Umbrella School

 Advantages and disadvantages of joining an umbrella, satellite school, co-op, or private school on a part-time basis 

Although a few states require homeschoolers to be under an umbrella school or that parents be certified teachers, Florida does not have those requirements. Parents, in the state of Florida, can teach their own children and choose their own curriculum. 

Tennessee requires students to either enroll with an umbrella school or take accredited online classes. In this case, the umbrella school is used to oversee if homeschooler’s requirements are met. They also require that the umbrella school meets specific standards of accreditation.

Umbrella schools provide oversight, but some more than others. Below are all the services they may offer. 

1.       Maintain attendance records.

2.       Issue report cards.

3.       Offer a transcript.

4.       Provide a high school diploma.

5.       Hold accreditation.

6.       Provide a curriculum.

7.       Require parents to turn in attendance a few times a year.

8.       Require parents to turn in grades a few times a year.

9.       Require parents to submit educational plans.

10.    Offer end-of-year standardized tests. (Note: Some do not require these tests.)

11.    Plan graduation ceremony.

12.    Offer clubs and field trips.

13.    Give advice regarding homeschool laws.

14.    Require health examination and immunization form.

 

Let’s be clear that umbrella schools (also known as cover schools) may offer only a few of the options above. There are no standards and the term “umbrella school” is widely used. They are typically private schools and their fees highly depend on the type of services they offer. These schools help homeschoolers comply with their homeschool state law.

We joined an umbrella school when we first started homeschooling. From all the items mentioned above, they only provided three. They maintained attendance, issued report cards, and provided some guidance on requirements.  As most new homeschool moms, I was taking advice from a veteran homeschool friend. Unfortunately, I found that this was not a good option for our family and withdrew them from the program because the disadvantages outweighed the benefits.

Here are some of the reasons:

1. This school was considered a private school, so my sons would be unable to participate in extracurricular activities at our local public school.

2. This school did not have an articulation agreement with local universities. If homeschool students want to take dual-enrollment classes, the university requires the school to have an agreement with them.

 What is an articulation agreement? It’s an agreement meant to ensure a seamless transfer between the school and the university.

Homeschoolers, who are registered as homeschoolers, can dual-enroll with local colleges or universities. Although I sent a notice of intent to homeschool with the superintendent’s office, once I signed them up with this umbrella school they were no longer considered homeschoolers.  I was responsible for choosing my own curriculum and was in charge of teaching my children every subject, but they were registered with a private school. My sons were still in middle school, so I had enough time to rectify the problem. 

 If children are registered with the home education program and desire to join an umbrella school, parents must send the school board a notice of termination. If the umbrella school requires their students to be registered with the county, then the student will still have homeschool status.  

Here are questions to ask before joining an umbrella school:

1. Does your school hold a nationally recognized accreditation? What accreditation? Verify if their accreditation is on this list (LINK TO ACCREDITATION). If they have a valid accreditation, then the umbrella school is considered a private school and will more likely issue a diploma. However, you still want to ask if they have an articulation agreement with local universities, otherwise your child will not be able to take free dual-enrollment classes or take advantage of public school services.  

2. What if they are not accredited, but still print a diploma? Their diploma is “inferior” to a homeschool diploma. Universities do not discriminate against homeschoolers; however, if your child joins a school without accreditation, the university will not accept his or her diploma.

 

Co-ops

Homeschool co-ops are generally when a group of homeschool families meet up and each parent teaches a subject. Some parents may be certified teachers, writers, computer programmers, or engineers.

For parents who do not want to teach, they can participate by being board members or organize field trips. Some co-op groups establish a dress code and have rules for behavior. They find ways to use each parent’s unique talent to enhance the overall curriculum. Structure and rules vary from group to group. Co-ops normally meet once a week or every other week, during the school year. Parents plan field trips once or twice a month. Some co-ops may gather for social and not academic reasons and students learn knitting, cooking, or tumbling. This is a worthy option for children in elementary school. 

Although there are benefits to joining a co-op, there are also drawbacks.

 

Drawbacks: 

Parents are no longer in charge of choosing their own curriculum. A group of parents will have input on the best curriculum choices, and taking into account your child’s learning style will not be a priority.

Classes your children may not be interested in could become part of the curriculum.

Students have to wait for other students to finish their work, just like brick-and-mortar schools.

Students of different ages are in the same class and older students may become discouraged.

It takes time to get to the co-op classes, taking time away from learning. 

Note: Some states have very strict rules. As an example, Georgia does not allow group setting teaching and parents may only teach their children at home.   

 

Private schools in collaboration with homeschoolers

We have a local Christian school that offers classes for homeschoolers twice a week. They offer classes from kindergarten through eighth grade. Annual tuition is pretty high and books are not included. The subjects they teach include Bible study, language arts, mathematics, and history. Being able to do sports and band along with full-time students is another advantage.

 The curriculum is not very flexible, but a placement test determines a student’s math level. Since the highest math class they offered was Algebra I, and my son was on Algebra II, the program did not work for us. 

Private schools created by homeschool parents can be found throughout the country.  Although classes are occasionally taught by full-time teachers, these schools are not accredited and do not offer a high school diploma.  They offer math, science, English, Spanish, and social science classes. They encourage dual enrollment and give advice regarding college scholarships. They also may offer private tutoring, college admission guidance, transcript preparation, and SAT/PSAT prep classes.