It is home schooling with a twist, kids attend public school over the internet.

Around 50 families here in Grand Junction have already made the switch from a real public school to the virtual stay at home version. The online public school is through Colorado Connections Academy based in Denver.

But the academy is different than most home schooling options. Teachers based in Denver actually teach and create the lesson plans. The parents of students only have to monitor and send the assignments to Denver to be graded.

Barbara Campbell has two of her three kids taking class through Colorado Connections Academy. Barbara says, "The lessons are all planned so I have the benefit of the public school with teachers' scheduling everything."

Barbara says the best part, and the main reason she took her kids out of Wingate Elementary was for the convenience. She says the kids get to decide what they want to learn and when they learn it throughout the day.

Another good part is the whole program is free. Colorado Connections Academy will provide a free computer with free internet. All textbooks, workbooks, and experiment materials are also free.

Two informational sessions have been planned for this week. Tuesday an informational session will take place in Montrose at 6:30 P.M. at the Holiday Inn located at 1391 S. Townsend Ave. Wednesday an informational session will take place at Western Colorado Community College in Building B Room 171 at 6:30 P.M. Informational session participants will get to talk first hand with teachers and parents from the online school.