Home schooling advances with the times

o Clark County Home Educators: http://www.cchomeed.org.

o Washington Homeschool Organization: http://www.washhomeschool.org.

o Family Learning Organization: http://www.familylearning.org.

o Washington Home Educators Network: http://www.wahomeednetwork.homestead.com.

o Homeschooling information and resources: http://www.homeedmag.com.

Virtual learning

o IQ Academy: http://www.iqacademywa.com.

o Insight of Washington: http://wa.insightschools.net/.

o Vancouver (district) Virtual Learning: http://www.highschoolontheweb.com.

o Washington Virtual Academies: http://www.k12.com/wava/.

Home schooling just isn’t what it used to be.

Far beyond flashcard drills, dog-eared workbooks and jaunts to the library, the scene has been transformed by the Internet.

Students now sign up for “virtual academies” and take online courses monitored by real, public-employee school teachers.

They can banter, trade advice and participate in team projects with students they’ve never met face-to-face.

An increasingly popular choice in Clark County is iQ Academy, a franchise serving all of Washington state now operated through Evergreen Public Schools. Evergreen has about 10 full-time instructors to oversee students’ online work. That includes weekly live sessions to check their progress and an ongoing discussion board.

By late 2010, iQ Academy had about 600 part- or full-time students enrolled in grades six through 12. About two-thirds lived inside the district, the rest anywhere from Forks to Wenatchee to Walla Walla.

They include Anna Babcox, a sophomore from east Minnehaha.

She previously tried private school, then Evergreen’s Home Choice Academy, which offers classroom instruction to pupils who are mostly home-schooled. But she sought more autonomy.

“I wanted something where I could really be in control, get ahead if I wanted,” Babcox said. “That’s how home schooling started out.” Nothing offered that freedom as much as online courses that help her focus time and energy as she sees fit.

“It just seemed sensible, being independent,” said Babcox, 15, a self-described “hybrid learner.” She finds the online learning material first-rate, and “I don’t have to worry about going on eBay and finding textbooks.”

By mid-2009, about 13,000 Washington students had charted a similar course. Like Babcox, none pay tuition for online learning, while their Olympia-allocated basic education dollars go to the sponsoring district, such as Evergreen.

If needed, iQ Academy provides a free computer and stipend for an Internet connection at home. Similar perks vary, depending on each program.

Evergreen still does operate the Home Choice Academy, with its part-time, traditional classroom sessions.

Across town, Vancouver Public Schools offers many choices.

There’s the Vancouver Virtual Learning Academy, limited to Clark County residents (about 100 full-time students were enrolled by late 2010) in grades six through 12. Three certificated teachers guide courses, while students pay weekly visits to work with academic coaches.

Vancouver Home Connection Virtual, for grades three through eight, blends online learning with some classes in the Jim Parsley Community Center. It’s a half-step beyond the more conventional Home Connection program, very similar to Evergreen’s Home Choice Academy and geared to traditional home-school plans.

Vancouver Internet Connection lets high-school students with tight schedules complete core classes online, at their own convenience.

That’s just a sample of family options. Several virtual academies serve Washington students, offered by school districts elsewhere under private contracts but with state education department oversight.

There remain home-school networks of the human sort: Parents banding together or hiring teachers to lead students through more challenging courses, or public school hybrids with full-time teachers, such as Battle Ground Public Schools’ HomeLink and HomeLink River programs.