The College of Southern Maryland (CSM) is now providing special opportunities for homeschoolers during the school year.
Known for its outstanding Kids’ and Teen College educational courses during the summer months, CSM is offering multiple fall and spring semester courses that are designed for kindergarten through 12th grade homeschooled students. The first classes were offered this fall semester, and registration is currently available for the spring semester, which starts Jan. 24, 2020.
“The Kids’ and Teen College’s Homeschooling program saw a need in the community to provide homeschool students with opportunities to explore the fine arts, language arts and STEM courses in unique, fun and engaging ways on a college campus,” said CSM Kids’ and Teen College Youth Program Manager Tony Warrick, who supervises the new program.
Seventeen courses are being offered for the spring semester, including introductory courses for Early Learners (ages 5-6) on painting, music, science and technology. Classes for Elementary (ages 7-10) and Middle School (ages 11-14) include painting, physics, coding and robotics and Spanish. Courses for High School (ages 14-17) include physics, Spanish, coding and robotics.
A Family Yoga for Homeschoolers class for ages 6-9 is also being offered as well as Basic Swimming for ages 6-14. All courses are held at the CSM’s La Plata Campus.
For a list of available classes, visit www.csmd.edu/kidscollege.
“CSM is extremely excited about the new homeschooling program that has been developed,” Warrick said. “It is giving young people exposure to their own local community college and everything thing that it has to offer. Our goal is to fill in the gap for the homeschool families and instill a lifelong love of learning.”
Dr. Rachel Cezar-Martinez, who is an adjunct faculty member of CSM and a veterinarian, is one of the instructors who taught in the first semester of the homeschooling program. She taught two animal anatomy classes for the homeschoolers, one for 6- to 9-year-olds and the other for 10- to 14-year-olds.
“It has been a joy to teach the homeschool students about basic anatomy in humans and in animals,” Cezar-Martinez said of her classes. “The students are very energetic and motivated.”
Her classes met in the same lab where Cezar-Martinez teaches her veterinary assistant courses for the college. Her younger students in the new program had the chance to use an incubator to hatch chicken eggs among other activities.
“I am happy to see CSM expanding these types of opportunities to the community and even more excited I was able to be a part of this new beginning,” Cezar-Martinez said.
Parents can register for the spring semester classes online by visiting www.csmd.edu/KidsCollege or by registering on campus. For more on the CSM Kids’ and Teen College programs, email awarrick@csmd.edu or call 301-934-7645.