As thousands of families already know, Biola University isn’t just for university students.

For the past two decades, Biola Youth has been supporting the K–12 homeschool community with a range of classes and activities aimed at supplementing home education. And now, a new program is making it more convenient than ever for parents to homeschool their students.

The new Biola University K–12 Private School Satellite Program provides parents with administrative support, academic resources and Christian community as they seek to educate their children, said June Hetzel, dean of Biola’s School of Education, who oversees the program with Biola Youth Academic Director Lydia Knopf.

“This program is designed to support homeschool families in the tailor-making of their children’s education,” Hetzel said. “We believe parents are the primary educators of their children and so we’re helping equip them as they embrace their God-given calling to educate their children.”

Currently, California families that wish to homeschool their children have a few options: They can file paperwork directly with the state, essentially becoming their own private school; they can join an independent study program (ISP) through the public school system; or they can work under the umbrella of a private school through a “private school satellite program” (PSP).

Biola’s PSP helps to simplify the legal and educational process for families by supporting parents in the development of courses of study and connecting families with helpful resources, including Biola Youth Academics’ in-person and online classes, as well as university lectures, centers, events and library access.

The program is especially helpful for students who are gifted or who have special needs, Hetzel said.

“If a family comes to us with special needs, we’ll do an intake interview with that family and we will connect them to specialized services that Biola has to offer,” she said. “For example, if a family had a child with speech or hearing difficulties, we would connect them with the speech and hearing clinic here at Biola. Or if the child had autism, we would connect them with professors who have specialties in autism.”

For the program’s first year, which opens this fall, enrollment is limited to approximately 100 students. Families can enroll from anywhere and receive online support, Hetzel said.

For information about the Biola University Private K–12 School Satellite Program, visit youth.biola.edu/academics/psp.