Jump to content

Menu

3musketeersmom

Members
  • Posts

    8
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by 3musketeersmom

  1. Jet, So sorry about the way this has happened. More food for thought (as if you haven't had enough already)... If you are contemplating a refund at all remember to take another look at the K12 International Academy's Student Handbook. (I was surprised that it was posted on the K12 Icademy webpage only ten days before today's discount deadline.) They are very clear about their refund policy on page 25. For any interested you can find a link to the 28 page student handbook at http://www.k12.com/int/. Click the "Who We Are" tab and choose "Our Policies." It's a .pdf download. What follows is information taken from page 25. "Withdrawal and Refund Refunds are calculated based on the withdrawal date. The parent/guardian must send a letter, fax or e-mail to the K12 office requesting a withdrawal. Withdrawal date is defined as the postmarked date of the letter or the electronic imprint date on the withdrawal fax/e-mail. " 100% tuition refunded if the withdrawal DATE is prior to the start date of school AND no materials have been shipped. 75% tuition refund if withdrawal DATE is prior to the start date of courses AND materials have been shipped. 50% tuition refund if the withdrawal DATE is within **21 CALENDAR DAYS** after the start date of classes. 0% tuition refund if withdrawal DATE is more than **21 CALENDAR DAYS** after the start date of the courses. :confused:[**Are calendar days continuous days as opposed to business days which are only Mon-Fri?**] Finally:"Any applicable shipping charges are non-refundable if materials have been shipped." Given all that's happened, I just want to remind you of the stringent nature of their tuition refund deadlines.
  2. Sorry to hear about this. Did you have the opportunity to talk about anything related to placement or did the counselor just tell you to wait until next week? I am interested to know how receptive they will be to your input as a parent regarding your dd's placement? Thanks for keeping us posted.
  3. Nan, do you know if there is a difference between TWEM and TWEM AT HOME? I just did an Amazon.com search and several versions of TWEM showed up.
  4. ...and I was surprised to find that the curriculum for K-8 was the exact same as the curric purchased through K12 consumer direct. Also found out that the mastery-based "grading" is exactly the same. It actually made me feel better about our recent decision to withdraw from a virtual academy and go K12 Independent again. I'm sorry to hear that you had already paid before finding out that it was exactly the same as charter. I imagine the teachers are different, though, and that there will be no state testing since the icademy does not need to adhere to state standards. I wonder whether the charter will be structured the same way as the international. Do you have any idea yet? I struggled with the decision regarding the icademy enrollment. What helped a lot was the fact that my dc are still k-8 and I truly missed the flexibility of homeschooling. My kids are looking forward to the return to independence. I've followed your posts for a while now and my first thought was whether you think you would adjust easily to the state-based requirements inherent in virtual academy/charter enrollment. Based on the K12 online presentation, there does seem to be a bit more flexibility in the ICademy than in the virtuals. I am looking forward to reading about your experiences with the k12 private school.
  5. I'm so happy for your ds! I'm glad it's working for him. I'm interested in why you think the issues I mentioned (and Scarlett commented on) would be the same in K12 Independent. Again, that is awesome news.
  6. If by difficult you mean too academically rigorous, that is not the case for my ds. I think it is just his learning difference. He does extremely well on all his assessments; his pace is just different-- especially for language arts. In fact, I think that was the case for other families because the school "officially" ended the school year May 28, but gave families who still needed to log hours or days the "option" to continue schooling their children until June 30. The 2006/2007 school year officially ended June 30-- it was not a grace period. So, again, not sure why they "changed" it. I think there are families whose children are able to do the work, albeit challenging. I just think it would have been nice for families to have been told this at the beginning of this school year so that the child could progress in the "challenging" subject area without stress. If you don't mind sharing, I am interested to know what concerns your dh has/had with homeschooling. In my response to Erica I mentioned someone who had the same issue.
  7. Erica you raised an interesting point when you mentioned your husband's relief about the decision. I think it's very important for there to be agreement among spouses regarding the homeschooling versus charter schooling decision. My dh and I are always conferring about issues that arise. Interestingly enough, I know someone who strictly homeschooled and received so much negative feedback from dh and his side of the family that she decided to join the virtual academy to relieve the pressure she was feeling. She enrolled her child to legitimize her decision to homeschool her child.
  8. Hi Everyone. I am new to the forum. In fact I was prompted to join because of reading this thread. I think it's unkind to label parents lazy, etc. because something doesn't work for them. Mind you, I don't know any of the parents to whom you refer, but I think people have different strengths and weaknesses and the requirements of the virtual academies, no matter how minor they might seem to some, are a stretch for others. {I also have to preface my comments by saying that I taught at the university level for a number of years until I had children and decided to teach my own children, while continuing to research and write as an independent scholar whenever the kids don't need as much of my time. Also, I should say that money was never an issue in our decision-making about our childrens' education.} My dd has been enrolled in TXVA for 2 years and my ds for 1. My dh and I made the decision because we like the k12 curriculum--- so much so that the first year our dd was enrolled, we purchased the curriculum independently for our ds who was not yet old enough. K12 allowed us to test our dd and ds (who both work above their age-appropriate grade level) and txva allowed us to place them in the grade level at which they were working at the time. My dd was 7 when we enrolled her in 3rd grade--although she tested at fourth grade level. The administration suggested that, since she had never taken a standardized (read TAKS) test, we shouldn't place her in grade 4 across the board for fear that she might not pass the testing (writing). So we enrolled her in 3rd and the school allowed her to work in 4th Math and Language Arts which we thought was great....not understanding that she would be tested at the 3rd grade level for the state test until we got to the testing site and, after the test, she told us the test was soooo easy)! We thought we could change it the second year around, even looking at a local brick and mortar to see whether they would allow her to be placed across the board in the higher grade level. No go for either local of virtual. B&M said they would "enrich her curriculum" which, in retrospect, I realized was what the virtual had done. We considered pulling out, but we decided to remain with TXVA until the school could figure out the many policy changes it was implementing and until we could see how our ds, who entered 3rd grade at 7 in Fall 2007, would fair with TXVA. Well, turns out she was tested below grade level this year at the 4th grade level in reading and math and writing although she had worked diligently at the 5th grade level all year long. Some might see this testing situation as a blessing in disguise. We don't because she felt a big let down after having worked so hard during the year to master grade 5 material. She verbally expressed that she was frustrated with this situation. During this year when we asked whether she could move into 5th grade across the board if she finished her coursework early and took the school's grade level testing for Science 4 and Social Studies 4, we were told no. But we were told could she would have been able to move into the next level subject matter ahead of time--she just couldn't test into the next level. Well, when we told her that, she felt like it was a waste of her time to work hard and remain at the same level no matter how hard she worked. We have had a mixed experience. Primarily it has been positive. Both our teachers (year one and two) were awesome! But I will say that between the time we enrolled our dd in fall 2006 and now, there have been a tremendous number of changes that have given us great pause because we see the power of the administration to make changes when they deem them appropriate. Here are a couple examples. 1. When we enrolled Fall 2006, we were told to log attendance regularly and complete the OLS lessons before the end of the school year-- speeding up or slowing down as the child needed--as long as we finished the lessons. There was no parent handbook detailing all of the requirements. We were told that we had to log 180 days and 1080 hours. We were told that we could do museum trips, etc. and log them as time in the particular subject (in addition to the regular lessons). I'm not sure what happened in between, but by Fall 2007 it was laid out in plain language that, in no uncertain terms, if the parent failed to log attendance over several days, that information would be relayed by the teacher to the administration, if unresolved, reporting truancy, etc. We were told that the students had to make 3% progress in each subject each week--not leaving much time for slowing down for my ds who needs more time in language arts/literature while he exels in most other subjects. He has a different learning style, plain and simple. As K12 Independent we had allowed him to work a few subjects at a time until he had command of it, then we added more to his schedule. Not able to do that with the virtual. 2. We loved the concept of the Elluminate online study halls where the students could meet each other and interact with their teacher. But once the school expanded during Fall 2007, the number of students in study hall increased to 30-50. My dd started complaining about how she missed being able to raise her hand and participate on a regular basis. With 4 study halls per month (and sometimes recorded when the teachers had in-service meetings, etc.), she would be doing well to have a chance to answer verbally more than once or twice. The teachers, in all fairness, want to give everybody a chance to respond. 3. Our learning is not restricted to M-F between 6am and 6pm. I say that because we often work on the weekend (which is considered "extra time" by the school's policy). To chart attendance, there is a daily quiz that opens at 6am and closes at 6pm. The kids would periodically forget to log in and do their daily question before it shut down at 6pm. This would not be a problem if it didn't count against their grade and reflection of progress. Sometimes we would jet off to ice skating or soccer lessons and forget. This was not frivolous time spent-- it counts as their physical education log in time-- and their sports used way more than the state's 35min per day requirement (but we can't log their true time because of recordkeeping policies.) Does that make us lazy and bad because we get started on work and don't always remember to log the quiz before it cuts off or mark attendance after each lesson? No. Quite the opposite, we were told both years that we were one their most compliant families. It's a good thing we had an understanding teacher, who, by the way, was feeling quite overwhelmed herself as she had to take on an increasing number of new students and families once the school expanded. We are opting out of txva this year not because it is a horrible program, but rather because the structures that have been put in place have eroded OUR family's sense of freedom to teach our children. My dd wants to work at and be tested on the level at which she is working. My ds needs to continue to enjoy learning and not feel pressured to earn percentages by the end of each week. Instead, we are going to use K12 Independent and maybe enroll in a couple of K12 Icademy courses. (Interestingly, K12 Icademy has no problem placing my daughter across the board in grade 6 in the Fall if she were to attend as a full-time student). I respect those families for whom the virtual academy works well. I encouraged at least one person to join in the Fall of last year and it serves her needs perfectly and I continue to tell others of its existence. But it no longer works for us. I think it served its purpose for us and allowed us to have a perspective on homeschooling that we never had before. I would love to hear others' experiences/comments.
×
×
  • Create New...