International Students

Can I use Oak Meadow if I live outside of the United States?

Yes! The Oak Meadow community includes families from around the world. Students from over 40 countries are currently enrolled in our accredited distance learning school, and hundreds more use our curriculum independently. International families can adapt the curriculum based on their country’s history, culture, and climate.

  • In the grades K-4, it is very easy to adapt the curriculum as needed to suit your unique living environment and life situation. Supplementing our materials with language lessons, a traditional art or craft, or any other cultural enrichment is encouraged.
  • In grades 5-8, the two most U.S.-centric courses are social studies in grades 5 (U.S. history) and 8 (civics), but it is possible to adapt them to your country. For example, a lesson about U.S. colonial history can be modified to focus on your country’s early history (or when it first became settled by non-indigenous people). A lesson on the US Constitution can be replaced with one in which students research and report on the founding governing documents of their country.
  • If your country uses the metric system, the math curriculum only needs adaptations when working with weights and measures. Families can easily change these problems from feet or inches to centimeters, from yards to meters, etc. Most of the math work is solely numeric (with no unit measurements) and will not need modifications.

You’ll find you can usually use the Oak Meadow lesson framework and make modifications as needed. It may take some time to locate resource materials specific to your country for your child to use; try asking  your local school district, teachers, ministry of education, or other homeschoolers for ideas.

Enrolled students, however, must follow the curriculum or arrange adaptations individually with their teacher. Families can substitute assignments in the older grades, but not lesson materials. For instance, all 8th graders will learn about the U.S. Articles of Confederation, but when asked to do research, they can learn more about their own country’s historical documents.

International families often choose to use the digital version of our curriculum in order to avoid paying high shipping costs.

Do I need to be fluent in English to use Oak Meadow curriculum or enroll in your school?

Students need to be fairly fluent in English in order to use our curriculum successfully. Since our curriculum is very dependent upon reading and writing skills, it is sometimes not the best fit for children who are not experienced in English language skills. Families wishing to use Oak Meadow are advised to allow time for their child to develop English writing and spelling skills before using the curriculum or enrolling.

How does shipping Oak Meadow materials work for international families?

Shipping time for international orders can vary greatly depending on the method of shipping and the destination country. While we do our best to ship orders promptly, packages can get held up in transit or delayed at customs in the importing country. When your order ships, you will receive an email notification with a tracking number so you can monitor its progress. We suggest that you become familiar with the importing procedures in your country before you place your order with us.

If you enroll in Oak Meadow School, your curriculum materials will be shipped soon after we have received payment and your enrollment is finalized. We encourage families living outside the U.S. to complete the enrollment process well in advance of their start date to ensure the materials arrive in time. If there is a shipping or other delay that will necessitate a change in the enrollment start date, please contact our office as soon as possible. In addition to the print materials, enrolled families receive access to the digital version of their Oak Meadow coursebooks shortly after the enrollment is finalized.

For more information, view our Shipping FAQs.

Is your school accredited internationally?

Oak Meadow School is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Through this accreditation, Oak Meadow School is recognized by the five other regional accrediting agencies in the US. It is common practice for major accrediting associations to share reciprocity across international lines.

While Oak Meadow cannot guarantee that an individual school or country will accept our credits, our transcripts carry the seal of our accrediting organizations and have been widely accepted by schools and universities around the world. Of course, each country is different in how they view distance learning, so you’ll want to research this on your own. There are times when a family may need to provide additional documentation or progress reports. Oak Meadow is happy to assist you with this process in whatever way we can. Contact your educational counselor for support.

How do enrolled students outside the U.S. communicate with their teacher?

Oak Meadow teachers are used to working with students around the globe. Since most of the communication between teachers and families is handled via email or online, students can send their comments, ask questions, and submit work at any time. Our teachers (almost all of whom live in the Eastern Standard time zone) will respond during their work day hours, likely no more than 24 hours later. Phone calls and online video chat communication can also be arranged based on the schedule of the teacher and family.

Please reach out to your teacher if you have any questions about your course, your assignments, or any issues you are having.

Grades K-4 Grades 5-8 High School
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