[corel]

Is anyone familiar with home schooling in Omaha? I would prefer something along the lines of independent studies, or a correspondence course.

[ehenningsen]

an annual study?

When it comes to test scores, Nebraska kids at all grades and in all study categories are usually in the top 5...

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by corel

Is anyone familiar with home schooling in Omaha? I would prefer something along the lines of independent studies, or a correspondence course.

Homeschooling is very accepted in this area. I know several families who homeschooled their children. There is also a homeschool network in the area for families to work together cooperatively. The network I know supports a sports team as a friend of ours was on the homeschool volleyball team. The network I think also creates opportunities for some specialized studies, such as one parent is fluent in a language, they will offer that to other homeschool students. Its also a general support and social network.

No issue at all that I am aware of with homeschooling here.

Here is a link I found to one of the HomeSchool Networks in the Omaha Metro I think the person that heads this is in Papillion: Home Educators Network

[Steve_W]

Originally Posted by Smileyman

How would you rate public education in Nebraska? An annual study gives the Cornhusker State a grade of D+.

More on the story here: WOWT - HomePage Omaha Nebraska Local News, Omaha News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Omaha Traffic

That's just new tonight.

But really I don't think it can be that bad!!

I'm guessing many of the under funded rural school systems aren't the best but to grade Nebraska a D+ on a national level seems crazy to me. The entire South has horrible school systems so where would they rank?

[Dave1215]

Depending on where you come from in the US this could be a positive or a negative: A perceived lack of diversity and also the more conservative leaning of the state (both socially and politically).

This will be more true as you move out from the Metro areas and into the slightly more rural areas.

[Dave1215]

Depending on how you feel about sports you could have either a negative or positive.

If you are into Pro sports and like to attend those, there really isn't an option in Nebraska.

If you like college sports you've got a pretty good place, but you better like the UNL sports (i.e. "Go Big Red", "Huskers", "Black Shirts", etc). This state is all about Nebraska football - on a game day its not unusual to go into a store or business and hear the football game being broadcast instead of music. This was a little less true the last 4 years because of the coaching situation, but will be true this year with the new coaching staff and the new athletic director in place.

We also have great Volleyball and Baseball at the college level to watch (a huge positive if you like college baseball is we have the College World Series and its not too tough to get tickets).

[Dave1215]

Outside of Omaha the closest large metropolitan area is either:
Kansas City (3 hours);
Minneapolis (8 hours); or
Denver (10 hours).

[Dave1215]

Omaha airport does not have a lot of direct flight options. There are a number of flights/airlines into Omaha, but in almost every case you will need to make a connection to get to where you want to go. Its not designated as an International airport.

[Dave1215]

Nebraska sometimes lacks an idenitity outside of the midwest (you know that, it wasn't even really on your radar as a place to consider initially).

Here is a quote I found somewhere that someone on the east coast said about Nebraska:

Nebraska is no less a state for seeming faceless to me; it simply speaks with no lisp, accent, or stutter. It doesn't stink, doesn't shout, doesn't push, doesn't shove, insinuate, bruise or trample. It doesn't smirk, doesn't smile. Not for me, anyway. I am sure those people who live there might better speak of the "essence" of Nebraska's identity, but speaking for myself, and perhaps a lot of the culturally inbred residents of my part of the country, there's not a whole lot I can say about Nebraska.

[Steve_W]

Biggest Pro: Economy

Con: The landscape I find very bland and boring.