L.P.H. Resource Center On-Line Courses
for Catholic Homeschoolers
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L.P.H. Resource Center On-Line Coursesfor Catholic Homeschoolers |
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Since the Spring of 1998, the L.P.H. Resource Center has offered high-quality, low-cost classes for Catholic homeschoolers on the World Wide Web.
The idea behind it was to duplicate, as much as possible, what used to be done in person at the L.P.H. Resource Center when it was in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, over the internet.
(The LPH Resource Center was set up in Pottstown in 1992 for helping Catholic homeschooling parents with teaching their children.)
The children there were mostly 4th-8th graders, so that is the age range that all of the courses here are intended for, but there are always more than a few high-school homeschoolers who also take classes here (last year, almost 20% of the students were high-schoolers). There are even adults who sometimes sign up for classes here.
The classes are intended for Catholic homeschoolers, but are open to everyone, whether homeschooled or not.
They are scheduled to end the last week of August.
There is a calendar for those classes at LPHRC.org/calJan15.html
Those classes will be going on at the same time as the classes that started in September until they end.
Since so many of the lessons have passed now, if you want to sign up it would be better to wait until sign-up starts for the 2015-2016 school year, next spring.
Write to me at 
if you would like me to send you a reminder as soon as enrollment has begun for the classes that start in September of next year.
(If you really need to enroll now, contact me at and we can see if some arrangements can be made.)
The classes for Jan.-Aug. 2015 start the week of January 5, 2015 Calendar
There are also five 10-week courses:
You can read a description of any of the courses to find out more about them. Please read it before signing up for the classes!
Creative Writing is only available for the classes that start in September. It should be available again next September.
After you have paid and filled out the signup page, you will see a web page with the URL web addresses for the courses you have selected, with some instructions. These URL's will get you the lessons each week once they start.
There is a Calendar for the classes for the 2014-2015 classes
and for the summer-session classes start the week of January 5, 2015. [calendar]
Before enrolling, please test your web browser, and read the course descriptions.
The classes for the 2014-2015 school year begin the week of September 8, 2014.
The classes for the 2015 Winter-Summer Session begin the week of January 5, 2015.
The lessons are weekly, except around major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter).
A lot of people are busy or go away during those times, so there are breaks in the weekly lessons at those times.
Each lesson is on-line for a week, starting every Monday.
They may be done at any time on any day within that period, except for Creative Writing. The Creative Writing class will not be available on Sundays.
(But if possible, please do not do the lessons on Sunday. That is my day off, so if you have a problem or question about it, I may not get back to you and help with it until after the lesson has ended for the week.)
The courses have 31 or 32 lessons (except for the 10-week courses).
A URL (web address) for a special web page will be given at the beginning of the year to each family that has enrolled, for each course. This should be bookmarked and/or written down and kept in a safe place. Each week (except during vacations) that URL will bring up the current week's lesson!
The address of that web page must not be given out shared with anyone else, so that the safety and security of the web site (especially the discussion boards) can be maintained.
Calendar for the lessons for the 2014-2015 school year.
Calendar for the lessons for the January-August 2015 school year.
It is possible the calendars may change slightly.
This is only a recommendation!
Children younger than this may give the classes here a try.
Older students are also welcome to take the classes. Many High-School-age students have taken classes here. Almost 20% of the students here last year were high school homeschoolers.
Even adults are welcome to take any of these classes, but the classes are intended and designed for children.
Each lesson starts with a web page containing the lesson.
For most of the courses, this is followed by a series of "Discussion Topics".
These are questions usually with no specific answer, which are intended to help facilitate discussions within the family on the material which has just been learned in the lesson.
Then there is a link to a quiz, which is a web form.
A grade point average for the quizzes will be available in September for whoever would like one.
At the end of the year, a Certificate of Completion will be available (in pdf - Adobe Acrobat - format) for students who complete at least 75% of the quizzes with an average of at least 70 on the quizzes for the year (for the Creative Writing class, no more than one lesson can be missed for a certificate).
During the course of the year, important announcements regarding the classes and activities may be sent to all the families taking classes here.
They are in e-mail messages with the Subject: LPH Announcements... These should always be read right away.
QUIZ. This shows how the quizzes work! This is the quiz for Lesson 10 of the Bible History course (on Samuel and King Saul). After you select your answers, you can click Send the Quiz and it will mark it and show the results, with the score in square brackets.
Because of that, the classes here are kept as flexible as they can possibly be.
They may be done at any time during the week they are available (except for Creative Writing, which will not be available on Sundays).
Families may choose to use the quizzes included in the lessons or not. (They must be done if a certificate at the end of the year is desired.)
The lessons may be used as the complete content of the course,
or they may be used as supplements for the main lessons,
or may be used simply as a guide.
The second half of the payment for the classes starting in September is due around the middle of January.
The second half of the payment for the classes starting in January is due the middle of May.
The total cost for each of the four 10-week courses is $38 per course.
(I prefer being paid by check, but payments by credit card through Paypal or from a Paypal accout are also welcome!)
The payment goes to 
, which is the email of the account on PayPal.
And fill out the Sign-up form for the classes that start in January.
The full amount for the year ($76: double the cost for half the year) may be paid all at once at the beginning of the year, so there's no danger of not getting the fee for the second half sent on time. But it's not a good idea unless you are sure you will be using all the classes for the entire year, since there are no refunds.
For families outside the U.S.: Payment must be in U.S. dollars, by PayPal, or by Postal money order (no checks outside the U.S.).
Some classes use .PDF (Acrobat) files; the (free) Foxit Reader for Windows or Acrobat Reader program can be used to read & print those files.
A separate notebook should be used for each of the language courses. At least one notebook is required when doing any of the language classes.
For the music class, a notebook with musical staff lines drawn in is strongly recommended.
A Bible is needed for the Bible History course (and sometimes for other courses as well) and access to good, contemporary maps for the Geography and History courses is expected.
For the Science Projects and Art Projects, the materials will be listed one week in advance.
In order to keep these lessons perfectly safe, there is never any link to any outside location on any web page in any lesson.
(Sometimes students put links on the message boards, often to their own blogs.)
Everything in the lesson is on-site, so everything is kept under complete control.
Graduated summa cum laude from West Chester University, West Chester, PA
with a B.S.Ed. in Elementary Education, 1987
(National Dean's List, Teacher Education Scholar Award 1987, Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society)
One year at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum), Rome, Italy, 1983-84
One year at Christendom College when it was in Triangle, VA, 1977-78 (the year they opened)
A year as a seminarian at the FSSP seminary in Nebraska, 2002-2003.
I started working with homeschoolers around 1979-1980, and it's mainly all the years of experience I've had with homeschoolers in many different families which has made these on-line courses possible.
You can find out more about me by going to my personal web page at http://RickMK.com
I also do private tutoring for children locally, mainly in math and reading.
| If you pay by check, it must be made payable to Richard Kephart or Kepharts LPH Resource Center (Money orders must be made payable to Richard Kephart). Send it to this address:
RICHARD KEPHART
(Please write your e-mail address on the check) You may download a FORM that you can print out and send with your check if you like. It is in pdf format. If you send a check or money order, please don't make it out to "LPH". Make it out to "Richard Kephart" or to "Kepharts LPH Resource Center".
I prefer being paid by check but it's fine to pay through PayPal, either with a Paypal account or using a credit card. Unless you're paying for the second half of the year, after sending your check or paying through PayPal you must go to the sign-up sign-up page and fill it out to receive the web addresses to use to get the classes when they start. |
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I don't have an on-line English grammar course at this time, but I do have an educational grammar card game I developed while tutoring a 10-year-old boy in grammar last spring, making a game out of learning the parts of speech.
For people who would like an extra activity for studying ancient history, I also have made an educational Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics card game for learning about Hieroglyphics.
| I also to private tutoring for families in the Chester County/Delaware County/Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, area. |  |
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