Some researchers call it the "great unbundling" of education as parents opt out of traditional school models so they can individualize learning opportunities specifically for their children.
As parents demand more flexibility in post-pandemic K-12 education, there is a proliferation of options like online schools, microschools, homeschool pods with tutors, outdoor schools, or other parent-directed, à la carte education programs.
In Arizona, students can use Empowerment Scholarship Accounts to help pay for à la carte educational programs or more traditional non-public schools. Nearly 72,000 Arizona kids currently use ESAs.
The Golden family from Kansas City spent several weeks living at an RV park near Lake Pleasant. The couple, their three kids and pets are traveling the country full-time in their RV.
The two elementary-age kids are homeschooling and taking some specialized classes on an education website.
Daphne Golden, 11, is attending a private, online school called Sora. It specializes in project-based learning and enrolls several hundred middle and high school students nationwide.
Daphne's classes aren't traditional subjects like math and reading. Instead, she's taking classes called "Conspiracy Theories" and "Clash of the Critters." Sora says the classes are multidisciplinary modules. Daphne manages her own schedule to get tasks done for classes.
"It's really putting the education in the responsibility of the student and putting the student in the driver's seat," said Lauren Golden, Daphne's mom. "The teachers, the 'experts', they're really there to guide them through the learning process, rather than maybe a more traditional experience where they're being told what to do."
A lot of these educational alternatives developed out of the pandemic years. When kids couldn't go to a classroom, parents started re-evaluating what they think is important in education and what learning environment best fits their child.
"This was very much a parent-led revolution," said Joseph Olchefske, a former public school superintendent who teaches education leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. "Homeschooled kids have gone up — almost doubled — since 2019. So very big numbers now are kind of presenting themselves in the marketplace that we didn't see before."
Sora Schools said that dozens of their students from Arizona qualify for ESAs and use them to offset tuition costs. Since the Goldens are from Kansas, that family has paid out of pocket, and they said it costs about $1,000 per month, per student.
