Depending on the state, families legally identified as “homeschooling” have various requirements. In Oklahoma, the requirement was that if a representative of the state turned up on the doorstep, you would have to demonstrate that your children were being educated. (I always hoped my children would STOP demonstrating their education long enough to chew their food and take a shower ;-).
In North Carolina, homeschools register with the state, and are required, on request, to produce an attendance record, a vaccination record, and a current-year standardized test record for each student.
I believe you mentioned Pennsylvania, which has among the most onerous requirements of all the states for homeschooling. It sounds as if your grandchildren will be doing “public school at home,” which is perfectly fine if that’s what the family wants. However, it is not “homeschooling” as legally defined by the states or generally understood by the public.
This is some of the information I’ve retreived while looking into the differnces, which is helping me understand better these differences.
Perhaps the most significant difference between online charter schools and homeschooling is funding.... Students who attend online ‘charter schools’ are legally considered public school students, because taxpayers are funding their education.
Parents who ‘homeschool’ their children typically purchase the curriculum they use to guide their children’s education. Also, homeschooled students are not subjected to federal testing requirements used to evaluate the success rates of public schools and charter schools. (Which gives the parents control over what they teach.)
Despite these key differences, school days for online charter school and homeschooled students can appear strikingly similar..... Both sets of students complete their schoolwork in their homes.
However, an online charter school’s scheduling depends on whether it is a ‘cyber or virtual charter school’...... According to The Center for Education Reform, ‘cyber charter schools ‘closely resemble correspondence classes in that the work can be completed at the student’s convenience.
‘Virtual charter schools,’ however, require students to log into their online classes at specific times, much like attending a class in a traditional school.’
Therefore, ONLY parents of cyber charter school and homeschooled students determine the child’s daily schedule.
Although online ‘charter schools’ employ licensed public school teachers to evaluate students’ progress and answer questions, parents must dedicate several hours each school day to keeping their children on track, just like homeschooling parents.