Different Forms of Education and What's Best For Your Family
There’s a lot of great things to love about Southern California: the sunny days, the beach, the great food.
But our personal favorite is the educational opportunities available for your children.
California ranks first nationally on the number of charter schools throughout the state, with 630,000 students enrolled in a charter school.
Knowing your child has several options is both liberating and stressful. It’s great knowing you’re not tied to a local district school if that’s not what’s best for you, but how do you figure out what is the best option?
To help you make your decision, we’ve gathered some of the most common forms of alternative educational options. Check them out below.
Homeschooling
Sometimes the home is the best environment for the student to learn. Homeschooling also allows for much more involvement in your student’s education because, essentially, you are their educator. You will know what their academic strengths are, where they need to improve and how they are being instructed.
You could find your own curriculum and teach your child on your own. They will have to take standardized tests and exams to earn the diploma, but that’s certainly a possibility.
But there’s a good chance you might not feel fully confident in all subject areas, especially once high school hits. If that’s the case, there are resources to support you in your homeschool journey.
For example, Elite Homeschool Academy follows a policy of “you are the driver, we provide the engine”
That ‘engine’ comes with personalized learning plans that you’ll work with an educator to develop. It also includes an aligned, solid curriculum and support from Elite Educators.
Should you decide to enroll in Elite’s homeschool academy, you’ll have a consultation to develop goals and plans. You’ll then have curriculum options to review and select, with the choice for a digital, award-winning curriculum for 6–12th grade students that’s A–G aligned and pending accreditation.
As a homeschool parent with Elite, you’ll have flexibility, choice and the support of an Elite Educator to ensure your child’s homeschool journey is successful.
To learn more about Elite Homeschool Academy, head here.
Online or Independent Study
If you’d like more of a ‘public’ school, but with more flexibility, online school–also commonly known as independent study–is likely your best alternative.
Students study at home or wherever they have access to a computer and internet connection. There is a set curriculum, which you can pick. Students have deadlines to fulfill but are able to work at their own pace.
With Elite Virtual Academy, the curriculum provided is aligned, which means students will graduate with a legitimate high school diploma. There are also highly qualified instructors who provide live online sessions and answer questions via email, phone calls or 1-1 online tutoring.
Online school can be a great option for students who:
You can learn more about Elite Virtual Academy here.
Blended Learning
Although 100% online school allows for more freedom, it also requires more discipline.
That can be a great trait for your child to learn. But if you feel they aren’t quite ready for a full independent study, a better option may be blended learning, which gives you the best of both worlds.
Blended learning is primarily in person with an onsite instructor who utilizes digital curriculum to teach. Students will be on a computer studying independently, while also working with the teacher to understand concepts and stay on track.
For 6–12th grade students, Elite Blended Academy can be a great option. Students can study in person or independently, but both scenarios are complemented with an Elite Educator, who meets up to three times weekly with students to discuss goals, assess strengths, areas of focus and create a personalized education for each student.
In other words, it allows your child to learn discipline through independent study while receiving constant support from an instructor through graduation.
The Elite Blended Academy starts this Fall 2018. Stay tuned as we post more details on the site!
Enrichment Learning
This educational offering is unique to Elite. If your child has a specific passion or talent, enrichment learning could be the best route.
There are specific athletic, career, musical and traveling academies that tie in learning with something your child truly loves.
Elite Athletic Academy (EAA) is for the student athlete who wants to pursue their passion in a sport while excelling academically. Because of our partnership with the nationally acclaimed Stars and Stripes program, this model provides student athletes of all levels the unique opportunity to benchmark, individualize and elevate their athletic development. Learn more here.
If your child knows what they want to be when they grow up, let them get a headstart with Elite Career Technical Academy (CTE). This academy allows students to combine college preparation and real-world workforce skills development into one customized education program. Programs include healthcare, computer science, psychology and more. Learn more here.
For the musically inclined, there’s the Elite Visual Performing Arts Academy (VAPA). Students will receive a quality education while learning from highly experienced professionals whose talents range from stage combat to creative writing. To learn more about this track, head here.
Maybe your student wants to explore the world? The Elite Travel Academy (ETA) has them covered, at little to no cost for students who earn a minimum GPA. These students can travel to New York, Washington D.C. or London. You can learn more about it here.
How to Continue Homeschooling When The Curriculum Gets Too Complex
As a homeschool parent, you know all too well the importance of being involved in your child’s education.
Knowing what they’re learning, how they’re learning and their academic strengths or struggles is a huge advantage as a homeschool parent. And if we had to guess, that’s something you’re not readily giving up.
But eventually–unless you’re exceptionally intelligent and if so, kudos–the curriculum may get too complex for you. Or you may be great at helping your child with, say, English, but not science or math.
How do you provide your child with a well-rounded education while still retaining control over their learning?
It’s a problem our students and parents once faced. That’s why we started Elite’s Homeschool Academy.
Taking Charge of Your Student’s Homeschooling With Award-Winning Curriculum
You know your child best. So it would make sense that you be the primary provider of your student’s instruction.
That does not change with Elite. We provide the engine, but you are the driver.
That ‘engine’ comes with personalized learning plans that you’ll work with an educator to develop. It also includes an aligned, solid curriculum and support from Elite Educators.
Should you decide to enroll in Elite’s homeschool academy, you’ll have a consultation to develop goals and plans. You’ll then have curriculum options to review and select, with the choice for a digital, award-winning curriculum for 6–12th grade students.
All TK–12 curriculum is rigorous, A–G aligned and WASC approved while pending NCAA accreditation. You can learn more about our online curriculum here.
As a homeschool parent with Elite, you’ll have flexibility, choice and the support of an Elite Educator to ensure your child’s homeschool journey is successful.
Greater Support to Your Homeschooling: Elite’s Role
With all homeschool students, our role is to encourage, support and guide their educational journey.
Each student is assigned a credentialed educator, who will:
- Be the primary contact for information, updates and policies
- Create an individualized learning plan with the parent/guardian
- Have the option to oversee student progress
- Meet in person every for an academic consultation
The academic consultation occurs in person every 20 days and involves the Elite Educator, parent/guardian and student. Its purpose is to evaluate the progress made within that 20-day period and if it’s in line with the educational plan. Meetings are 45–60 minutes per student.
The Support You Need to Help Your Student Succeed
Spending more time with your child and being fully involved in their education are both great things.
You shouldn’t have to lose out on those because the curriculum gets too complex.
With Elite’s Homeschool Academy, you can continue as the primary instructional provider for your child while enjoying support, coupled with an awesome curriculum.
We are now enrolling for summer and the 2018-19 school year. To learn more, click on the button below.
Introducing Elite Academic Academy
If there’s one thing a Californian knows, it’s that children deserve options in their education.
Perhaps that’s why California ranks first nationally on the number of charter schools throughout the state, with 630,000 students enrolled in a charter school.
Knowing your child has several options is both liberating and stressful. After all, it’s great knowing you’re not tied to a local district school if that’s not what’s best for you, but how do you figure out what is the best option?
It’s those questions that lead us to bring you one more option: Elite Academic Academy. Although the school is new, the educators and administrators are certainly not ‘new’ to the field.
We’ve brought in some of the best administrators of both the traditional and alternative educational field to bring we believe to be the best blend of both worlds for a superior educational experience.
Bridging the Gap Between The Traditional & Charter World
If you combine all our administrator’s educational experience, you’d get 75 years worth. That’s three-quarters of a century.
We have public educators who have won several awards. We also have leaders who have been in the online education space since practically its beginning. It’s truly a rare gem to have a pioneer who helped the online education world develop and evolve.
With such diversity in experience, Elite’s leadership is able to supervise and administrate a variety of programs in order to provide a personalized learning experience for students.
About Elite’s Programs: Our Virtual Academy
The virtual academy is 100% online for 6–12th grade independent learners.
This program comes with structured flexibility; students can learn at their own pace where they choose. Highly qualified teachers and counselors are available to provide 1-1 attention whenever needed.
Along with teacher support is an engaging digital curriculum. We partner with StrongMind, a rigorous and aligned curriculum that includes multimedia and interactive content to help students enjoy learning.
Homeschool Academy
Like any homeschool, parents are the primary educators in this model. With Elite, every student enrolled in grades TK-12 also enjoys support from a California Credentialed Elite Educator.
In our homeschool academy, we work with each family individually to develop a personalized learning plan. This ensures that your child’s education is geared to their best interest and designed to meet their specific needs.
For those interested in independent study, but feel they could use more in-person support, we have the perfect blend coming soon.
A blended learning program will be starting up fall 2018. Students will enjoy a creative, relaxed environment where they work with Elite’s highly qualified, caring faculty and staff to customize their learning and prepare for the future.
Enrolling With Elite
We are taking off running! Enrollment is opening right away for our summer academies, happening for grades k–12.
Soar to greater heights this summer with Elite’s SOAR Learning track. For grades k–6, there will be enrichment activities two days a week for students near the Mountain Empire Unified School District. Classes include cooking, robotics, math, English and more!For high school students, we will offer six-week courses, including ELA/Math Bridge, PE and electives.
We will also offer exciting homeschool and virtual academy options in all of our authorized counties for those students who want to jump on our summer track and take advantage of our unique learning academies. Students will get to experience exciting enrichment opportunities with our approved vendors and will receive $500 of educational funds for attending at least six weeks of school.
Help your child stay active this summer while earning credits. Or, give us a ‘test drive’ this summer to see how much you’ll love Elite (we certainly think you will!). We are WASC approved and pending NCAA certification.
A comprehensive list of our summer learning options will launch in mid-April! Stay tuned!
Come fall 2018, we will be in full swing ready to enroll in any of our multiple programs. Whether you’re looking for a more traditional route, virtual learning or homeschool, Elite has you covered with a superior experience.
Summer learning tracks start July 2.
