Local Public School Homeschool Programs

**bcbrenda** Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:43 am

One legal way to homeschool in California is by joining a public or private school Independent Study Program (also known as ISPs, Charters, or Homeschool Programs). While in these programs, your child is technically a public school or private school student, but much more of your learning occurs at home. Santa Cruz County schools started creating these programs over 20 years ago, so we have a large number of them here. They have advantages, such as organized communities and activities, and disadvantages, such as possible required testing and sometimes required curriculum.

Here is a list of area programs and below them are a list of questions you might ask before joining one.

SLVUSD Charter School, Felton to Boulder Creek, K-12 (http://www.slv.k12.ca.us/CHARTER/)
This includes Charter 25 Homeschool; Coast Redwood Middle School; Coast Redwood High; Boulder Creek Homeschool; and Trillium Collective. For all of these schools, call 335-0932 for more info.
Specifically for SLV Charter 25 visit http://www.slv.k12.ca.us/charter/title_1/slv_home.htm or contact Estelle at 831-336-0942 box 3.

Alternative Family Education (AFE), Santa Cruz, K-12 (http://www.afe.santacruz.k12.ca.us/) or contact Jasmin Gerer at 429-3898 Ext 328.

Mountain Elementary School, Soquel, K-6 (http://www.mountain.santacruz.k12.ca.us/)

Ocean Alternative Education Center, Live Oak, K-8 (http://www.ocean.santacruz.k12.ca.us/)

Ocean Grove Charter School, Santa Cruz County, K-12 http://www.ogcs.org/)

Pacific Elementary School, Davenport, K-6 http://www.pacific.santacruz.k12.ca.us/grades/is.html)

Pacific Coast Charter School, Watsonville, K-12 (http://www.pccs.pvusd.net/)

We have one private Independent Study Program in the area:
Branson Academy (http://www.bransonacademy.net/

Questions you may wish to ask:

* What kind of support do you offer?
* How often do we meet with the supervising teacher and what is required during these meetings?
* How many class days are there and are they required?
* How long a day are the class days?
* What grades meet together?
* What kinds of records will we be expected to keep?
* Do you require any particular curriculum?
* What is the school's expectation in regards to standardized testing?
* Will not testing hurt the school/district?
* Are there any funds that we will be able to spend on our choice of materials?