A
blogging friend posted a question regarding the use of charter schools for the home schooling family. Since our family began this adventure of home educating ten years ago...yikes it's been
ten years already? Alrighty then, since we ventured onto this path I've tried and found endless methods, groups, funded (not funded) ways to 'homeschool' and the ways to pay for it.
Charter schools were one of them. I currently have 2 of my children enrolled in a state funded charter school for home schooling families. We actually just pulled out our 9th grader from the school and going completely independent (filing under a R4 umbrella) for high school. I'll answer the why later. But we did keep the 5th and 2nd grader in the school.
The charter school we belong to is well established in our state of California. They serve a wide range of districts and offer an enticing list of product and service vendors. Since they've been around for a number of years their 'virtual library' holds a great deal of materials. This alone cuts down on the actual amount a family needs to take from their semester allowances. A HUGE help!!!
Though there are great reasons to enroll in a state funded charter, there are challenges that can and do detour families. Especially seasoned-veteran home educators. So I'll list what I have found, what has worked and not worked for us, and why we pulled out Lucy from the school. This is solely based on my personal experience and may or man not reflect what others might be experiencing. Remember these are just my little 2 cents;-)
The benefits:
#1 on everyone list is the
funds.
Charter schools provide an allowance for each enrolled student. Depending on the state and/or school, the funds can be distributed by the school year, quarterly or like in our case by semester. The amount can vary and is subjected to state budget cuts. Every year we hear the same word of caution regarding our funding. "This could be cut next semester so spend wisely", I've yet to see a lowered amount in our funds. In fact our school has a very generous allowance. This can pose challenges though as you'll read later on.
Fact is there is NO WAY our family could have afforded many of the curriculum and services the funding has provided for! NO WAY! The funds provided are to be used for educational services and materials. This includes:
tutoring
curriculum (both consumable and non, prepackaged or a single text)
dance lessons
music lessons
sports (fencing, karate, gymnastics)
outside educational classes (science, math, reading and
co-op classes like this one)
computers
printers
office supplies (ink, pencils, art supplies)
instruments
school equipment (desks or white boards)
* important note here: all non consumable products like microscopes, computers and curriculum is bought by the parent/teacher but is ultimately property of the school. Thus, once the item(s) is used and completed or the family dis enrolls; all those items must be returned to the charter. At least that is the case with ours.
It's a huge list. And if your child wants to try their hand in something that isn't on the vendor list, the parent then simple invites that vendor to join the list. This would involve some paperwork on their part, showing proof of insurance and licenses are an example.
Our family could not have afforded the piano, fencing, guitar, private tutoring and ballet for our 4 kids. So for this we are so very grateful to the school!
#2
Lending library
From what I've seen, most charter schools have some form of a library system. Many of the items come from families who have returned unused curriculum, instruments and such. The school also uses all unused IF funds to purchase hot items like math curriculums. This is where I've saved tons of our IFs (instructional funding) and why I've been able to allocate those funds to serve our family better. Our charter school has been around a while so their library is well stocked. I use it for my math books; Saxon, Singapore, Teaching Textbooks, Chalk Dust...you name it and it's probably at the library waiting to be checked out. I have been able to check out a great microscope for several months, a Rosetta Stone Spanish program for the entire year, lots of supplemental readings. Again the list is long but this can range from charter to charter. It's definitely a plus though for families on a budget.
Important to note too. If, like in math, you hear of a new product, like when Teaching Textbooks first became popular, the school library provided me with a hands on look of the product. I'm a touch and feel kind of buyer. I like to see the book open it and really LOOK at it to see if it fits our family, or a particular child. This is a definate plus for the library of a charter.
#3
The ES
Our Educational Specialists is fabulous. She is a veteran home educator herself and I've been able to use her skills and experience to help instructing Max. She's become a close friend and (don't tell) but we spend most of our meetings chatting.
The Educational Specialists (ES) role is to support the parent. This can vary with charters as well though. Our charter has a very strict policy for the ES. Per their policy the ES oversees what is being taught and how the child is moving along. We meet about every 20 days, here at our home, where the ES is supposed to request to see all the work completed for that period of time and discuss any issues or concerns. For me, this is both a positive and negative element to working with a charter. The ES is supposed to make sure the learning is getting done and being completed at a satisfactory level. We turn in a sample of work from each major subject area: Math, Science, Language Arts etc. About 7 pages is what is comes out to. These samples go into that child's portfolio at the main office.
Remember this is a state funded charter. So they have to answer to the state, which includes yearly audits at their main office. So yes, they can be strict. An ES can be straight by the book or can get to know their families and know by the character and examples of the work that yes indeed there is lots of learning happening.
The above 3 areas and the fact the school is accredited, plan field trips, organize activities like spelling bees, hold transcripts make it a great choice for families. Especially new families to home schooling.
But perhaps you've already seen a glimpse of the concerns one may have. Especially when you've been at this for a while.
My Concerns:
#1
The Funding
How can funding be a positive and a concern? Have you ever been giving about $1000 (give or take $100 or 2) for
each child to use in one school year? We are talking about $2-3,000.00 for the year in school related
stuff!
Our charter has a very generous allowance...we are truly blessed here. But there are only so many outside classes & activities you can have a child in. Especially when you have more than one child and their interests can range dramatically. We don't learn the best being in a car for half a day twice or more a week. It just disrupts our family time too much.
And if you utilize the lending library, the hope then is to have the funds for those activities and use less on actual curriculum. We home schoolers are known for being curriculum junkies. Buying that cool chemistry kit in the very hope to using it at some point...and never do because it's somewhere in the closet behind that other rock collection kit from last semester. Sound familiar?
Well that was the case in my home until I had a revelation of sorts. My children learned best when the subject matter was kept simple and organized. If something interested them, being able to see and USE the items they needed quickly eliminated the frustration of searching and becoming side tracked. I got rid of tons of 'stuff' and now give back all my unused IF to the school. They in turn purchase items that future families can use for the library and this would include mine. I made a promise to myself, and to my Hubbie, not to be a home school hoarder. Wish me luck :-)
#2
State Testing
I personally do not put
any importance to these test. I don't see the benefits whether in a public school setting or in a home schooled setting. But again, charters are funded by the state and are mandated to report the 'progress' of their students. I'll leave it at that.
#3
Those Learning Record meetings
Without trying to step on any toes here, this is what I see and struggle with the most. I teach in accordance to how my children learn, take their interest into account and do not follow state standards; at least not in detail. I also have quite a few (well more than a few) items that come from a very Catholic perspective. Um, Catholic textbooks, materials and state funded schools do not play nice together in my state. So though I've been able to use what I want, I've
had to be very creative in what I can show our ES and what can go into their portfolio for the school. This has been the hardest part of being a part of a charter. I'm fortunate in that our ES is a Christan and we share the same views on things. So she works with me. God bless her!
There is some logging down of the kid's daily learning activity. A single page and easily filled out. This year the charter has changed those learning record meetings to be more of a planning meeting. So instead of the ES noting what has been completed, she'll be going over what the parent/teacher has planned to go over for the following 20 days or so. We'll see how this all develops. Personally at the point of where I am in teaching my children & the use of funds vs these meetings and overseeing by the state is no longer a balance. We are slowly leaving the charter behind and hope in God that He'll provide what is needed. I'm sure it'll all work out.
So that's it. I absolutely feel that charters are a needed source of support for home schooling families. It's an important tool, especially for those on a budget or the newbies ;-). We need plenty of options in home schooling. In an age where parents are loosing more of our rights to teach and instill morals into our children; where we do not have a say in the public sector of what is taught. Speaking directly about our public school system in California. Did you see Gov. Brown's recent
signing of this bill, just as one horrible example. So anything that gives families better choices is a good thing in my book.
Yep, we are slowly leaving the charter school as a family and going completely independent for Lucy. There was no way I could have kept Lucy in the charter for high school. Their requirements are too boxed in and inflexible for the growing mind of a teenager. She needs to have high school be a period of
guided exploration. So we are on our own with her and Princess. Kindergarten isn't mandatory and she'll be loving the Alphabet Path from
Elizabeth's suggestions and
Jessica's inspirations.
I hope this has helped some know a bit from the inside of a charter. Again these are just my own observations and I'm sure others will differ. Either way, I've offered my little tid bits with love.
God bless which ever way you opt to teach!
