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Davis Journal

Homeschooling: A virtual reality that could continue for many

Jun 04, 2021 11:20AM ● By Becca Rodgers

Aliya enjoyed using headphones and a desktop computer for her schooling. Courtesy photos from families

Should you homeschool your children or not? Will you select from myriad curriculums, or will they participate in an online virtual platform? Some questions were answered for you when the pandemic began in March 2020. Those who already homeschooled continued, but for most there was an immediate scramble to know what to do and how to do it. Fortunately, there is no one set way.

Whether your children continued their studies online with public school teachers or another learning platform such as Utah Virtual Academy K-12, knowing which to choose has been a daunting, individual choice to make. The Utah Education Network (UEN) has also created a website that contains information for teachers, parents, and students to help learning continue outside or in place of the classroom.

If you choose to homeschool on your own, it is easy to get started in Utah… at least legally. You simply submit a notarized affidavit to the Davis School District and then your children are exempt from the state’s punitive compulsory education laws. If you decide to keep your children enrolled in public school, virtual learning is not necessary. 

By now you are aware that there are many ways that you and your children can learn whether apart or together. With all the various teaching and learning styles, parents and children have discovered things that worked or did not during this trial period.

“Out of our three kids that we had doing online school, third grade worked the best,” said Bountiful mother Amy Hunter. “He had to log in for 30 minutes and then log off and work on the assignment that the teacher had just explained and work on that for 30 minutes. Then he logged back in for the next subject.

 “For the kids that are in seventh and ninth grades, only having to log in twice a week for some classes, while other classes were work at your own pace, was confusing and hard to keep track of, since I am working from home with a job that has deadlines.”

“It was a good opportunity to see my child’s strengths and weaknesses with independent learning,” said Tiffany Sorenson of Bountiful. “As it was a first time being in an academic setting with a strict curriculum, I was able to have a peek as to why my kids struggled in some aspects of school. I learned that I could not trust my kids just telling me something was done. They needed to show me. I also discovered they learned much better when they were teaching and showing me the things that they needed to do.”

Research has repeatedly shown that homeschooled children perform as well, or better than their public school peers, but that doesn’t mean it is the best way of learning for all kids and in every circumstance.

The Hansen family of Bountiful had positive but maybe more negative experiences this past year. Tiffanie Hansen said she loved the flexibility of the homeschooling schedule, and that they could spend time as a family doing other things together. 

“We learned, however, that we are not good at homeschooling,” Hansen said. “I really appreciate teachers more than ever. My kids are better at getting their work done right after school, since they’ve learned it’s better not to put it off all day.”

Fortunately, at this point, parents and their children should once again have the choice to be in or out of the public school system. In hindsight, it seems a positive thing that more resources have been created for those who choose to continue the path of successful home learning.