What My Family Has Learned From Alternative Education Options in Virginia

As my kids continue to grow, I find myself constantly amazed at all the great educational opportunities popping up everywhere in our town of Lynchburg, VA.  

When my wife and I first decided we wanted to homeschool our kids, we worried about the time it would take, our ability as educators, and the well-roundedness of opportunities we could provide for our children. However, we have quickly realized we aren’t alone in our search to provide our children with the perfect education, and there are plenty of resources to help.  

We’re incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to create educational spaces for our children that are individualized to their unique needs and learning paths.  

The truth is, there is no one right way to educate children. Our exact path might not be right for your kids. That’s why parents should be empowered to choose the education model that works best for their children’s unique needs. 

The one-size-fits-all K-12 education just doesn’t cut it for a lot of parents, especially in the post-pandemic world. We got the unique, albeit difficult for many, experience of seeing what our children’s education was like from a new perspective. We watched how they learned, where they excelled, where they needed more help, and what excited them as learners. 

I know many other parents who felt their eyes were opened to the education their children were getting and the educational opportunities they could take advantage of. It’s no surprise that a study by Tyton Partners found that nearly 50% of K-12 parents are open-minded to pursuing new and additional education programs for their kids. And 71% of registered voters support school choice, a 7% increase from the beginning of the pandemic. 

Thankfully in Lynchburg, our community’s local churches, alternate schooling programs, and homeschooling co-ops saw the interest in and demand for innovative and alternative approaches to learning, and they have effectively answered that call.  

Our family jumped right in, and our kids are in a hybrid of homeschooling and in-school learning through Compass Academy hosted at a local church. The kids attend sessions twice a week and get to add on sports and electives that fit their interests. They are home learning for the other three days with curricula provided by the school. The program is hybrid learning at its best. 

Our children are learning in environments we feel comfortable with, and we're confident they are getting what they need to become critical thinkers, prepare themselves for the future, and find what truly sparks their interests as learners.  

Many options like this are popping up around the nation offering affordable, convenient, and alternative education options for community members. This has been an incredible opportunity for us because it’s not as expensive as a full-time private school and still lets us be fully involved in our children’s education.  

And churches aren’t the only ones opening or hosting schools that are an alternative to the traditional model. Our area is filled with private schools, charter schools, magnet schools, Montessori schools, and others that lean into children’s unique abilities and provide an avenue for parents to choose what’s best for their kids. 

I would love to see diverse educational options like these be as financially accessible to families as traditional public schools. Currently, 33 states provide families with education choice programs, including the option for education savings accounts (ESAs), education choice tax credits, or education tax scholarships. Ten of those states offer universal choice programs. 

These programs allow parents far more freedom to choose where and how their kids learn. No child should be stuck in a school system that isn’t right for them because they live in the wrong ZIP code or because the better options are too far out of reach. 

While Virginia does offer tax-credit scholarships, the legislature failed to pass an ESA bill last session. This type of legislation is vitally important to ensure diverse options are available to all families to access the education that’s right for them. All families should be empowered with the funding to pursue the best education for their children. 

My hope is that one day we can tear down every barrier that is getting in the way of families trying out diverse learning opportunities. If nearly 50% of Americans are open to new and additional education options, I can only imagine the amount of educational innovation that would come from having every one of those families involved in a more dynamic, changeable, and responsive system of education for every learner. 

A student-based approach to learning is working for my kids, and it would work for yours too.