The families who are looking elsewhere

As parents weigh the benefits — and potential costs — of returning to either classrooms or virtual learning, some families are considering other options.

Interest in homeschooling in recent weeks has been "explosive," said J. Allen Weston, executive director of the National Home School Association. "I just can't keep up with it," he said. "Thousands of emails coming in, and on some days the phone just continually rings all day long."

It's not just the risk of infection that has parents considering homeschooling, Weston said. He's hearing from many families who are worried that the classroom experience will be diminished by pandemic precautions. 

While many imagine homeschool as limited to single households, Weston said that some 70% of families contacting his organization have expressed interest in forming multiple-household homeschooling groups. (The NHSA calls these Parent Organized Discovery Sites.) 

Similar ideas are also gaining traction, such as the in-home "microschool" model Prenda. Website traffic was up 737% this June over the same month last year, said Prenda founder and CEO Kelly Smith. 

Both Weston and Smith emphasized that these nontraditional models aren't just for families with a stay-at-home parent. 

Many, if not most homeschool families have two parents working full time, said Weston, adding that the virtual schooling we saw this spring likely took far more of parents' time than a homeschool group would. "The idea that homeschooling takes up an enormous amount of time ... is a complete misnomer," he said. 

Still others are looking for ways to leave the classroom behind altogether. 

Interest in outdoors-only "forest schools" is also rising, according to Kimberly Worthington, president of the board of directors of the American Forest Kindergarten Association. In this model, kids spend their days outside in small groups, regardless of weather. 

That appeals to Sean Bleything of Winooski, Vermont, whose 4-year-old son is currently enrolled in Burlington Forest Preschool. Bleything hopes his son can keep a spot there in the fall. 

"Every day, they're outside all day long, climbing trees and chasing frogs," Bleything explained. Preschool is a big expense for the family, said Bleything, but it allows both parents to continue working full time. The kids will stay outdoors all year, even when the northern Vermont winter brings below-freezing temperatures.

Experts say virus transmission is much lower outside, which is a relief to Bleything's family. 

"They're able to follow all the [social distancing] guidance inherently because of the way it's set up," Bleything said. "It's been perfect."