Waiting lists for home-school programs Parents grow weary of distance learning

San Juan Unified in Sacramento had 38 students in its home- school program in March, when the state closed school campuses because of the spread of Covid-19. Now, it has more than 700.

The home-schooling program, which offers an alternative to the distance learning instruction currently prescribed by the school district, was started five years ago after some parents expressed an interest in teaching their children from home. It serves students in Transitional Kindergarten through eighth grade.

The district was fortunate to have the program in place when the pandemic hit, said Trent Allen, San Juan Unified’s director of community relations. The program is a rarity in traditional school districts in California. While students learn at home, and parents direct instruction, the district offers curriculum and teaching guidance.

“One of the lessons learned during Corona is that every situation is going to be very unique for our families, and being able to provide options is key,” Allen said. “There is a way to meet the individual needs of families.”

The district receives the same basic funding for homeschool children that it gets for other district children.

Some charter schools are dedicated to exclusively offering home- school programs. Programs like these and others have seen a surge of interest since campuses closed in the spring.

Some working parents want schools that offer them more flexibility than what is often offered through distance learning at traditional schools, so that their children don’t have to be online at prescribed times.

Other parents want to ensure their children don’t have to switch back and forth between in- person and virtual learning as virus rates in their communities rise and fall.

As of Sept. 22, 3.6 million California children were enrolled in 555 school districts that were ineligible to reopen school campuses because of high Covid-19 infection rates in their counties. These children and many more, who are in schools that have not reopened even though they are eligible, are in distance learning.

Home - school operators, in most cases charter schools, interviewed by EdSource overwhelmingly said parents are coming to them looking for flexibility and control over everything from their children’s schedules to the amount of time they spend in front of a computer.

In a home-schooling program, parents take on the primary role of teacher, determining the schedule, planning lessons and delivering instruction. Parents can also determine how much, if any, of the instruction is completed online. The school offers a curriculum and an advisory teacher for support.

In California, a parent can file a private affidavit to start their own private school to home-school their children. They can also choose a home study program through a regular or charter public school, or they can enroll in a private school that offers homeschooling options. T he most popular option is enrolling in a charter school program, which offers a variety of supports, including curriculum and advising teachers.

Most home- school programs cover the cost of supplies, classes or extracurricular activities up to a specified amount. The amount varies greatly and depends on which school the child attends. Some charter schools will cover costs up to as much as $3,200 a year per student, but others pay less than $2,000.

Parents are struggling to juggle their jobs and help their children, especially younger ones, with their schoolwork, said Sandra Butorac, manager of the home- school program at San Juan Unified. They want to be able to do schoolwork on weekends, in the evenings or whenever they want, she said.

Other parents want control over when their child returns to in- person instruction.

“All it would take would be one or two kids to perhaps shut down a classroom or a wing or an entire school,” Butorac said. “And it’s that flipping and f lopping back and forth that they’re worried about. They are more concerned about that disruption to their child’s year.”

Some appeal of the San Juan program may be that the district has promised that students can return to their former schools whenever they wish. To ensure a seamless transition, the curriculum used by the home- school is closely aligned with that of the district’s traditional schools, Butorac said.

Safety is one of the concerns that drove Lauren White to pull her children out of Mill Valley School District, just north of San Francisco, in the spring and move to the town of Auburn, in the foothills of Placer County.

“Our school couldn’t even control the lice problem in the school, and you are telling me they are going to control the Covid problem,” White said. “I don’t think so. You can’t social distance kids in a classroom situation.”

Three of White’s five children, ages 7, 6 and 5, are attending Alta Vista Community Charter School in Auburn, which recently started a home-school program. She also has 2-yearold twins.

“We are so lucky we got in,” White said. She did not want to risk enrolling her children in a school that might later open for in-person instruction before she believed it was safe.

White also was disappointed by the distance learning experience she and her children had in the Mill Valley School District in the spring. White had been overwhelmed by the number of emails teachers sent her with guidance and assignments on distance learning for her children. She said she received about 25 emails every day, each with multiple links.

“I wouldn’t be able to get through that,” she said. “It is insane.”

White also had to be prepared to help her children log onto video conference calls with little notice. “You have to jump on calls whenever they (teachers) want you to,” White said. “I have five kids, I can’t do that.”

She said a charter homeschool program offers her family the curriculum and support without the stress of following a strict schedule and worrying about whether schools will reopen safely.

Margaret Fortune, president of the California Charter Schools Association, said she has seen an increase in the number of parents moving their children to charter schools that have experience with remote instruction. Many of those are home- school programs.

C la rk s v i l le , Fe at her River, Winship Community and Lakeview charter schools collectively have 4,000 students on their waiting lists. The homeschool char ter schools didn’t have waiting lists before the pandemic.