Helpful Tips for Choosing a Home School Name

Is your family trying to decide on a name for your homeschool? Finding a name for your homeschool can be surprisingly more complicated than one might expect. Trying to find a name that reflects your homeschooling philosophy, and also sounds good, can be quite a challenge. And while there are a few articles on the web that vaguely address the idea of naming a homeschool, few or none seem to truly guide the homeschooling family towards actually developing a homeschool name. Some families really need help in determining what name to attach to their homeschool, particularly if they want their homeschool name to sound legitimate and professional. If you are trying to find a name for your homeschool, the following tips may be helpful.

Think about what your homeschool name will be used for in the future - For now, you may just want to put your homeschool name on homemade identification cards, or use it to receive discounts from educational supply stores. However, your homeschool name will also be used later on college applications and high school transcripts. Perhaps even more importantly, your children will need to list their homeschool name on their job applications. This is why careful consideration of your homeschool name is important. What university is going to take the school name "Dancing Unicorns Homeschool" seriously? Furthermore, can you envision your homeschooled child, a recent college graduate, listing their high school name on a job application that has their own last name attached to it? What would that interview sound like?..."Ah, yes, Mr. Pruett....I see here that you attended Pruett Academy ...". If you want your children's college and job applications to be taken seriously, you need to take your homeschool name seriously.

Use a variety of sources to gather ideas for your homeschool name - Sometimes, the most difficult thing about choosing a homeschool name, is gathering ideas to choose from. If you have browsed the Internet in search of homeschool name ideas, chances are that you've run across many that implement the religious philosophies of those families, or silly names that were clearly made up by small children. Those names may work for those families, but if you don't want your homeschool name to be His Mighty Word Christian Academy or Candy Cane School, then those suggestions aren't going to be of much help to you.

Instead, you may want to consider naming your homeschool after an historical figure that you admire and respect. Be sure that you have researched adequately, though. You don't want to find yourself in the position of realizing years later that the individual you named your homeschool after was really a person you wouldn't have admired at all. Be informed before naming your homeschool after well known historical figures like Christopher Columbus, or Father Junipero Serra.

As another option, you may want to incorporate the name of somebody in your life who inspired you, but has passed away. I really wanted to do this myself after losing my dad, but I knew my dad would have never wanted the notoriety. He was my strongest supporter in my homeschooling endeavors, and I felt it would be a fitting tribute. Still, I chose not to because I knew it would have been something he would have been uncomfortable with in life. However, it might be a perfect way for your family to choose a homeschool name.

Lastly, if neither of these strategies produces a homeschool name that you are satisfied with, then consider using features of nature in your name. Names that incorporate features of nature (Stonybrook, Fox Hollow, Riverstone, etc.) sound peaceful, and are commonly found in public school names as well. You can't really go wrong with a name like Pine River Academy. Pulling out an atlas and pouring over the names listed throughout the fifty states will give you hundreds of potential homeschool names. If you like this idea, but want to make the name more personal, consider the natural features of the area you live in. For instance, Pine River was what people once called the Boise River, which my family lives next to, and it was actually a name we considered before deciding on the one we eventually chose. Do a little hunting around in your city's historical records, or research a particular forest, lake, or river near you, and you may find a name you would love to attach to your homeschool.

Decide what kind of homeschool you are - Are you eclectic? Classical? Montessori? You may want to implement your education style into your homeschool name. For instance, using the name mentioned in the last paragraph, a homeschool name such as Pine River Montessori may be fitting. Some homeschoolers use the word Academy, Institute, or School at the end of their homeschool name. Personally, we use Prep at the end of our homeschool name, because our homeschool, academically speaking, most resembles a private preparatory school.

Once you feel you have decided upon a homeschool name, spend a few weeks getting used to it before you run out and have shirts printed up or I.D. cards made. You may change your homeschool name a couple of times before finding one that is the perfect fit.