When homeschooling families register with a public charter school, their children are still a part of the public school system, but all responsibilities and services are transferred from the school district to the charter school.
The parent is considered the main teacher, and each parent has a credentialed teacher assigned to them to collect attendance and work samples and to help with curriculum. The teacher meets with the family every 30 learning days to make sure that families are hitting their goals and that things are going well. You pick the work samples that are most indicative of your child's learning. The teacher takes a look at the standards, making sure that you’re hitting them. They like to see you exposing them to about 80% of the standards.
The state provides a certain amount of money for each student (usually $2,500 to $4,000 per year) that can be used toward curriculum, classes, tutors, and supplies. If you use the funds on consumable things (e.g. things that get used up such as curriculum workbooks or materials for science projects), you won’t have to return the items. If you get nonconsumables like an electronic device, you might have to give it back to the charter. Some charters might have libraries to borrow materials from as well (curriculum, electronic devices, etc). It would be good to ask the school about that so that you don’t have to use charter funds.
Charter schools sometimes have physical buildings that homeschooled students are allowed to utilize, or they can be completely virtual.
For more details, see our article Homeschooling 101.
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