COVID and school definitely do not belong in the same sentence together. I don’t think 2020 has really been anyone’s year so far. Many of the norms in our lives are now the exceptions to the rule. Changes in how school will be conducted is just one of them. When schools shut down in March, many of us were in limbo, but we were all in it together. We all enjoyed our “extended spring break” and waited for further instructions. While they may not have been ideal or perfect, plans and programs were put in place to finish out the school year and new routines were created. As the school year came to a close for everyone across the country, many of us thought “Now what?”. Summer plans changed and vacations and camps were canceled. Even as I write this, no one really knows how the upcoming school year will look. Some schools have opted to reopen with mixed schedules and alternating days; while others will offer a choice of in-person or virtual instructions. Some schools have no idea how their year will even start. This uncertainty has led to many families searching for new options. While many public schools will be offering remote study, there are other possible solutions; one of which is homeschooling. While the term “homeschool” or “home education” can strike fear and anxiety in many, it comes in numerous forms and one just may be the answer for which you’ve been searching.
Let’s Talk Options
The growing list of options for the 2020-2021 schoolyear can seem overwhelming. While proposals of alternating days and hybrid schedules with remote learning in the morning and in-person instruction in the afternoon, or vise-versa, are being considered, the first decision to make is whether or not you feel any form of face-to-face contact is the right choice for your family. If the answer is no, then it’s time to consider other solutions. Although it may seem daunting to forego traditional school, there are several other choices that may just suit your needs.
Homeschool Vs. Virtual School At Home
Yes, there is a difference; a BIG difference. Virtual (remote) school, simply put, is traditional school at home. Students use the internet to log into class. Courses are taught by a licensed teacher through either a live platform or video recordings. All required coursework, tests, activities, etc., are provided by the teacher. Students are required to attend classes and submit assigned work and grades are provided. Parents are just that, parents. Their job is to facilitate and ensure their children attend classes and complete required assignments, much the same as traditional public or private school. Virtual schools come in several different forms: public, provided by a private company/institution but paid for by the state; private, provided by a private company/institution and paid for by individual families; public (what is referred to as “remote learning”) provided and run by local school districts. Students, in all three cases, are considered public or private school students and do not fall under homeschool laws and regulations but must meet attendance and testing requirements expected of traditional school students. To facilitate this learning environment, some schools will supply a computer and reimbursement for internet costs. In our current circumstance, most families are being faced with the public option which will be provided and run by their local school district.
The virtual schools that are not controlled by your local school district but are still considered public tend to have a bit more flexibility than the remote option that will be provided by your local school district. Depending on the school, enrollment will be open statewide to all students or confined to a specific geographic area. A list of these types of schools can be found at https://www.cde.state.co.us/onlinelearning/schools/.
The flip side of the virtual public school option is virtual private school. If you don’t feel you can navigate the homeschooling waters alone, you can enroll in a privately-run online school. This option can be a great way to afford you more flexibility in how and what you teach as opposed to the public option, but you will have to pay the tuition yourself; the cost can vary greatly from institution to institution. If the idea of having courses, lesson plans and record-keeping provided but also having more freedom is appealing, this may be a good option for you. There are many private, online education institutions for you to consider. In future articles, I will be reviewing each of these but for now, I encourage you to explore these few options to find more in-depth information:
- K12 (also offered at tuition-free, online public school) www.k12.com
- Calvert Academy www.calverteducation.com (Free 30-day trial with code CALVERT30)
- Laurel Springs K-12 www.laurelspring.com
- American High School www.americnhighschool.org
If you choose the online private option, remember that you now fall under homeschool laws and regulations for completing home education. If you like the idea of providing your own form of home education but don’t like the price of private, online schools, you have many other options; some of which are completely free!
Traditional Homeschool
In traditional homeschool, all of the responsibility falls on the parents (but so does all of the freedom and flexibility!). You manage all of the academic and curriculum choices, scheduling, instruction, records and attendance. With such a vast amount of ambiguity, many parents are put off and think they can’t do it. All it really takes to get started is a little bit of organization and a piece of paper, a pen, an hour of brainstorming and some patience. Once you have a basic plan of what you want out of your school, the path to get there is completely up to you and depends on what works for your family. You should look at it as an adventure, not a burden.
Some states have laws and regulations that can be a bit difficult to navigate, but there are plenty of people willing to help (read my article on this specific topic). Once you understand the basics, it really isn’t as bad as it seems and the opportunity for flexibility and creativity is well worth it. For Colorado, the simplified version is:
- submit a Letter of Intent to homeschool to your school district
- plan your academics (reading, writing and speaking, math, history, civics, literature, science, and US Constitution are required subjects) and schedule (172 days of instruction with an average of 4 hours per day)
- keep records of coursework and attendance
- perform an assessment/evaluation every other year starting with 3rd grade
The law regarding homeschooling differs greatly from state to state. There are many resources that provide explanations for each, but the best place to look is usually your state’s Department of Education website. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) also has great information and an overview of laws and regulations for each state: https://hslda.org/legal
Keeping these guidelines in mind, the rest is up to you. Take time to plan and get organized, but don’t get bogged down in details and feeling like everything must be perfect from the get-go. Much of homeschooling is trial and error but there are veterans like me that can help you chart a better path. There are many free or inexpensive options from which to choose so you don’t need to worry about investing a small fortune only to find out it doesn’t work for you or your child. You can choose to create your own curriculum (unit studies are very popular and can be self-created or purchased from many suppliers, like http://unitstudy.com ), use an all-in-one curriculum (https://amblesideonline.org/ , https://allinonehomeschool.com/, http://discoveryk12.com/dk12/) or do a combination of both by supplementing your own material with resources like Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/) or MIT’s open courses (https://ocw.mit.edu/high-school/). The possibilities are endless, and that isn’t a bad thing.
As COVID-19 infection rates rise, schools are struggling to find adequate solutions for reopening. Many are already delaying the in-person plans that were tentatively set by as much as two weeks and defaulting to remote learning. We are currently under a Safer at Home order. If infection rates continue upward and we are put under another Stay at Home order, remote learning will be the only option once again. Many parents don’t have the luxury of choosing to educate at home. If you do, now might just be the time to make that decision and start your journey.
Why Should You Listen to Me?
I have been homeschooling, in one format or another, for the better part of 13 years. I started out in Germany, moved to Virginia and ended up in Colorado. My daughter has never been to traditional school. And yet, she completed all of her high school credits at 14 and started community college at 15 (she was told by her counselor that she had never seen Accuplacer scores so high from someone her age!). She is on track to finish her Associates’s degree at 17 and has plans to get a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine. I’m not an authority by any means, but I have been around the non-traditional school block a time or two. Maybe I can clear up some confusion and help with a possibly difficult decision.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through my link, you won’t pay more than what you’d already be spending, but I will receive a very small percentage of the sale. These sales help support my blog. I only support companies and products in which I believe.
