The Atlantic Community School District has a Home School Assistance Program, or HSAP, which is unique to southwest Iowa. The program collectively educates 95 children from 55 families. This system is vast, revealing aspects of ACSD and AHS that those who attend school may not always get to see.
However, homeschooling has not always been as prevalent in the ACSD. In 2019, only 33 students from 17 families participated in the program. This, compared to this year’s count of nearly one hundred students, shows substantial growth. Homeschooling without a licensed teacher was only allowed by law in Iowa in 1991. That very year, Atlantic’s program began, and Tina Olson, the district’s Homeschool Director, is proud that the district has been one of the few providers of complete homeschool assistance in our area since then.
“How can we support you?” is the question that Olson has grown used to asking in her years as a homeschool educator. Her job is to help provide “Competent Private Instruction” or CPI, and homeschool assistance programs to those families that request them. These CPI programs are very thorough, she explained during a presentation to the ACSD Board of Directors on Wednesday. Students get a mix of testing and academic and social support from the school. Forty-four students participate in these offerings, and they get an opportunity to do things like CPR courses and creative writing workshops. It is important to note that a lot of the students currently in the homeschool program are not there to stay. “The program is really important because a lot of the kids coming are just looking to do it short-term. We do a seamless transition to make sure they don’t lose anything,” said educator Cara Andersen.
Multiple extracurricular programs are also offered, with fun things like chess club, Lego club, and a life skills club that teaches students things like sewing. “We had 35 kids show up to the first one,” said Andersen, “Which was great, but that was a lot of people who had never sewn before!” Art club is a well-liked offering, and the art teacher, Hollie Reilly, has been instrumental in providing the educators with the resources and training to help give students that opportunity. She even goes as far as to fire their clay projects. An average of 12 to 13 students attend these classes.
Homeschooling students can also go on field trips, like the one last year to Milk Unlimited. Families provide transportation to these events, and it is not uncommon for students’ parents to accompany them during the tour. STEM is one subject heavily encouraged by the educators Andersen and Olson. The program can boast two consecutive years of winning the state’s STEM Scale Up award for excellence in providing STEM education.
The home school assistance program presented much of this information before the school board on January 14. Among the things they asked of the board were their continued support, as Atlantic has taken serious measures to ensure that their homeschooling assets are up to date. The program requires a more permanent home, as they have moved three times in the past five years. They are currently stationed in the EOC building. Also, Olson oversees the education of 23 families, and Andersen oversees 24, with a part-time employee coming two days a month to help the other 8. The state of Iowa only allows educators to oversee 25 families at a time, so they are certainly stretched to their limit staff-wise. Their last request was the consideration of adding another part-time member to their staff due to the increasing number of students they are helping.
