If students are working from home and attending a virtual school, is this homeschool? In a way, yes. But there are significant differences in the student’s experience as much as there are differences in the parent’s responsibility between Private Virtual school, Homeschool, and Traditional School.
In Traditional School, parents are responsible for two aspects of their student’s education. The first and foremost is attendance. Parents will get letters from the County if they do not ensure their students are attending public school. Also, parents feel obligated to take on the responsibility of monitoring or helping with homework. This can be relatively easy or a complete nightmare depending on the school and the student.
Brave parents of the first Homeschoolers took on all education responsibility. Selecting curriculum, teaching, grading, record keeping, and monitoring compliance. Public Charter Schools soon started offering homeschool parents support and the parent’s roles changed only a little. Charter Schools provided some curriculum funding, record keeping, a diploma from an accredited institution, and monthly progress checkins. But the majority of the responsibility was still the Parent’s. Soon ‘homeschool’ also meant enrolled in a public charter, but working from home.
Then came the many providers of Computer Based Learning Systems. Large education technology companies created all-in-one curricula. Students log-in, watch videos, do problems, answer questions and progress rather seamlessly. Private online schools sprouted up offering accredited diplomas based on their own computer-based curricula, and Public Charters in turn provided the same computer-based curricula at no charge. Homeschool now came to mean doing an online program from home. With Computer Based Learning Systems, the parent’s responsibility shifted dramatically to just ensuring the student was logging in. The student in general had a cohesive education experience, but little to no direct human interaction to motivate and inspire. Further, the programs were, well, monotonous.
And then it happened. From one day to the next, Traditional Public school, with absolutely no experience, went online. Schools deployed homework packets, some online assignments, some offline assignments, and despite everyone’s best efforts, thrust a tremendous amount of work on parents. The parent and student experience of online education was miserable. Parents, most of whom still had to work, were teaching, explaining, figuring out what was due, and managing the class schedule for at-home students. A bad taste in online education, a bad taste of the newest definition of homeschool ensued.
So even though the definition of homeschool has changed over time, the term Homeschool can still, technically be applied to the services offered by Studia Nova. Where Studia Nova’s differs is in our commitment to unparalleled student engagement and our 100% pro-parent policy. Are you a parent highly involved in your student’s learning? We welcome the feedback. Are you a parent that is looking for ‘full-service’ virtual education? Studia Nova is your best online partner. We will engage your student in live lectures, keep them on track, proactively reach out when students are falling behind, provide online chat for homework help, and basically do what it takes to get your student learning.