K – 8th Grade FAQs

Oregon Family School is a public charter school sponsored by the Harney County School District. We are a virtual school, but we offer many on-site options for our students who seek interaction with students and staff. Our primary mission is to support families who have chosen to educate their children at home. Because we are a public school, we do not charge tuition. In fact, our state funding can help you purchase curriculum and/or extracurricular learning experiences to support your student’s academic plan. As a virtual school in Oregon, we can serve families throughout our state, however our current on-site options are only available in Bend, Redmond, and LaPine.

OFS is a public charter school that is funded by the state of Oregon. For this reason, you are not considered a homeschooler when you enroll in our school. However, the majority of your student’s schoolwork will be done at home under the supervision of a parent or guardian. You do not need to follow “homeschooling” requirements for the state of Oregon. Instead, your student’s academics and progress will be regularly reviewed by both the parent at home and the Education Coordinator at OFS

K-8 families will communicate with OFS in the following ways:

• Daily Attendance: Student attendance will be taken daily. 
• Weekly Check-Ins: Families will respond to an email from their Family Advisor weekly regarding student progress. 
• Monthly Conferences: The student and parent will submit work samples and meet with their Family Advisor to review students’ academic progress. 
• Yearly Assessments:  Students will be required to take appropriate assessments 2-3 times per school year to monitor progress.

Yes. We partner with Baker School District to provide special education services. We also provide support for reading struggles – with trained tutors to help students who have characteristics of dyslexia. For students with 504 plans, we work to provide the necessary accommodations to maximize accessibility. Because we are a model where the majority of a student’s instruction is carried out at home, we provide consultation support to the parent/guardian who oversees their student’s individual learning plan. 

Materials and curriculum choices are made at the initial Individual Learning Plan conference with your student’s Advisor. After the initial meeting, your Advisor will provide you with a link to an order form (if you choose to have OFS pay for the materials and have them shipped to your house), or a reimbursement form (if you prefer to purchase the materials on your own). The cost of the curriculum will be deducted from your allotment funds. Purchases that do not support your student’s ILP will not be reimbursed. Reimbursement checks are issued monthly.

Does your student want or need to use assistive technology such as voice-to-text, text-to-speech, audiobooks, etc.? Here is a document to help you with that. 

Reach out and we’d be happy to answer any other questions you have. You can contact our team, here.