What exactly is online school? If you’re thinking about moving to online school, one of the first things to understand is exactly what it is. That way you can compare it to other types of school systems and decide which one works best for you.

There are a few different types of schooling: Online school, brick-and-mortar, hybrid, and homeschool. There can be different names than what I just listed–for instance, brick-and-mortar school could also be called physical school–but the basic way they work remains the same, despite any name changes.

Online School

Online school (also called virtual school) is basically where everything is shifted to a virtual setting. Classes are now online in a format such as a Zoom meeting. Books and materials are sent to the student’s house to let them work there instead of at a physical school. All of the work is done at home, or someplace other than a physical school. 

The benefits to a system like this is that it generally takes less time, has more location freedom and flexibility, and is safer. 

Instead of sitting in class all day only to then go home and do homework, you generally have a few classes a week and then spend most of the day doing homework. By the time everyone else gets off of brick-and-mortar school, you (or your student) is generally done. 

You can also do it just about anywhere there’s an Internet connection and your school supplies, which can lead to more flexibility. 

Plus, it’s going to be pretty safe from things like shootings.

The drawbacks are that there is limited social interaction, the student is on their own to get lunch (they can’t get it from a school cafeteria), and it can sometimes be hard to learn things. 

The teacher isn’t there to see whether you, or your student, is struggling so they can help them. That’s why quite a few online schools will have a minimum GPA requirement. If the students can’t keep that up, then they probably need someone there to physically guide them through it.

Brick-and-Mortar School

Brick-and-mortar school is the traditional school system where you go to a physical building, go to physical classes just about all day, then get homework that you get to take home and do. You likely already know what this one is.

The benefits are that there’s more social interaction, teachers are there physically to see whether students are struggling and need additional help, and food can be provided by the school.

The drawbacks are that it generally takes longer, things like shootings, drugs, etc. are more of a risk in a physical school setting, and there’s less freedom of location. Brick-and-mortar school and online school are basically opposites when it comes to their drawbacks and benefits.

Hybrid School

Hybrid school is a mix between brick-and-mortar school and online school. There’s some online application where you can do things anywhere, and there are some things where you have to be there physically (like classes). The benefits and drawbacks lie somewhere in the middle of the two.

The benefits include more freedom of location than brick-and-mortar school, more social interaction than online school, a teacher there to help teach you (or your student) physically, and it’s in between the two types in terms of safety.

The drawbacks are that there’s less freedom of location than pure online school, there’s possibly not going to be lunch or other food provided, there’s less social interaction than pure brick-and-mortar school, and it’s generally not as safe as pure online school. The chance of danger is greatly mitigated by only being at the school part time, but it’s still a risk.

Homeschool

Then there’s this thing called homeschool, which is basically where the parents/ guardians become the operators of the school. As the name implies, it’s generally done at home. The parents/guardians are the ones who select the school programs, teach the programs, and basically manage the entire school. 

It’s kind of like online school, only taken up a notch. Because of its similarity to online school, the two can sometimes be confused for each other.

The benefits to this type of school system is that the parents and kids can have more flexibility with what gets taught, there’s more safety, and there’s more freedom of location. I know a family who did homeschooling with their kids and traveled across the U.S. in an RV with the freedom of location that it provided them.

The drawbacks are that it can be expensive to start if a homeschool program is bought (instead of the parents/guardians creating it on their own), there’s not as much rigidity (which can sometimes lead to things just not getting done), and there’s less social interaction.

Now you know the differences between the types of school systems, but would you like to know more about how to actually do online school?

I’m going to pretend you enthusiastically said “Yes!” 

So, here you go! Click here to be taken to our post on how to do online school.