Homeschool Shift

One local family shares their transition out of public school at Chico Unified School District and into homeschooling.

Why.

Pandemic rules at public schools... have some families fed up.

New at 5:30 -- action news now reporter tori apodoca spoke to one local family now teaching from home.

She joins us live in chico.

Tori - what was the last straw for them?

Yes, the family i spoke to said it really came down to the health and safety of their family, and in the classroom there was just too much risk to do in-person learning.

Take sot nicole scoubes "being homeschooled, it's on their own terms, so they have a little bit more freedom" nicole scoubes sent her daughters macie and mia to public school their whole lives...until now.

Take sot nicole scoubes "the pandemic just hit like a hard spot in our life" nicole is high risk for cancer and mia is a type one diabetic.

And although the safer option, homeschooling has not been easy.

Take sot nicole scoubes "their desire to research things maybe isn't quite there as much" mia scoubes "it's not the way that i learn, so it's just hard" nicole has had to relearn seventh and eighth grade math and science, to make sure her daughters are getting the education they need take sot nicole scoubes "it's been kind of fun for me to go back and relearn things or learn things with them" tori standup and what they found to be the best part of homeschooling is all of the family time.

Take sot macie scoubes "it's been good to connect more with my family because we would go to school or work and then come home, eat dinner as a family, but now that we're home all the time, we get to do everything together" and more time spent at home with family means less time for middle school drama.

Take sot mia scoubes "bullying and stuff was really hard for me at least and so it's really good that i am homeschooled now because just none of that now.

Nicole plans to homeschool her kids through a charter next school year, so they can have more opportunities to connect with students and explore different passions.

But she is enjoying the moments together for now.

Take sot nicole scoubes "when are we ever going to have this opportunity again to spend this quality time in a weird time, but spending it together as a family" and nicole also told me that homeschooling has been a good decision for their longterm happiness, but she is open to putting them back in public school as things get safer.

Reporting live in chico, tori apodaca.

Action news now.

Coverage you can count on.

And they are not the only family making the shift to homeschooling as chico unified school district says they have had 81 students move into homeschooling this year, a major increase from past years.