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Yes, a computer is on loan to us from the charter school, though I believe K12 manages the shipping of those. Again, although we're enrolled in the public charter school -- which means they are technically public school students -- we're completely homeschoolers. My children will never set foot in a public school building this year, and indeed, my youngest has never, ever been in a public school. The closest they will come to "school" is getting together with other children at a local library or other meeting place to do testing in the spring. How I manage the use of K12 is completely up to me. Technically we are supposed to use it X number of hours a day, but the teachers don't really care precisely when you do it as long as the educational goals are met and the work completed. The charter school teachers are extremely supportive and homeschool friendly. Some are homeschoolers themselves who are working for the charter part-time. They are there as a support person when we need help, but not standing over us cracking a whip. They also set up optional group activities and field trips so that our children have a social group of sorts, but one could skip all of them if one chose. I plan to attend as they sound like fun, i.e., a tour of the "history"-oriented sites at Disney's California Adventure. Again, different states have different laws regarding their charter schools so you may have run into a situation of which I'm unaware, but in California and other states (Florida, etc.) it seems that the system works differently than your impression. The other most-used homeschool option here in CA is to notify the state that you formed a private school (called an R-4 form) and from that point the state is out of the picture and you can homeschool any way you wish, including purchasing the exact same K12 curriculum for mucho bucks (no computer provided) -- or using no curriculum at all. California is one of the most lenient homeschool states in the nation (a bit of an irony considering the leftist government ). Pennsylvania's homeschool laws are probably the most difficult to comply with -- I have a friend who homeschooled there the last two years and they had to show the district work portfolios, etc. Not an issue here if you're a private homeschool. I can't tell you how beautiful the K12 materials are. The Kindergarten curriculum has roughly 20 classic storybooks provided -- my kids have been begging me to get off the computer and do more "school," and it's after 8:00 here. Can't ask for a higher recommendation than that! :) Happy to provide any other information you might like to know.