More families are leaving the traditional classroom
This is a much bigger group than it used to be. Federal survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics found that in 2022-23, 3.4% of K-12 students were homeschooled and another 1.8% attended a full-time virtual school, so more than 5% of students were learning at home. Johns Hopkins researchers tracking state homeschool counts found that growth continued through 2024-25, with several states hitting record highs. Microschools and hybrid schools have grown alongside them, helped by state education savings accounts (ESAs) that let public dollars follow the child.
The options below are grouped by how they actually work day to day, because that matters more than the label.
The options at a glance
| Option | Grades | Format | Typical cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-day live online program (Recess) | 2-10 | Live small-group academics, electives and community, 9 to 5 PT | Tuition with aid; many ESA families pay $0 | Kids who need a different pace plus real peer time |
| Live project-based online school (Prisma) | 4-12 | About 2 to 2.5 hours of live workshops Mon-Thu, plus async projects | About $11,190 (grades 4-8 with coach) | Self-starters who love themed projects |
| Virtual public charter (K12, Connections Academy) | K-12 | Scheduled live classes plus self-paced work at home | Free | Families who want public-school structure at home |
| Self-paced online private school (Laurel Springs, CMASAS) | K-12 | Mostly asynchronous courses with teacher or coach check-ins | About $7,000-$9,000 for K-8 | Independent learners, flexible schedules |
| Microschool (Prenda, KaiPod) | K-8 | Small in-person group with a guide, 4-5 days a week | Roughly $2,200 platform fee (Prenda, plus guide fee) to $8,000-$15,000 (KaiPod) | Kids who want in-person community |
| Hybrid / university-model school | Mostly K-8 | 2-3 days on campus, the rest taught at home by parents | Varies | Families who want to share teaching |
| Montessori, Waldorf, Acton Academy | Pre-K to 12 | In-person, child-led or Socratic | About $7,000 to $40,000+ | Families aligned with the philosophy |
| Homeschool and co-ops | Any | Parent-led, co-op usually one day a week | Curriculum costs | Parents who want to teach |
| AI-first school (Alpha, Unbound Academy) | K-12 / 4-8 | About 2 hours of adaptive software, then workshops | $40,000-$65,000 in person; Unbound is free in Arizona | Families comfortable with a software-led model |
Prices are published figures from each provider as of September 2026 and change often.
1. Full-day live online programs
A full-day online program replaces the whole school day: core academics taught live, plus electives, clubs and social time, all online. What sets it apart from a virtual charter: the teaching is live and small-group, and the day includes real peer time.
Recess runs this model for grades 2 through 10. Each school day starts in a small learning pod with the same kids and the same Recess adult. Math, English, science and history are taught live in small group cohorts and are mastery-based, so kids move ahead when they've shown they understand the material. Afternoons are electives like coding, game design and science, plus over 200 project challenges that build toward a year-end capstone. There's a supervised community hour every day. Recess students scored at a median of the 89th percentile in math and 91st in reading on NWEA MAP Growth in 2025-26. Arizona families enroll in the Recess school itself; families in other states access Recess through an accredited partner school in the Recess school network, which issues transcripts, or through Recess's online learning program. ESA funds apply in many states. See what a Recess day looks like.
Good fit: kids who are bored, overwhelmed or burned out in a regular classroom but still want friends and structure. Tradeoff: it's still screen-based learning, so it suits kids who can engage online with adult support.
2. Live project-based online schools
Prisma (grades 4-12) groups kids into live cohorts of about 20 to 25 with the same coach, often for several years. Live workshops run about 2 to 2.5 hours a day Monday through Thursday, with about 2 hours of asynchronous project work. Learning is organized around interdisciplinary themes. Tuition for grades 4-8 is about $11,190 with a Prisma coach, or $5,350 if a parent acts as coach. Sora Schools runs a similar live model but starts at grade 6.
Good fit: motivated kids who like themed, cross-subject projects. Tradeoff: live time is a few hours a day, so parents fill the rest, and Prisma starts at grade 4.
For a deeper comparison, see our guide to project-based online private schools.
3. Virtual public charter schools
K12 (run by Stride) and Connections Academy (Pearson) operate tuition-free online public schools in most states. Students follow a state curriculum with scheduled live lessons and self-paced work, and take state tests.
Good fit: families who want a free, standards-aligned public school at home. Tradeoff: younger students need a parent "learning coach" for much of the day, classes can be large, and the research record is mixed. Stanford's CREDO found online charter students learned substantially less in a year than similar students in brick-and-mortar schools, though that study is from 2015. As public schools, they generally can't be paid for with ESA funds.
4. Self-paced online private schools
Laurel Springs (K-12) and the Christa McAuliffe Academy School of Arts and Sciences (CMASAS) offer accredited, mostly asynchronous courses. CMASAS pairs students with a coach and a weekly live homeroom; elementary tuition runs about $6,995 to $7,995. Laurel Springs elementary starts around $7,200.
Good fit: independent learners, traveling families, athletes with odd hours. Tradeoff: little live teaching and few peers, which is hard for younger kids.
5. Microschools
A microschool is a small in-person group, often 5 to 15 kids, led by a guide. Prenda runs 4 days a week (4 hours for K-2, 5 hours for grades 3-8) with a $2,199 annual platform fee for scholarship students plus the guide's fee. KaiPod runs full weekdays for about $8,000 to $15,000 a year. About half of microschools have families using state school-choice funding, according to the National Microschooling Center.
Good fit: kids who need in-person community in a small setting. Tradeoff: quality varies from guide to guide, and availability depends on where you live.
6. Hybrid and university-model schools
Kids attend campus two or three days a week and learn at home the rest, with parents teaching the home days. Most serve elementary grades.
Good fit: families who want to share teaching with a school. Tradeoff: a big weekly commitment from a parent.
7. Montessori, Waldorf and Acton Academy
These are philosophies more than formats, and almost all are in person. Acton Academy uses Socratic discussion, self-paced mastery and project "quests," with campus tuition around $11,500 to $16,000. Montessori and Waldorf tuition ranges widely by city.
Good fit: families who buy into the philosophy and have a campus nearby. Tradeoff: it's still a daily commute and a fixed campus schedule.
8. Homeschooling, co-ops and unschooling
Parents choose the curriculum and do the teaching, often joining a co-op one day a week for group classes and friends. Unschooling drops set curriculum in favor of child-led learning. Many families add a few live online classes (Outschool is a common supplement) for subjects they don't want to teach.
Good fit: parents with the time and interest to teach. Tradeoff: it's a big job, and your state's homeschool reporting rules apply.
9. AI-first schools
Alpha School gives students about 2 hours of adaptive software each morning for core academics, then afternoon workshops led by guides. In-person tuition runs about $40,000 to $65,000 depending on city. Unbound Academy is a free Arizona online charter for grades 4-8 using the same 2-hour model.
Good fit: families who want a fast, software-led academic block. Tradeoff: limited live teaching, and the model's results have not been independently evaluated. We cover this in depth in AI tutor online schools for kids.
How to choose
Ask four questions:
- How much live teaching does my child need? Younger kids and kids with attention differences usually do better with a live adult and a consistent group. Self-paced options suit older, independent learners.
- How much teaching do I want to do? Homeschool, hybrid and many virtual charters depend on a parent for hours each day. Full-day programs and in-person schools don't.
- Where will friendships come from? Look for a stable peer group that meets every day.
- Can I use ESA or scholarship funds? In states with ESAs, private online programs and microschools can cost far less than their sticker price. See online schools that accept ESA funding.
Whatever you pick, ask each school how it measures progress (a nationally normed test like MAP Growth is a good sign), what a typical day looks like hour by hour, and how transcripts work if your child returns to a traditional school later.