Iron Man, Captain America, Batman, or Hulk?
September 5, 2024 | Sharon Sedlar
What do you do when something in life throws you off balance? Is your response more like Iron Man, Captain America, or Batman? For me if it is something to do with my kids, I put my head down and barrel through the obstruction ala Hulk with a dash of Iron Man and Captain America. Like most parents, when it comes to my children, I don’t play around. They are my priority. I seek solutions and am one to forge ahead – not cower. And that’s what we’re doing with our K-12 Education Freedom Showcase in Pittsburgh on September 28th. Forging ahead. We’re not waiting for Pennsylvania to “fix” the education system. Too many children have been left behind for too long.
We basically have 3 options in PA for education; public, private and homeschool:
Microschool
Children who attend a Microschool or Education Pod do so as homeschoolers. Microschools are organized by parents, either with parents themselves teaching, or hiring an instructor…
Homeschool
Pennsylvania Law permits parents to serve as the student’s primary instructor for an at home education. A qualified state evaluator reviews their portfolio annually for compliance…
Microschool
Children who attend a Microschool or Education Pod do so as homeschoolers. Microschools are organized by parents, either with parents themselves teaching, or hiring an instructor…
Private School
Pennsylvania has more than 3,000 private schools, which can focus in different ways on how to educate their students and come in various sizes, locations and costs.
Public Charter School
Public charter schools are public schools that operate with a greater degree of independence than traditional district schools…
Public District Magnet School
Magnet schools are public schools that offer specialized curricula and programs that may not be available in the area district school…
Public District School
Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts offer education across the state, and also host many magnet schools that have specific themes…
Homeschool
Pennsylvania Law permits parents to serve as the student’s primary instructor for an at home education. A qualified state evaluator reviews their portfolio annually for compliance…
Public Cyber Charter School
Cyber charter schools are public schools that operate with a greater degree of independence than traditional district schools…
Public school is where the majority of the 1.6 million students in PA attend K-12 education. About 14% of children attend private school, and around 2.5% of children are homeschooled. Public schools are paid for via our tax dollars, and private schools are federally, privately and/or individually funded. With a few exceptions, homeschooling families bear the brunt of all homeschool expenses – technology, curriculum, classes (except in the case where they attend a portion of their day in public education as legally permitted), supplies, etc.
Some families report that they are unable to homeschool due to their working schedule, fear, lack of knowledge about how to homeschool, or teaching expertise. This is where homeschooling co-ops, education pods, microschools, and other homeschooling collaborative efforts come into play.
Educational environments outside of the formalized system like microschools are extremely flexible, and only bound by the constraints of the organizers. They can be a few students, dozens, or hundreds. They can be based on a volunteer basis or barter system, or a tuition structure. They can be focused on outdoors, sports, STEM, project/based learning, or so many other “themes.” Our microschool toolkit, contacts, and ideas can help you with that, too (tri-fold brochure below)!
Sound interesting? Want to hear more? Have questions? Our K-12 Education Freedom Showcase from September 2024 is in our video gallery! You can listen to experts in homeschooling, microschools, and policy and hear from parents who searched for and found or created their own solutions that now help others!