FAQ - NorthStar Homeschool

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What does the family provide?

Software/hardware: The family must provide for their own copy of Microsoft Office (1997 or newer) or be using the free Office viewers for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which are available on the Resource DVD Set and from the Microsoft Office website. The family must also provide for their own computer, and internet (TCP-IP) access.

Computer specifications:
PC: Windows 2000/XP/Vista; Pentium 1 minimum, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB Hard Drive, and DVD-rom player
Mac: OS X, Power PC G4 or newer, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB Hard Drive, and DVD-rom player

Texts, videos, CD/DVD’s: the family will purchase directly from a retail vendor or from our online bookstore all of the needed items for the subjects (classes) for which they have purchased the lesson bundles. You man view a list of all of the required class learning materials at our online bookstore.

2. What does NorthStar Homeschool and Independent Study (HIS) provide?

NorthStar HIS will provide all of the lesson resources for each class provided for download from our FirstClass Intranet Server. NorthStar HIS will provide a "Resource DVD Set" which contains all of the needed freeware and shareware software that will be used in the lesson bundles. NorthStar HIS will provide a "NS HomeSchool 101" video which will explain how the program works and how the family can get started using the program.

3. How do I get my lessons?

Each NorthStar HomeSchooler will download his/her lesson bundle from within our online learning environment. For more info, please click HERE to link to the "How NorthStar HomeSchool Works" page.

4. Is NorthStar Homeschool a home school umbrella organization that offers administrative and transcript services to home schooling students?

While NorthStar HomeSchool is not a HomeSchool Umbrella organization but is a curriculum and lesson resource provider, we are moving toward offering more services to home-based learners, and in the future, we may extend those services to include an umbrella administration service for those who have chosen to home educate.

5. What is the main difference between NorthStar HIS and NorthStar Academy?

Please see the differences shown on the comparison page.