You are probably reading this late at night, after a difficult week. Your child does not want to go to school, or is coming home flat, or is bright and bored, or is falling behind and nobody at the school seems to have a plan. You have started searching and the words you are finding do not match what you want to know.
Here is what the options actually are, what each one asks of you, and how to tell a real school from a website.
First, a word that means two different things
If your search brought up American articles asking whether alternative schools are for troubled kids, that is because the term means something specific in the United States. There, an alternative school is usually a placement for students removed from a mainstream school for behavioural or attendance reasons. It carries a stigma, and the stigma is the reason so many American parents search for it that way.
In South Africa, the UK and most of the rest of the world, alternative education means something broader and more neutral. It covers everything that is not a mainstream government or private school: online schools, home education, learning centres, and schools built around a particular method such as Montessori or Waldorf.
If you are outside the United States, none of the American anxiety applies to you. You are choosing between legitimate options, not accepting a demotion.
The five options
1. Online school with live lessons
Your child stays home and attends timetabled lessons taught by subject teachers, on a real schedule, working towards recognised examinations.
What it asks of you. Reliable internet, a quiet place to work, and enough presence in the day to notice if your child stops attending. Less than home education by a wide margin, more than dropping them at a school gate.
What it suits. A child who needs to leave a specific environment rather than leave school altogether. Bullying, a long commute, a sport or performance schedule, illness, a family that moves, or a school that cannot offer the subject combination your child needs.
Where it falls short. A child who genuinely cannot self-start at all, or a household where no adult is around at all during the school day, will find the first term hard.
At CambriLearn this is the model: live timetabled lessons with specialist teachers, recorded so a missed lesson can be caught up, for students aged 4 to 19.
2. Home education
You take legal responsibility for your child's schooling and teach it yourself, choosing your own curriculum and pace.
What it asks of you. A great deal. In South Africa this is a legal undertaking, not an informal arrangement. Section 51 of the South African Schools Act, as rewritten by the BELA Act, requires you to apply to the Head of Department at your provincial education department. Compulsory schooling now begins at Grade R, so children aged five and six are inside the band. End-of-phase assessments at Grades 3, 6 and 9 must be done by a suitably qualified assessor.
What it suits. Families with a parent who has the time, the subject confidence and the temperament for it, particularly in the primary years.
Where it falls short. Most parents hit a wall somewhere around Grade 8 mathematics or physical sciences. There is no shame in that. It is why many home educating families move to an online school for the senior phase.
Worth knowing: SAHomeschoolers.org estimates that more than 95% of South African home educating families are not registered with any provincial department, against a home educated population usually put at around 300,000 children. That gap between the law and the practice is real, and it is a decision to make with proper legal advice rather than on the strength of a forwarded voice note. The Pestalozzi Trust exists for exactly this. We set out the detail in homeschooling in South Africa and what the BELA Act changed.
3. A learning centre or tutor centre
Your child works through a curriculum in a small supervised venue, with a facilitator rather than a subject teacher, alongside a handful of other students.
What it asks of you. Fees, transport, and a careful read of who is actually teaching. Facilitator qualifications vary enormously between centres.
What it suits. A child who needs to be out of the house and around other children, and a parent who cannot supervise during the day.
Where it falls short. A facilitator managing eight children across four grades cannot teach Grade 11 mathematics the way a mathematics teacher can. Ask directly who teaches the senior subjects and what they are qualified in.
CambriLearn works with more than 40 partner centres for families who want the venue and the supervision alongside the lessons and the teachers.
4. A school built on a different method
Montessori, Waldorf, democratic and forest schools all reorganise the school day around a particular philosophy of how children learn.
What it asks of you. Usually higher fees, usually a commute, and a genuine look at the exit. Some of these schools are excellent and some do not lead anywhere a university will recognise.
What it suits. Younger children, and families who agree with the underlying philosophy rather than just liking the atmosphere on the tour.
Where it falls short. The senior phase. Check what qualification a Grade 12 leaver actually walks away with, and ask to speak to a parent whose child has already gone through it.
5. Staying, and changing one thing
The option nobody lists. Sometimes the problem is one teacher, one subject, one friendship group or one impossible subject combination, and the answer is a conversation with the school rather than an exit.
What it asks of you. A meeting, and the willingness to be specific about what is wrong.
What it suits. Almost everyone, as the first step. It costs you an afternoon and it sometimes solves the whole thing.
How to decide
Work through these in order. Most families discover the answer is obvious once they answer the first two honestly.
What is actually wrong? Write it down in one sentence. "He is being bullied by three boys in his class" points somewhere different from "she is bored in every lesson" and different again from "we are moving to Dubai in April." A vague answer produces a vague decision.
Who is available during the school day? Be honest rather than optimistic. Home education needs an adult present and teaching. Online school needs an adult who notices. A learning centre needs neither, and costs more.
What does your child need to walk away with? A National Senior Certificate for a South African university. A levels for a UK or international application. A US high school diploma. Working backwards from the qualification eliminates about half the options immediately.
How long have you got? A child in Grade 11 has a different set of choices from a child in Grade 4. Mid-year moves in the senior phase need the exam registration checked before anything else.
Four things to check before you commit
Whatever you choose, check these four. They are the difference between a school and a website.
Accreditation, named and verifiable. Ask which body, then check the body's own register rather than the school's marketing. CambriLearn is accredited by Cognia and by Pearson Edexcel, registered with SACAI and with the IEB, and NCAA approved.
Who teaches, and what they are qualified in. "Facilitators" and "learning coaches" are not subject teachers. For the senior phase this matters more than anything else on the list.
The exam pathway, in writing. Where does your child sit the actual examination, who registers them, when do entries close, and what does it cost on top of fees. Vagueness here is the single biggest warning sign in the whole sector.
What a leaver has in their hand. Not "university acceptance" as a phrase, but the name of the certificate and a parent you can speak to whose child has used it.
Frequently asked questions
Is alternative school for bad kids? In the United States the term usually refers to a placement for students removed from mainstream school for behavioural or attendance reasons, which is where that reputation comes from. In South Africa, the UK and most other countries it simply means education outside the mainstream system, including online schools and home education, and carries no such meaning.
What is an alternative school? Any school that operates outside the mainstream government or private system. In practice the category covers online schools with live lessons, home education, learning and tutor centres, and schools built on a particular method such as Montessori or Waldorf.
Is online school the same as homeschooling? No. In home education you are legally responsible for teaching your child and choosing the curriculum. In an online school your child is enrolled in a school, taught by subject teachers on a timetable, and the school handles the curriculum and the examinations.
Do I have to register with the education department? For home education in South Africa, yes. Section 51 of the South African Schools Act, as amended by the BELA Act, requires an application to the Head of Department at your provincial education department, and compulsory schooling now starts at Grade R. Grades 10 to 12 fall outside the compulsory band. If your child is enrolled in a school, including an online one, the school carries the registration and you do not apply separately.
Will my child still get a matric? It depends on the pathway, not on the format. Students following CAPS write the National Senior Certificate through SACAI or the IEB. Students on the International British Curriculum* or Pearson Edexcel pathways earn International GCSEs and A levels instead, which South African universities accept for exemption.
Can my child move mid-year? Usually yes in the primary and intermediate phases. In Grades 10 to 12 the exam registration deadlines govern everything, so check those first, before fees or timetables.
How much does it cost? Home education is the cheapest in fees and the most expensive in your time. Learning centres and method schools are usually the most expensive in fees. Online school sits between the two. Our 2027 fees are published in full, in your currency.
What if we try it and it does not work? Ask every option you are considering what happens if you leave after one term, and get the answer before you enrol rather than after.
Where CambriLearn fits
CambriLearn is an accredited online school for students aged 4 to 19, teaching live timetabled lessons with specialist teachers across six curriculum pathways: the International British Curriculum*, Pearson Edexcel, US K-12, CAPS, KABV and the IEB. Families have rated us 4.8 stars across Google, Trustpilot, HelloPeter and Facebook.
It is one of the five options above, not the answer to all of them. If your situation is a parent at home who wants to teach primary school themselves, home education is a better fit and we will tell you so.
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