Umbrella school is an alternative education school which serves to oversee the homeschooling of children to fulfil government-mandated requirements regarding education. Great Neck Village School, an alternative high school in Great Neck, New York, USA Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, describes a number of approaches to teaching and learning other than traditional publicly- or privately-run schools. ... Thomas Edison attended compulsory school for only three months, after which he was taught at home by his mother and a tutor. ...

Umbrella schools vary greatly in what they offer and cost. Some offer group classes, a defined curriculum, sports, field trips, standardized testing, and more. Others exist only to collect the minimal legal requirements, allowing parents to choose their curriculum and methods of teaching, as well as freedom from an annual evaluation or testing requirements. Additionally, some umbrella schools follow a specific faith, while others are secular. In education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses and their contents offered by an institution such as a school or university. ... A field trip is typically a journey by a group of people performing research on a topic to a place away from their normal environment. ... Originally a standardized test was simply a standard test – of academic achievement or of knowledge in a specific academic or vocational domain. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ...

The legal definition of umbrella school varies by state. In many states, schools are required to collect immunization and attendance records, in addition to other things required to submit for any publicly-run school. Many times umbrella schools operate under the same legal guidelines as an independent school. Some states have course and daily time requirements. In others, students are bound to the normal standard school year and records must be kept to prove that students fulfil the required amount of time. Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual is exposed to an agent that is designed to fortify his or her immune system against that agent. ... An independent school is a school which is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operation and is instead operated by tuition charges, gifts, and perhaps the investment yield of an endowment. ...

Other umbrella terms

• Umbrella term
• Umbrella fund
• Umbrella organization
• Umbrella brand