Parents concerned about safety and academic uncertainty are exploring a range of options for the fall
As Oregon schools scramble to plan a hybrid model for the fall, mixing in-person classes with virtual programming, many parents feel anxious sending their kids back to school and are enrolling them in online schools or homeschooling instead.
While it’s not yet clear how many children will be withdrawn from public school this fall, homeschooling groups told Street Roots they’re seeing unprecedented surges in interest among Oregon parents.
This new wave of homeschoolers is mostly composed of younger kids, as they tend to struggle the most with online learning. Homeschooling is less common for high schoolers because of strict credit requirements, though some students are taking the opportunity to enroll in dual college credit and career-focused programs.
To maintain some socialization, families with similar-age kids are creating bubbles to quarantine together, often connecting through Facebook groups run by the Oregon Home Education Network. The network’s Homeschooling in Oregon group has grown 25% in the past 30 days, with more than 800 new members.
Most parents new to homeschool see it as a short-term solution and plan to send their kids back to school when in-person classes resume fully. Others see this as the push they needed to finally take control of their children’s learning.
“I cannot tell you how blessed I feel that this happened because now my family can really spend time together,” said Kedma Ough, a new homeschooling parent in Sellwood. “Now I don’t have the stress of interfacing with a school program that is just not up to par.”
The mother of three boys ages 9, 11 and 15, Ough reached her breaking point this spring when her kids were not provided the services they needed. Two out of three of her boys are on the autism spectrum, so she sought a program that catered to their IEPs, or Individualized Education Programs.
When transitioning into home education, parents must first decide between online or charter schools and homeschooling , which is more parent-led. Ough enrolled her kids in online schools through K12 , which provides curriculum to online schools throughout the country.
With two kids at the Oregon Virtual Academy and the other at the Destinations Career Academy of Oregon, Ough said she “hit the jackpot” with rich special education infrastructure and career-focused learning.
“We’re moving them to a program that is fully systemized, and everything is set up,” Ough said. “I don’t have to worry about the teachers not knowing something. All the teachers are certified through the state, and the state pays for it.”
K12 is just one of many popular online programs used in Oregon, in addition to ones like Connections Academy , Frontier Charter, Baker Charters Schools and Fossil Distance Learning Program. While some online options like K12 offer free schooling, some schools charge for curriculum and classes, though many charter schools offer stipends to help cover these costs.
But many parents face barriers enrolling in these charter schools, as school districts have a 3% cap for out-of-district transfers, and these schools can have long waitlists. If they are denied from these schools, families can appeal this process, or switch to more parent-led homeschooling methods.
Although Oregon homeschoolers do not receive any funding from the government, there are many free and low-cost materials for homeschooling families. Many families get their materials from Exodus Books in Oregon City, which specializes in matching homeschooling curriculum to each student.
There are only two laws for homeschoolers in Oregon. First, parents must register for homeschooling with their Educational Service District within 10 days of withdrawing their child from school. Second, students must be tested in language arts, reading and math after third, fifth, eighth and 10th grade, although there is an 18-month grace period after a student is withdrawn from school and begins homeschooling.
Katie Dingman, the vice president and outreach coordinator of OHEN, said homeschooling in Oregon is open-ended.
“You can go into anything from being more of a traditional homeschooler, which is most like being in the public school system, to radical unschooling, which is the complete opposite,” Dingman said. “Most people do tend to fall in the middle.”
Unschooling is a branch of homeschooling that allows for children to learn according to their interests rather than a scheduled curriculum.
When the parents’ schedules are flexible, homeschooling is easier, although Dingman emphasized that teaching your kids is not as daunting as it may seem. The typical homeschooler spends two to three hours per day schooling, rather than six to eight hours, because of the more individualized learning.
Dingman encourages homeschooling parents who work to teach their kids around their schedule.
“You can homeschool at any time of the day,” she said. “If you’re working during the day, especially if you’re working from home, you can just say here’s some options that you can do while I’m working, and then you can have school after dinner. You can even do schooling on the weekends.”
One substitute teacher from the Beaverton School District recently decided to use her free time and teaching experience to homeschool her own kids.
“I have a house full of supplies, and I have a lot of experience,” said Jenny, who prefers to omit her last name due to her position with the school district. “I know that remote learning isn’t as good as in-person learning. And since I work as a substitute teacher, I’m home. I’m not having to juggle work and school.”
Jenny decided to homeschool after hearing how much was still unknown for her kids’ public school. Though if she was not a teacher herself, she would have kept her students at the school. She worries that, with enrollment drops, public schools will be drastically underfunded this year, and in the years to come.
Jenny wrote a letter to the Oregon Department of Education urging them to use the 2019-20 enrollment numbers when allocating budgets, as was done in California.
“I don’t want our schools to suffer a 20% enrollment drop just to have all those kids returning next year,” she said. “Families that are choosing homeschool just for this year are really worried about leaving our schools high and dry.”
Some school districts in Oregon, including Beaverton, are providing the option of an online learning program. Students in these programs would still be enrolled in their local public school, but the curriculum would be fully online.
Although Jenny is worried for the future of public schools, she is excited to create a curriculum for her children, a kindergartener and third-grader, as well as her sister’s kids, whom they will quarantine with. She plans to focus their education around science and social studies, as she feels these subjects do not get enough attention in school.
“I might as well be doing something I enjoy, and I know will fit my kids best,” Jenny said.
She said many parents considering homeschooling are worried about their children not wanting to write or do math. She encourages them to incorporate these subjects into daily life, having kids do activities like writing their grandparents a letter or doing kitchen math.
Most homeschooling parents are constantly teaching, parent Caren de la Cruz said.
“Learning happens every day in most of the mundane things that we do,” de la Cruz said. “With everyday life experiences, you can talk about a million things and that oftentimes brings up other questions. You can reach so many topics from one simple question.”
De la Cruz is the outreach coordinator and program assistant at Village Home , a resource center for homeschooling families that provides classes and communities. Now almost entirely online, Village Home encourages students to choose classes they are interested in, rather than following a strict curriculum.
“Because the kids are picking and choosing their classes, that maximizes the autonomy they feel, having ownership over what they're learning,” de la Cruz said.
While homeschooling families may have had an easier transition with COVID-19 than those in in-person classes, de la Cruz noted that homeschooling life has still changed dramatically.
“We have also lost our extracurriculars and our getting to see people,” she said. “We don’t sit in a basement. We’re out in the world, and we have also lost all of that interaction and that socialization.”
While social distancing, children can still interact with others from home through programs like OMSI’s Oregon Homeschool Science Club . And they can interact outdoors through programs at Trackers PDX and Eden Acres , both offering classes for homeschoolers. Parents can also connect to plan outdoor activities through the Facebook group “Outdoors in Oregon with Homeschoolers. ”
Many new homeschooling parents, like Ough, are excited for the opportunities their children will have to widen their social circles, connecting with others online across the country.
“Before COVID, my kids’ whole environment were friends in their school,” Ough said. “Now it’s expansive.”
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