As we started making plans to travel extensively, we had to decide what type of school the girls would attend. There are so many wonderful options today, from unschooling to virtual school. Justin and I work full-time, even though it is often remotely, so we knew that traditional home school wasn’t a great option for us. We thought that being responsible for 100% of their education and record keeping was not realistic based on our other responsibilities. And I am far too much of a planner for unschooling to be a good fit.
The school district we were in had a cyber option for students starting in third grade, but we didn’t want to wait that long since Avery was just starting second grade. Pennsylvania has many cyber programs, and we definitely liked the idea of having a teacher. But we wanted to make sure that we had flexibility and didn’t want to just mimic traditional school in a virtual setting. We chose the blended classroom through PA Cyber Charter School for Avery’s second and Claire’s fourth grade years.
Justin and I own one of our office buildings, and we had an extra room there. We set it up as their “school” room while we are not traveling.
Initially, I had some concerns about their computer skills, as they would be doing so much work on the computer. This turned out to be a non-issue.
We love this approach and the girls say they never want to go back to traditional school! PA Cyber has several offices across the state and offers a wide variety of additional class opportunities. They participated in a nutritional cooking class, a “Super Hero Training” PE class, and a science class. They also frequently host field trips. We took a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo, learned how to collect Maple Sugar at Lutherlyn in Prospect, PA, and spent two days in Gettysburg. These types of events allow them to interact with other kids (although “socialization” is not a concern of ours).
Check out our 5 Things to Consider when Choosing a Non-traditional Education
