Want to home-school your kids in California? Here’s a guide to get you started

Sacramento County has announced schools this fall again must turn to more distance-learning because of the coronavirus pandemic, prompting parents to seek alternatives to Zoom classrooms.

Home schooling is at the top of the list for many.

And personalized learning public charter schools, which serve many home-schooled students, have seen a significant increase in interest throughout the pandemic, said Jeff Rice, the founder of the Association of Personalized Learning Schools & Services (APLUS+), a statewide network association that represents 75 personalized education programs in California.

How does a parent begin home schooling? The laws, the research and the assortment of available curricula can be daunting. Here’s a guide to help you get started.

Are you ready to do home schooling?

Jumping into home schooling can be a big decision, but being a successful home-schooler is about learning as you go, said Diana Hilton, the owner of A Brighter Child, a bookstore that provides home schooling supplies in Fair Oaks.

Families should consider factors such as the amount of time they have to dedicate to home schooling, how they will build in social time for their children, and the type of instruction their children will need.

“You have to really want to spend time with your children,” she said.

It’s important to recognize that home schooling is a commitment, and it can look a lot different than just doing school from home. Most of the time, families that home-school their children will need one parent dedicated to educating as a full-time job, Hilton said

Parents generally learn which curricula, methods and times of the day are the best for their students as they begin the process. With trial and error, families figure out a way of home schooling that is right for them, Hilton said.

“I always tell people, home schooling is an evolution,” she said.

Choosing the right option for your family

Home schooling is legal in all 50 states, but regulations vary widely across the country.

Parents interested in home schooling in California can go about it in three main ways.

You can hire a private tutor with California teaching credentials.

You can work with an “umbrella school,” a public charter school or an existing private school with a satellite program, that provides record-keeping, some parts of a curriculum, financial assistance, on-site classes and accountability for home-schooled students. The California Department of Education offers a charter school locator.

Or you can become an independent home-schooler. Independent home-schoolers must file an annual private school affidavit with to notify the state that they are operating a private school.

Independent home schooling is allowed in California under a private school exemption, which says students enrolled in private schools are exempt from attending public school.

It is important to note that filing the private school affidavit does not mean that the school has been given recognition or approval, and it does not mean that the school is accredited. It simply alerts the state that a parent is operating a private school.

Though filing the private school affidavit is a requirement for private schools, it does not establish the school. In order to establish a private school, a parent doing home schooling must meet all the requirements for private schools, such as setting up a system for keeping records and establishing courses of study, said Rebecca Kocsis, a representative from the Christian Home Educators Association of California.

Many schools will require proof of a private school affidavit before a parent withdraws their student from a public school, according to the California Department of Education.

For parents filing the private school affidavit, the instructions are relatively simple, and include specifying student ages, enrollment numbers, and the number of staff. There are no requirements for how many students and teachers there must be, except for that there must be more than zero.

Parents filing the private school affidavit also get to choose a name for their private school, which can be anything they want as long as it follows the California Department of Education school naming guidelines.

Another option for parents who don’t want to create a home schooling curriculum but who feel that their student needs a different educational program is enrolling in an independent study program through their school district. In the independent study program, students take the same courses as their peers but the program is designed to respond to their individual educational needs.

Following the requirements

Private schools, including home schooling, have a few main requirements.

The instructors are required to be “capable of teaching,” instruction must be in English, and the curriculum must include the branches of study required in public schools.

Just like at school, some records must be on file. Parents must keep copies of annual private school affidavits, attendance records, and the courses of study offered in their home schooling and the instructors of those courses.

The Home School Legal Defense Association recommends that parents also keep on record information on the textbooks and workbooks students use, samples of schoolwork, correspondence with school officials, portfolios and test results, and any other documents that show a child is receiving education in compliance with the law. The HSLDA recommends that parents keep those records for at least two years, and that they keep high school records forever.

For independent home-schoolers, ensuring that the student has a transcript is important, according to the HSLDA. Charter schools will often take care of transcripts and records, but independently home-schooling parents can create transcripts themselves or use an online service.

Finding the right curriculum

Finding a curriculum that is right for your family depends on what kinds of learners your kids are, said Hilton. Auditory learners will do better with songs, while visual learners can use videos or textbooks.

Parents may choose to enroll their children in an accredited online high school, such as the selective Stanford Online High School or an online public or private school offered through the website K12, a for-profit education management organization that provides online education.

But many kinds of home schooling often involve more than just monitoring your child’s online classes, advocates say.

“When you home-school your children, it becomes a lifestyle. It kind of has to,” said Hilton.

Many personalized learning charter school programs will assist parents in building a curriculum that combines independent learning, online learning, community-based internships and apprenticeships, and in-person classes.

Building a home-schooling curriculum is often a collaborative and creative project, but it doesn’t mean that a parent doesn’t have to be an expert on every subject. Parents can teach what they like, and rely on online curricula to pick up what they don’t want to.

“Everybody has their strengths,” Hilton said. “If you can’t replicate it yourself you just find it somewhere else.”

Many home-schooled students attend in-person classes at community colleges or at places like A Brighter Child in subjects that their parents don’t feel ready to teach.

With the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of those in-person classes have moved to online options. But companies such as Time4Learning provide comprehensive online curricula. Students can enroll in a full online curriculum of math, language arts, social studies, science, and electives, or take one or two courses to supplement a parent-driven curriculum.

Parents can take a highly structured approach, or let their child decide what they want to learn. From Charlotte Mason, to Montessori, to Unschooling, parents can tap a wide range of guidance.

Getting a diploma

For parents going the “umbrella school” route, the charter school or private school satellite program may take care of documentation such as transcripts and diplomas.

Independently home-schooled students can go about getting a diploma in a few ways.

Private schools create their own requirements for graduation, so parents can simply create a diploma on an online service such as HomeschoolDiploma.com. Though a home-schooling diploma issued by a parent may not carry as much weight as one issued by a different school, most colleges, universities, and employers will accept it, according to the Coalition for Responsible Home Education.

Alternatively, many home-schooled students looking to apply to college will take the California High School Proficiency Exam, which gives students the equivalent of a high school diploma, said Hilton.

Keeping it fun

It’s a myth that home-schooled students are not as well-socialized as their peers, said Diana Hilton.

“Most home-schooled kids are as busy or busier than other kids,” she said.

Enrolling a child in sports, arts classes, or study groups to fill up their social calendars is an important aspect of home-schooling. But with the COVID-19 pandemic making socialization difficult, many of the field trips, in-person classes and friend groups that home-schooled children relied on are less accessible, Hilton said.

Outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, and swimming are still an option, said Hilton. And families can use online resources to help their children have a more robust social life.

Whether a child’s interest is in art or music or something else, home-schooling parents should go “heavily and deeply” into the topics their children express a passion for, Hilton said.

This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.