Four Ways to Homeschool
Traditionally, there have been three ways to school at home. Thanks to COVID, now there are four.
When schooling at home during COVID began in Spring of 2020, the media was all abuzz with suggestions—mostly from people who have never schooled at home—about how to “homeschool” on the fly. I put homeschool in tender quotes because Zoomschooling, as designated by the school, is emergency public school at home which is very different from homeschooling. The difference matters to you.
What’s the Difference
There are four categories of schooling: Public, Private, Public Homeschool, and Private Homeschool—each are available on-line, in person, or some combination of the two. For an in-depth exploration of this, watch Homeschool Like an Expert: Video Series.
Public School is the traditional school system offered free by the district which requires students to attend class in person a certain number of days between the start date and end date for the year. Zoomschooling fits under the category of public school because it is “emergency online public school at home.” It is schooling that is regulated, evaluated, and funded by the state. Even though it occurs within a student’s home, by definition it is not homeschooling and is a temporary solve to an emergency crisis. Unlike homeschool, zoomschool parents do not have the authority to choose curriculum, time of study, or format — that authority belongs fully to the school. This coming year, each school district will respond to covid differently by determining how or if public schools will offer classes on campus or solely online.
Public Online School is also a part of the traditional school district. Before anyone had ever heard of social distancing, students who enrolled in public school were sometimes given the option of taking courses online through their district as a part of their approved course load, either due to schedule conflicts or because of needed courses being taught outside their home campuses. These courses were designed to be offered online through pre-recorded lessons, interactive digital reading material, and online exams. The quality, accountability, and flexibility of this learning format is much different from the zoomschool students experience today (largely because we aren’t asking teachers to throw it together on the fly). These online courses are still available within many districts but, like other classes, typically must be enrolled in at the beginning of a semester. Like zoomschooling, they are also fully under the authority of the school district as part of the official public school curriculum, which means parents have limited authority in deciding timing, curriculum, or format—but it is free.
Public Homeschooling is a hybrid between public school and private homeschooling, often called “charter schools” or “public school at home” depending on your state. Parents who choose to homeschool through a charter are reimbursed funds by the state (often around $1000 per student each year) to cover a specific list of curricular and extracurricular expenses. Along with those funds come support and accountability, requiring parents to meet with a Teacher of Record once or twice a month to design lesson plans and show proof of work. For parents new to homeschooling or wanting more accountability, this is often a good compromise for having some customization of content as well as support from a traditional school, while learning in accordance with the district’s school schedule from home. It’s worth noting that this hybrid comes with strings attached, as it should — it is a slightly more malleable form of public school at home, being partially funded by the state, giving parents shared authority with the district.
Private Homeschooling is the most customizable of all the forms of schooling, and is the original definition of homeschooling. Parents who chose this model do so because they want to tailor the pace, curriculum, schedule, and focus of their child’s education, which might vary from what public or private schools would offer. All parents in the United States retain the legal right to disenroll their children from public school at any point in the year, even in the face of this pandemic. Every state has different requirements for what is needed to disenroll, and parents would be wise to confirm those requirements beforehand to avoid truancy. This form of schooling provides families with the greatest amount of autonomy, empowering them to customize their curriculum and school schedule as it best fits their needs.
Whether You Love It or Hate It
For parents enjoying having their kids at home, perhaps it is worth looking into Private Homeschooling for the coming year— finding a curriculum that dovetails multiple grades into a singular literature/geography/history lesson plan in order to make learning together easier, memorable, and fun. There is an ocean of curriculum choices that now exist, many of which come with teacher plans to make your pacing choices easier; it’s worth exploring.
For parents drawn to the idea of education at home, but nervous about transitioning out of the public school system and becoming a full time teacher, Public Homeschooling has been a great bridge for many families looking to explore school at home. After working with the accountability and support systems of Public Homeschool for a year, some families desire more autonomy and venture into Private Homeschooling while others enjoy the support structures of the Public Homeschool model and opt to remain part of the system. Each family must decide for themselves which is best.
For parents struggling with the online format of emergency education at home, the rigidity of its pacing during the workday, and concerns about screen time, perhaps it is worth looking into Private Homeschooling. Private Homeschooling is the most adaptable of all the education styles and, with pre-packaged lesson plans available from many curriculum companies and online academies, may prove more adaptable to your family goals, your home life, and your child’s learning preferences.
This health crisis has given many families a new perspective of education— that school can be something new, that there is more than one way to learn, and that home might be a great place to have school after all.