Each school day at 2:35 p.m., Joshua Jones enters a classroom at Crescent City Junior-Senior High School and settles into an agriculture class for eighth graders.
It’s the only class Joshua attends at the school, located about six miles from his home. And it caps the academic portion of his day, which starts at 8:30 a.m. sharp when he and his younger siblings, Jacob (sixth grade) and Kylie (fourth), begin their home education with their mother, Ashley.
The Jones children receive Personalized Education Program (PEP) scholarships available through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and managed by Step Up For Students. PEP offers parents flexibility in how they spend their scholarship funds, allowing them to tailor their children’s learning to meet their individual needs and interests.
PEP allows families access to services and classes at public, charter, or virtual schools, adding another layer to hybrid learning for those who home educate.
Since the passage of PEP as part of House Bill 1 in 2023, 36 of the state's school districts are offering services to students with education savings accounts, with 12 more in the pipeline, according to Keith Jacobs, director of provider development at Step Up For Students. Those include some of Florida's large districts, such as Miami-Dade, Orange, and Hillsborough, as well as more rural districts such as Baker and Putnam, where the Joneses live.
That’s a welcome addition to the more than 500,000 students who are using state K-12 scholarship programs in Florida, where 51% of all students are using some form of choice.
Ashley and her husband, Daniel, use a portion of Joshua’s PEP funds to pay the Putnam County School District for Joshua to take the agriculture class and the fees for him to run cross country and play junior varsity soccer and baseball for the Raiders.
“This is a good opener for this year to figure out how this will work and if he will like it,” Ashley said.
Ashley used to teach elementary school music, art, and physical education. She is currently the girls' varsity volleyball coach at Crescent City Junior-Senior High and runs the local club volleyball program. Three years ago, she and Daniel, the pastor at South Putnam Church in Crescent City and a nurse at a hospital in Palatka, decided to home educate their children.
“The class sizes just were not feasible to me,” Ahsley said. “There were too many kids in the classroom. I love their teachers. I know them personally, but somebody’s going to get left behind. Somebody’s not going to get everything they need.
“Daniel and I decided that since I'm teaching kids anyway, I should be teaching mine. They're going to get so much more out of it, because it's just me and them.”
Joshua said he enjoys learning at home.
“We get done with school a lot quicker and have a lot more time to do things while still being able to learn,” he said.
Ashley teaches her children from 8:30 a.m. until the early afternoon. After that come chores and activities they can do outside in the fresh air and sun.
“My thing is this: I have intelligent children who I can teach, and they can be advanced and do it as fast as they want to, and that’s great. It just makes sense to me. This is the best model for us,” Ashley said. “I know it's not for everyone.”
The children are active in the community, are involved in sports and have a ton of friends, especially Joshua.
“He enjoys his social life,” Ashley said.
Crescent City is a small community. The city itself is less than three square miles with a population of fewer than 1,700. Ashley said it doesn’t lend itself to home education co-ops and chances for the Jones children to interact with other home-educated students during the day.
“That was the biggest piece that was missing for Joshua, going to school and seeing friends,” Ashley said.
So, when the opportunity was created for Joshua to return to a brick-and-mortar school, even on a limited basis, his parents pursued it. The agriculture class meets during the last period of the day, and Joshua was headed there anyway for sports.
Ashley called it a “great compromise.”
“He's going there to do something that he likes,” she said. “He loves the animals. He loves to learn about them. He’s going there for one of his electives, so that's one less thing that we do at home.
“He's already going to the school at the end of the day anyway, so now he just gets to see his friends and interact with people, and he's in a teacher setting, which I think is a good thing, too. It is hard when it's always mom. So, I think having a teacher also teaches life skills, so I don't think that's a bad thing at all.”
Joshua said he wants to continue with an agriculture class next school year. He would also like to join Future Farmers of America.
“It’s fun,” he said. “I get to go back to the school so I can still hang out with my friends and still get to take a class there.
“I do love learning about animals.”
