social conflicts were working against his ability to learn with pride and vigor. He was spending time trying to perform in ways that made school and the students appreciate him, which was wasting a lot of time in his learning efforts. By focusing on making himself a better learner, he was able to channel his energy in a much more productive fashion. Rather than wasting time riding buses, walking halls, waiting for teachers, and avoiding social issues, he spent his time on self-development and getting to know who he was, instead of who the "world" wanted him to be. He still has challenges; however, he is much more flexible in knowing himself and his limitations.

I want to thank the good people at TLCI for guiding Alex and me in a direction which resulted in a more enriched and able student. A unique situation calls for a unique solution. By channeling strengths and cultivating knowledge, we can overcome disabilities and turn them into gifts.

Sincerely and with much appreciation,

Our relationship with TLCI has in every way been a positive experience, and we will continue to recommend your services to others.