Adam Schieber's school day straddles two worlds. After eating breakfast with his family, the 15-year-old pads over to an iMac in his bedroom at 8 a.m. and logs on to the Virtual Charter School, an online compendium of Internet links, teacher webpages, lessons, and assignments created for homeschooled children by the teachers of Basehor-Linwood (KS) public school district, where Adam lives. At 10:30 he showers and goes to the local public high school, where his older brother is a full-time senior. Adam takes two classes, chemistry and French. Between classes he joins his brother and pals at lunch in the school cafeteria, and at 1:30 he returns home to finish off any schoolwork left over from the morning.

This is the new face of homeschooling. Where once, not so long ago, homeschooling families were entirely on their own to find curricula, provide opportunities for socializing, and monitor academic growth, today an increasing number of school districts are offering homeschooling parents a rich array of benefits. In Kansas, California, Colorado, Washington, and other states, school districts that once grudgingly granted permission for homeschooled children to participate in after-school activities now openly court them with virtual curriculum packages, school-based enrichment centers, in-service training sessions, and even, in at least one case, a full-time school designed to satisfy the demands of homeschool families. "It's an incredible safety net," says Adam's mother, Melanie Dearing, of the curriculum, textbooks, and professional support she gets from the school district to homeschool Adam and two younger children, Nicole, 7, and Brandon, 5.