Families home-school for a variety of reasons, including wanting to stay close to their children, being concerned about school environments, for religious reasons and wanting the flexibility that comes with having school on their own schedules.

It’s become a popular choice among Central Oregon parents in the last four years. Currently, 2,749 children are being home-schooled in the region, a nearly 200% increase since the 2019-2020 school year, according to data from the High Desert Education Service District.

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The district does not ask parents why they choose to home school, but it’s reasonable to assume some people chose it in the past few years due to the pandemic and distance learning, wrote Linda Quon, spokesperson, in an email.

The service district, which provides support and educational services to school districts in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties, said home-schooled students are spread across Bend-La Pine Schools, Redmond School District, Crook County Schools and Sisters School District.

Choosing the curriculum

Home-schooling is an option for children in Oregon from ages 6 to 18. The state requires families to inform their local education service districts of their intent to home school. Education service districts must also inform school districts annually of home-schoolers living within the district. If families have enrolled in a district’s online school option, they are not home-schooling as they are using the district’s curriculum.

Home-schoolers are required to undergo state testing by Aug. 15 following grades 3, 5, 8 and 10. Children who are withdrawn from school to be home-schooled are given an 18-month window before they must be tested on grade-level skills.

Families who home school can find their own curriculum for their children or pay a private teacher. Families can teach to Oregon’s academic content standards, but it is not required. Though families select their own curriculum, many expand their schooling by joining cooperatives and support groups with other home-school families, such as Uplift Central Oregon, a Christian cooperative in Central Oregon. The Oregon Home Education Network serves as a secular support system for home-schoolers statewide, as does Oregon Open Learning.

Uplift Central Oregon

This Christian cooperative meets on Friday mornings so kids can connect with friends and learn new things. It also has a day set aside for high schoolers to connect with each other and take core classes.

Director Cassie Johnson and Operations Director Sara Jones were originally part of the Friday School cooperative in Bend, which met at a church off U.S. Highway 20. Once the pandemic hit, however, Friday School was shut down due to a lack of space.

Learn about home-schooling

The Oregon Department of Education provides information and resources on home-schooling at its website. The Oregon Home Education Network is a good resource for home-schoolers, as is Oregon Home Learning.

Johnson and Jones met with a few others and began planning their own cooperative in 2021. Uplift Central Oregon opened in 2022 and meets at the Real Life Christian Church in Bend. It also has a center in Redmond.

Johnson said since there are so many ways to home school, Uplift cannot serve them all.

“When we come together we’re not all doing this math curriculum or we’re not all doing this. We’re doing electives, and we’re doing fun things that are helping kids build friendships and helping moms have support,” she said.

Johnson wants kids and families to enjoy the cooperative and for parents not to feel like they are home-schooling alone.

The cooperative, which is Christian-faith based, has around 80 children on Fridays. Around 30 families participate.

“Most families we know, their kids really look forward to getting together with their friends and doing things,” said Johnson.

Classes take place in three eight-week terms, and subjects vary depending on what parents and community members are available to teach. This term, classes include dance, Spanish, apologetics and others. Next term, there will be a sewing class.

“We try to keep things pretty cheap, so every family can be included if they want to be part of the community,” said Johnson.

The day set aside for high school students focuses on math, literature and writing. The high school classes run throughout the academic year.

“If the parent doesn’t want to teach that subject at home, they come here and they can get the class done by someone who’s skilled in that area,” said Jones.

As a home-schooling parent herself, Johnson said it can be difficult to teach subjects when your kids know more than you do. Therefore, finding someone who can teach that specific subject helps support the families.

“(What I want) is that kids come filled up, that this was fun, I have friends, and we try to ensure safety and kindness and respect,” said Johnson. “And that moms could leave feeling like they have support, they’re not doing this alone.”