Why you should home school with an umbrella school

An umbrella school is an entity, typically considered a private school, which serves to oversee homeschooling families and help them meet the requirements of their state's homeschooling laws. Sometimes the umbrella school is an actual physical private school with which homeschooling families can partner.

Why Do Homeschooling Families Want to Come Under a Private School?

A family who homeschools signs up under an umbrella school to essentially become “blanketed” or covered by the umbrella school. When a family is covered by an umbrella school, the school stands between the family and the state in which the family resides. This is very important to a family who does not want to be held accountable to the state for their homeschooling decisions. Instead, the family is held accountable to the private/umbrella school.

Most, if not all, umbrella schools meet the requirements of the state regarding education. Homeschooling families who are registered under a private/umbrella school are required to meet the guidelines of the school. (This could simply mean that homeschooling families turn in immunization, grades and attendance records to the private/umbrella school.) It is important to note that each state has its own requirements for private and umbrella schools.

Many homeschooling families also sign up under an umbrella school so their child will receive a diploma from an accredited school. A diploma from an accredited school is important to have when a child starts the college application process.

What Do Umbrella Schools Offer a Homeschooling Family?

Umbrella schools come in many different shapes and sizes. Many offer a wide range of services to a homeschooling family. Umbrella schools may allow homeschoolers to participate in sports and/or labs, offer annual testing, guidance counseling and more. Some umbrella schools may only serve as a record keeping office for a homeschooling family’s records.

Umbrella schools may dictate the type of curriculum which homeschoolers must use, while others may leave the choice up to the individual families. Some umbrella schools are only offered to families of specific faiths, while others are more flexible with their enrollment guidelines.

Please give us a call at 800-590-9611 for further information on signing up with K-12 Educators Inc.