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What is Julian Charter School?


Julian Charter School (JCS), a public charter school authorized by the California State Board of Education for distance learning, became independently incorporated in July 2000. The school is a public school sponsored by the Julian Union School District in San Diego County, California. JCS offers home study, independent study, and academy programs in San Diego, Riverside, and Orange Counties. As JCS is a public school there is no charge for our school program. The school employs highly qualified, state-credentialed educators to work with parents and students to design and implement an individual instruction plan that fits the students’ learning styles and educational goals. Student instructional programs may be designed to prepare the student to continue their education at a college of their choice or to enter the workforce.

The school is publicly funded and fully accredited to grant high school diplomas. A six-year accreditation term was granted through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in May of 2004.

During the early years, Julian Charter School was entirely a home-based independent study program. During the 2002-2003 school year, the school opened its first Learning Center in the Temecula Valley area. Since then, Learning Centers have been established in three other areas: San Diego and Orange County (Yorba Linda & Mission Viejo). The Learning Centers offer students in grades K-8 core and enrichment classes to supplement the home study program. Classes are taught by highly qualified and credentialed staff or by specialists in the field.

How is Julian Charter School different from other public schools?

Julian Charter School’s mission is to provide an exemplary personalized learning program in a resource-rich environment. The nature of our program allow for a wide variety of instructional approaches, learning styles, abilities, and interests that are difficult to accommodate in a traditional setting. Further, most of our students receive direction instruction from their parents in their own home.

How will I know what to teach my child?

Your Educational Facilitator (EF) works closely with you to create an instructional program that best meets the needs of your individual student. Since each student is unique and learns in a different manner, your EF can help you to identify your student’s learning style and provide guidance on instructional methods that are best suited to that learning style.

What if I have a problem and need help?

Your Educational Facilitator (EF) is there to guide you and provide assistance every step of the way. Every EF is available by email or by telephone. You will meet with your EF at least once every 20 school days to discuss your child’s progress and any difficulties you may be experiencing.

Where do I get curriculum from?

JCS has a very large curriculum library in Murrieta that we call the “Resource Center”. The Resource Center has over 100,000 curricular items in stock for every grade level. Resources include textbooks, teacher editions, home school favorites, and supplemental materials such as literature, workbooks, videos/DVDs, CDs, educational software and manipulatives.

JCS also has a library, within the facility, that houses supplemental materials. Parents are welcome to visit the library during designated days to check out materials.
Each student in the home study and independent study programs has a student account and up to 50 items may be checked out from the resource center at any time.

Additionally, K-8 students in the home study program are allotted $250 EMR educational units that may be used to request approved materials and materials from approved vendors in cases where the materials are not available in the Resource Center.

How can I enroll my child?

For enrollment into the home study or independent study program, please contact the Admissions Counselor via telephone or email. The Admissions Counselor will obtain additional information regarding your student and your particular situation. The enrollment office will then place you with an EF who will contact you to arrange an enrollment meeting. At this meeting, all registration paperwork will be completed with the parent and student(s).

Julian Charter School offers 2 types of programs for students

Home Study

The Home Study program is a program designed for students whose parents are actively involved in their education. The parents have a strong sense of what they want their children to study and are actively involved in the lesson planning, instructing, and correcting of assignments for their children. Home study students, as well as their parents, have face-to-face meetings with their Educational Facilitator at least once every 20 school days for a minimum of one hour per student per meeting. During these meetings, the Educational Facilitator reviews ALL assignments, collects samples to include in the required monthly paperwork, discusses any problems or areas of concern that may have occurred during the month, and assigns, with parental input, the next month’s assign­ments. The student’s personal interests are incorporated into the assignments as well as activities and assignments that complement his/her learning style(s). The meeting dates are decided upon during the completion of the Master Agreement each semester.

  • High school students will also be assigned to to subject area teachers in the core courses. These teachers, called Specialists, will assist in the assignment and evaluation of the daily work, be available for consultation and tutoring during the semester, and are be respon­sible for the final examinations which must be taken in all core courses (math, English, science & social science).
  • Placement in Home Study or Independent Study is chosen at the beginning of each semester. Alterations to this program choice may only be made at the semester change or with the approval of the administration.

Academy Programs

The second program choice is our Academy programs. An Academy is typically an “all-inclusive” educational program hosted by various JCS sites. This program option generally consists of 2-4 days per week of core subject instruction and 1 day per week of academic electives (depending upon location and program philosophy). Students entering into the Academy will receive direct instruction from highly qualified credentialed teachers in the subject area of instruction and will then complete homework and projects at home much like in a traditional classroom.

Students who attend the Academy are assigned directly to the Academy Advisor of that given site, versus being assigned to an Educational Facilitator. If you are interested in the Academy option, contact the appropriate Academy office directly. Academy programs are located in the following areas Murrieta, San Diego, Encinitas, San Marcos, Oceanside, Pine Valley, and Alpine.

Student Support

JCS offers many support services, some of which will be recommended by the Educational Facilitator and some that may originate with a request from the student or parent. Services include, at a minimum, the following:

  • Special Education Services
  • Safety Net & Safety Net Tutoring
  • Student Study Teams (SST)
  • Academic Counselor
  • Reading Specialists
  • Math Specialists
  • Learning Center/Academy Classes
  • Content Area Specialists, Department Chairs, and other Curriculum Support Teams
  • Educational Materials Requests (EMRs)
  • Vendor Course Instruction (VCI)
  • Parent Trainings
  • Parent Wiki (Access to resources and discussion forums)
  • Online resources such as Discovery Streaming, Discovery Science, Compass Learning, and others at no charge to currently enrolled students.