ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Popovs are an Orange County family who chose the home school route at the beginning of the year. However, that method is not how they will finish the school year.

Over the fall semester, we got to know Jessica and little Dimitar Popov. A big reason Jessica Popov chose the home school route this year was because they feared the pandemic would cause interruptions during the school year.

But interruptions started happening at home.

“Before the Christmas Break and after the Christmas break we noticed he just could not maintain the focus,” Jessica Popov, a mother of two, explains. “He did not want to do school anymore with me, and there were a lot of arguments happening between us.”

As of October 15, 2020, 8,770 Orange County students were enrolled in home education.

Dimitar Popov is now one of the 69 who has returned to face-to-face learning, according to Orange County Public Schools.

It is a decision that the family admits still doesn’t have them feeling completely comfortable just yet.

“Totally freaked out,” Popov expresses. “If the school called for anything like he forgot his water bottle my heart sunk, I’m like, ‘He has COVID, we are quarantining this is it.’”

Dimitar Popov and his family have not had to quarantine since he enrolled this spring at Baldwin Park Elementary.

In fact, Jessica Popov has been impressed with not only how her son is handling being back on campus, but how being back on campus has refocused him.

“There are times I see him benefitting from it. He now enjoys reading again, and it is not a forced task,” Jessica Popov says with a smile. “Now he comes home and is like, ‘What book can I read?’”

To ensure Dimitar Popov could return to the first grade, Jessica Popov had to maintain a portfolio of all of his educational activities. Samples of work also had to be submitted.

Since enrolling her son back in school she says not only is his learning back on track but so is their relationship.

“I remember him coming home with his first recognition of what he was doing well at school in,” Popov says. “He was so excited to receive that recognition, and then in turn I was really excited because it was the validation that he needed.”

Sending Dimitar Popov was not an easy decision for Jessica Popov, but she recognized what was working and what wasn’t. She admits, so far, being back in face to face is working.

For those continuing to do home school this year, they must maintain a portfolio of educational records that the state defines as a log of educational activities with the instruction and title of reading materials, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the student. ​