Why would parents choose Options?
Parents choose to place their children in Options because their children can be a part of a classroom experience. They value the opportunity for students to share academic time with their peers. Also, science labs, art, music, drama, and PE are difficult to offer at home. Students are able to participate in group activities such as dramatic and musical productions. Parents may feel uncomfortable teaching some academic subjects. Parents encourage the opportunity for their students to experience the rigor of a regular classroom setting and the accountability that comes from deadlines and the need to demonstrate organizational skills.
The teachers, administrators, and support staff for Options are knowledgeable, well trained and dedicated to educational excellence. All teachers for Options School are fully accredited and must hold a valid Colorado teacher’s license appropriate for his/her assignment. Pupil-teacher ratios are far below those in most public schools and teachers are able to give students the personal attention necessary for an outstanding educational experience. Teachers are encouraged to develop on-going communications with parents to ensure school and home are working as a team toward excellent education for each child.
Another very important aspect is that through enrollment with Options, parents have the availability of textbooks and curriculum provided by APS Options. Curriculum is available to parents for their home use for annual check out, including teacher editions, at no cost except for consumables. Parents are able to order cost-effective, reusable curriculum, which is non-religious in nature. Many of the curriculum choices are those that are in popular home-school catalogs. Items are returned at the end of the school year.
What is the partnership between Options School and Home Schooling?
Parents connected with Options School consider home schooling their primary means of educating their students. State law relating to home-schooled students requires that each child participating in a non-public home-based educational program be evaluated when the child reaches grades three, five, seven, nine and eleven. Each child must be given a nationally standardized achievement test to evaluate the child’s academic progress (or a qualified person will evaluate the child’s academic progress). The test or evaluation results, is submitted to the local school district of residence. The purpose is to evaluate the education progress of each child.
Options also offers the opportunity for optional standardized testing to fulfill the homeschooling requirement, using the California Achievement Test (CAT). Options students are not legally allowed to participate in TCAP Testing since they are home-schooled for their primary education (SB 186).
How are students enrolled and where do they attend?
Students are enrolled through APS and attend one of the Options sites from Greeley to Aurora. Parents interested in the Greeley site should contact Jillian Misuraca or Jenny Phillips at GreeleyOptionsk12@gmail.com