Bluegrass United was started in spring 2004 by a group of individuals concerned about the low number of families choosing to home educate through the high school years. Those students remaining in home schooling were divided among several organizations, making the numbers too low in many groups to create a dynamic high school community or provide the kinds of academic and extra-curricular opportunities important to high school students. An informal group of parents and students began meeting together to discuss new programs and ideas. Dinner and luncheon meetings were held. Families who had chosen to return to traditional schools for high school were interviewed. Most area support groups were contacted for information and feedback. And, perhaps most importantly, high school students were surveyed. From this process, two strong ideas emerged.
1) The greatest desire of home school students for their high school years is to be strongly connected to and in community with other home school students. Students who attained this were happy in home schooling and typically their families continued to home school throughout high school. Students who were not strongly connected to the community were less satisfied with home education and far more likely to return to traditional school.
2) Most students and their families felt that the opportunities for extra-curricular activities and academic opportunities were too limited in high school home schooling. While no individual program or activity emerged as all-important to the entire home school community, high school students did express a desire for a variety of programs from which they could pick and choose.
Following the information-gathering process, a small leadership group formed to oversee the building of a united home school community for high school students. The name "Bluegrass United" was picked because it describes who we are. Specifically, we are a group of home schoolers from throughout the Bluegrass region of Kentucky who are united for the purpose of home schooling through high school.
Bluegrass United began with a monthly fellowship group and soccer team and now supports 11 independently-run programs.