Virtual charters: public schooling, at home

"It's very hard to tailor and pace a curriculum for a particular student, and this is the perfect opportunity," says Jennifer Eastman, a PAVCS teacher who says she loved the public school where she taught kindergarten but was also interested in technology. "Some children want to move faster and go really quickly; others have special needs, and this gives them the opportunity to slow down and concentrate."

The virtual school tries to combine the strengths of home-schooling, such as individual attention, with the advantages of a structured and supervised curriculum. The formula is attracting parents who otherwise might not home-school their children.

"There's such a big gap between home-schooling and public school," says Anne Hussman, who enrolled her 6-year-old daughter, Rhaeanne, in first grade at PAVCS. "I kept asking my husband, 'Where's the middle ground? Where's someone telling me what to do?' This way, I'm home-schooling and am still responsible for her education, but I'm also responsible to someone else."

The most common criticism of home-schooling, whether it's done independently or through a cyberschool, is that students miss out on interaction with other children their age. "The image of kids in a dark room sitting in front of a computer all day is one of the hardest myths to dispel," says Jason Bertsch, a spokesman for K12.

To help make up for the lack of usual classroom contact, teachers organize outings at least once a month for the students in their regional area (each area has up to 50 students). Destinations have included the Pittsburgh Zoo, an apple orchard, various community centers, Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., and the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia.

To encourage networking among parents, the school is working on adding a chat room and electronic bulletin boards.

Many students are also involved in extracurricular activities in their communities.

"Some children out there aren't getting enough interaction, but it's a rarity because most of these parents want to give their children so much," Ms. Fiel says. "Although it's not a classroom environment, these children have a great deal of interaction through church, sports, Boy Scouts...."

Rhaeanne Hussman, for example, takes ballet and tap lessons and belongs to Awana, a church group for children. She also has play dates with a girl living a block away who is also enrolled in the virtual first grade.

But her mother still felt a sad twinge when the family went to a parade and watched the local school's band marching past. "I looked at my husband and said, 'That's something I don't know how we'll do,' " Ms. Hussman says. According to PAVCS, schools are supposed to allow home-schooled children access to extracurricular programs in their district even though they are not enrolled in the school.

The cyberschool has had dropouts since September, mainly because some parents found that even with the help of a certified teacher, becoming full-time teachers themselves was overwhelming. "It does need to be emphasized to parents what a commitment this is. It's not an easy thing," Ms. Eastman says. "It's different from home-schooling because there is a curriculum with requirements, and parents have to do an assessment in every subject every day."

Many parents - almost always the mother - are taking care of babies or toddlers full time while they also try to teach one or more children the required five hours per day, raising questions about the appropriateness or feasibility of such double duty. But those who can handle it find the flexibility appealing. "I keep it structured like a classroom, but when she takes a break, I run and fold a load of laundry," Kimmerling says.

Page: 1 | 2 | 3