Homeschooling Vs. Public School at Home

Big waves are hitting the homeschooling community many families are scrambling to figure out how, or what, fall schooling is going to look! If that is you….I will pray for the peace of your decision!

As a homeschooling mom myself and a full time virtual teacher, I hope that the comparisons I am going to offer give you some guidance in your decisions ahead. The beautiful thing about education today is that parents have options. Families can choose to send their kids to public schools, private schools, to home school or send their kids to an online public school. There are even hybrid schools where students can attend only a few days a week and home school the other days. Families are not stuck in this “one mold” that must fit every family! There are no square pegs that must fit into circle holes. How amazing is that!

I am a 7th grade Math teacher at an on-line free public school. I have been a virtual teacher for upwards of ten years now and I LOVE what I do. I work for an amazing school district with a team of teachers that work so hard for the benefit of our students. So why do the hubs and I choose to traditional home school vs. enrolling them into this awesome district? I will get to that.

What to expect in an on-line Public school:

I have worked in two different on-line public schools and there are so many options out there. I am going to “generalize” what to expect when attending an on-line public school from what I have experienced in the two different schools in which I have taught. Please note that I am strictly speaking of public schools that are held accountable to state regulations. Those that are looking into online schools that require a tuition may look different.

• School hours: expect to have the students “attend” school as they would in a regular brick and mortar school. Many virtual schools require students to attend LIVE class sessions for each subject. These LIVE sessions are during regular school hours and may vary in length. Although, most start later in the morning, 8/9 am, so students aren’t rushed to catch a bus and can school in their PJ’s. But be aware that scheduling appointments and play dates during these times will affect attendance-ish.
• Attendance: Students will still be required to meet the state guidelines for attending schools. In my current virtual school, hours are tracked by both the parents and the online platform. Students are required to hit a minimum amount of hours per week. The great thing is that these hours are not necessarily “required” to be completed during “typical” school hours. Students can work later in the afternoon, evenings and even weekends! Hours are then evaluated by a teacher to ensure they are aligning to the students productivity in the classroom. In addition to attending the LIVE teaching sessions students will then be required to complete assignments to show mastery of skill. Some parents become overwhelmed with the amount of time students will spend on the computer.
• Curriculum: The curriculum follows the common core standards and there is not much flexibility. The schools are required to show progress and mastery of skill (aka. state testing) and therefor students will move at a constant pace to ensure coverage of state standards. This is probably the number one concern among parents as they begin virtual school. Students have to move along with the class or they will begin to fall behind. There is not much flexibility in the curriculum map due to state testing times.
• Teaching: The curriculum is taught by state certified teachers and their lessons may/may not be recorded. In my virtual school I offer additional small group help sessions to target areas that students are struggling in. 1:1 sessions are difficult as teachers are facing much larger rosters than a typical “brick and mortar” school but the small group sessions can vary from 2 to 10 kiddos. These times are in addition to attending the class LIVE sessions.
• Grading/Planning/Implementing lessons: All the lessons, planning and grading is completed by the teacher. Woohoo! What a load off of a homeschooling parent RIGHT?!!! The teachers are even available to clarify grades, offer additional help in areas of struggle etc. etc. This means your student will have transcripts and can even aim to be part of the National (Junior) Honor Society!
• Communication: Parents have the direct extension to each of their students teachers for all subjects. Parents also have the ability to email and communicate any concerns with the teacher. This includes conferences, meetings and sitting in on what their students are experiencing! I have had parents inform me that they enjoy listening to my math class because it helps them understand it! Parent/Teacher conferences are typically held During School hours…so you may need to be prepared to work around your lunch schedule to attend these conferences. Even though teachers are working “from home” we still hold traditional school hours.
• Socialization: This is one of the biggest concerns you hear “non homeschoolers” asking homeschoolers. In the two virtual schools I have taught at, students have had opportunities to chat with their classmates in class. Some teachers allow for chat more than other teachers. In my class we do a “web cam” Wednesday. My awesome teaching partner put together a team yearbook video for our students. The kids can attend field trips with the school to meet other classmates. In my particular school, personal information is not permitted to be shared among peers until a teacher has confirmed with BOTH sets of parents that it would be ok to do so. What a BONUS!! This includes gaming screen names, social media accounts, address and phone numbers.

So what DO the Parents HAVE to Do in an online virtual school?? Parents actually play an important and vital role in virtually schooling students.

Parents will be required to:

• ensure their students are logged into their sessions on time.
• ensure their student has all the material they will need including notebooks to take notes, pencils, working internet etc. Our school provided the computer although I am not sure if every school does this.
• Track student progress including turning in assignments, passing subjects, attending classes and reviewing the class content with students.
• encourage students to review material if the student is confused over the curriculum
• Get students into any help sessions needed
• Transport student to state testing.
• Communicate with teachers
• Accurately enter and track student attendance.
• Attend Parent conferences when required.
• Make sure your students have working computers!

What to expect in a traditional home school??

This one is a bit more challenging to provide an image for. Each family can choose the way they want their homeschool to operate or look like. You will run into some unschooling families, traditional school families, Charlotte Mason, Montessori….etc. etc. With traditional homeschooling you are accountable for how your homeschool will operate. So what does this look like??

• School hours: Some states require homeschoolers to meet a minimum requirement of hours. This will vary state to state. In my states we are required to have a minimum amount of hours but we do not have to report what we do for those hours to the state. I know in other states those hours must be recorded and submitted to the local district. Please double check the laws of your state. We utilize HSLDA to ensure we are following our state guidelines as well as to back us in case we ever need them. (P.S. We have called them a few times with questions.)
• Attendance: Aside from meeting state minimum required amount of hours: Attendance is pretty much 100% perfect attendance for most homeschooling families. Since homeschooling requires my kids to show up at the kitchen table my kiddos don’t have far to travel. 🙂
• Curriculum….Curriculum….CuRrIcUlUm…..OH Curriculum: I will try really, really, REALLY hard not to go on a tangent about curriculum. BUT…..BUT….there are SO MANY GREAT, AWeSOME, oUTSTANDING, AmAZING, PHENoMINAL (see what I am doing here) Curriculum boxes out there! HOW DO WE CHOOSE JUST ONE??? HOW DO WE MAKE SURE IT IS THE RIGHT ONE?? SO MANY CHOICES!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! I am going to RUIN MY KIDS!!!! For real though. Curriculum is chosen BY the parents! This is probably one of the parts most parents agonize over. I will tell you in on my experience as a homeschooler you do NOT need to go out and buy all the bells and whistles!! Whatever curriculum you purchase YOU can alter, change, vary, go faster, slow down….THROW out!! It is your choice and you have the flexibility to do that! We have changed math curriculums, we have changed social studies curriculum, we have changed English curriculum…..ironically we have NOT changed Reading curriculums. Side thought, I MUST really love them. 🙂 The beauty about traditional schooling is that you can alter the curriculum of choice. Since you are in charge, the flexibility is yours!!
• Teaching: Most of the teaching is done by the parents! Most. You can outsource some of your subjects…say by joining a co-op or purchasing them online (again may not be as flexible). You can even swap subjects with other homeschooling parents to teach.
• Grading/Planning/Implementing lessons: This is one of the MOST time consuming parts in our homeschool. Planning out what books we need for the year, purchasing them, planning the weekly lessons, implementing them. Grading the lessons to ensure mastery, re-teaching missed material…..re-grading. Planning for the next week and repeating the cycle. I will admit I always thought this would be the “most” fun as a homeschooler because I love planning but it gets a bit tedious with 7 kiddos learning. AND….AND….then we get off track and my planning was for NOTHING!! LOL OH it HAPPENS!
• Communication: YES this is still needed in traditional homeschools. You need to ensure the Principal (AKA Daddy) has some ideas on what is going on in the home education. For too long we did not communicate on the direction of our homeschool. Once Bryan got on board and started helping with planning and implementing the lessons we were really able to see our kids thrive. Make sure to communicate with your significant other.
• Socialization: Similar to virtual schooling you may hear “Aren’t you worried about Socializing?” Ummm….NO!! Here is why: First, we are in soccer, cross country, football, 4H, track, Cub scouts, REP, attend church, go to family outings, play at parks, and our son runs a lawn mowing service at the age of 11!! BRAG moment…our then 11 year old daughter saved up $$ by making crafts in crafts shows and went to ITALY with her Grandparents! Yes…she bought her plane ticket! So, No, we aren’t worried about our kids socializing because they have outlets to socialize. They can talk to older adults, younger adults, play with little children and talk with kids their own age. BUT us introverted parents will HAVE to reach out and ensure we are meeting that need for our kids. I once posted a Facebook post asking for “mommy friends” on a local homeschool site because we were looking for a larger family to hang out with!! Hey whatever works!!! Just be aware it is soo soo easy to seclude yourself when you homeschool and forget about the comings and goings of the world. Do make sure to poke your head out once in awhile so we can see your bad self. 🙂

Parents will be required to:

• ensure their students are learning at their ability level.
• teach the desired curriculum or no curriculum…you can go the unschool route!
• Know your state laws for homeschooling and ensure you are following them.
• Ensure their children have the material needed to ensure learning
• Read to their babies
• Sing to their babies (or play CD’s because this Momma CAN’T Sing!!)
• Love their babies
• Prepare their babies for success by focusing on core values.

So why don’t we chose to send out kids to a virtual school?? There were a few things that were really important to us that we could not get at a virtual school. For us it came down to flexibility. We needed flexibility since I would be working as a virtual teacher. This was difficult as my kids would be required to be in sessions while I was teaching. If they ran into technical issues, I couldn’t stop what I was doing to help them. We also wanted to be able to take breaks when we needed to for say the birth of a new baby or vacations or holidays etc.

So sit down and communicate with your significant other. What is important and needed in your family life?. Do you need someone to plan the lessons, grade and teach? Then utilize the online public schools it is Free!. If you need a more flexible approach look into traditional homeshooling?! PS: there are some GREAT websites and curriclums you can buy into that will still allow flexibiliy and they teach/grade!! WooHOO!, but that is for another post. 🙂 There are also some GREAT free websites which is also for another post. 🙂