I personally liked the teacher guides better than the HIG.

It really depends on the child. My oldest thrived in Singapore because she required little practice and remembered everything. My youngest excels in math, but needs the repitition to remember, so Horizons is the perfect fit for her.

I think that Math has come from just learing how to add/subtract to actually thinking about why something is done and how to manipulate numbers in different ways (like the Singapore approach). My oldest is in public school and she can breeze through math facts, formulas, etc, however they ask a lot of why something is the way it is. I know this is so very different than the way I learned. Math is so much more than a formula and I think that kids are at an advantage having to explain why something is done. Now, I do see the lack of "basic math" teaching so I do make my kids do math fact drills and teach some of the more traditional as well (I homeschool the youngest).

I loved SOTW with my oldest. I like the activities, maps, and books from SOTW but my daughter really loves the online stories and lessons from K12. I think I just need to go throught the AG of SOTW and pull in what I would like to cover :).

Hello All! I was wondering if anyone has ever done the K12 history program and aligned it with Biblioplan? I was looking into it but thought I would ask here first. Thank you.

Hello All, I have read quite a bit about busy work lately and I just wanted to throw this out there. What I believe busy work is or is not :) Busy Work is NOT work that a child does to reinforce or practice a skill. This may be in worksheet form but it is NOT busy work if the child is LEARNING from it and it is necessary practice. Some children simply need more practice in a subject area. Busy Work IS given to a child to, well, keep they busy and out of your hair for a few minutes :). In my opinion if a child requests this then what harm can it be. The issue comes in when there is so much that it bogs down the child's love of learning or over teaches an already mastered subject. Hope this helps some of you!!

I just wanted to add a little about busy work. This was a good reminder for me. Worksheets are not necessarily busy work if the child is learning or practicing a skill. "Busy work" is different for each child. Giving my oldest a page of math problems she already knows how to solve to keep "busy" is busy work. Giving her math problems to reinforce a skill she is learning or needs help with is not. Sometimes I feel (and it may or may not be true) that people assume worksheet means busy work, and this is not always the case. :)

I have used the K, 1st, 5th and 6th grades. I LOVED the curriculum. In the older grades there is little busy work and a lot of key skills learned. It includes grammar, literature, and vocabulary. In the younger grades we do not do ALL of the worksheets but pick and choose and bring in a few additional activities. I really love this curriculum as well.

My daughter did a bit of Chinese through PowerSpeak. It was ok. I have not had experiences with the other languages. This year she is starting Chinese over using the Middleburry Language Option through K12. I do not know if this is an option for you, however when I was talking to a K12 rep. she recommend this option over the PowerSpeak.

I have to say that my daughter did 5th grade last year and complete all of the 5th grade math and LA and 1/2 of the 6th grade math and LA. I have to say her teacher said she has never seen math scores just so much in the course of a year! I am just saying that to say it is a solid math program IMHO. So for pointers, DO NOT attempt to do all of the work....they would be doing stuff forever. Pick what you feel they need in a lesson. Did they grasp the math lesson? Only do the problems that they need to enter for the assessment. To much writing in other subjects, skip the writing assignment in language arts. Have them do what you feel they need to do to grasp the concepts presented in the lesson. The middle school level work is written to the student, so I really did not need to help very much. I thought the Literature part of the Language Arts taught good skills, however it was a bit easy for Elizabeth. The grammar was TOUGH though....a lot of new concepts for her to learn, which I loved and she hated :). We just did extra practice in this area. Hope this helps!! Kris

From what I understand about Math+ is each stare is different. So my kids are using the Oregon version. I am wondering how much the curriculum changes from state to state. I was told each state has different standards and the curriculum aligns to the standard of your state. Also, my kids do not need a ton of practice or review so formusnthe curriculum is a perfect fit.

I forgot to add that we do block scheduling. Our VA does not care how we do our lessons as long as we are doing them in a week. We did not have music or art for Kindergarten but we had art added when DD advanced all subjects to 1st Grade. We block history and science and art. It was not working well for us without blocking....just too much jumping around every day. Once we blocked our subjects it was smooth sailing :)

I have to chime in here. My kids LOVE K12 Math through Virtual Academy and in fact are thriving in it! I think that they do an excellent job in teaching it. This curriculum is Mastery Based, so your student needs to master the concepts before moving onto the next thing. My DD is in 6th Grade math because she finished her 5th Grade math early. By this level they expect you to have mastered ALL of the basics...fractions, decimals, addition, subtraction , multiplication, and division. Decimals are covered in 5th Grade math. Now, both of my kids may not like math (one does and one does not) but they grasp concepts easily and tend to excel in math, so I can say from that stand point I think it is an excellent program. It is very different from the way I learned math growing up, but it is a good, solid program. Personally, I do not understand why everyone dislikes this so much???

We have done ORVA this school year for my K and 5th grade daughters! For us it has been a great success and a great fit for our family. From what I understand each Virtual Academy requires different things so I can only speak for our state. PROS The curriculum was a great fit for my girls. It is thorough and detailed. Both of my girls worked through their grade level and then moved onto the next grade level in many subjects (my K DD finished all of her work and is working entirely in 1st grade). The History and Language Arts really seem to follow the classical model. She is working in Ancients for History and lessons similar to FLL in Language Arts with classic stories, etc. We are free to use the parts of the lessons we want and not the parts we do not want. As long as the student is reaching the objectives for the lesson they really do not care how much of the actual lesson you use. For instance 5th Grade DD is an excellent speller so we just tested on the lists and did no other spelling work. The live classes are excellent and by far my girls favorite parts of their school experience. 5th Grade DD is actually going to B&M school next year, so this has been an excellent transition for her and it has made getting her placed into the appropriate classes far easier. It is FREE and I have to plan nothing :). I do incorporate some fun projects of my own when I want to, but this really frees me up to teaching and working directly with my children versus always planning and worrying what to do next. For me this was the selling point. I love being able to teach my children without the pressure of planning. This was a HUGE deal for us. CONS It does require a lot of time commitment and is not as flexible as "normal" homeschooling with required hours, etc. We did not mind this at all, some people do. Language Arts promotes together....so your student needs to advance in Literature, Grammar, Phonics, etc. all at one time. Not the best system. Everything is mastery based. Many lessons require an assessment after to see if the child has mastered the concepts. This has been totally fine for us. However, if a student does not master the concepts the same assessment is repeated. Not really ideal for a student who would just study the wrong answers and then answer them correctly. It would be nice if the assessment questions changed. We have had an overall great experience. DD K is re-enrolled for next year. DD 5th is going to Middle School and this had to do with her needs, not with the school in the slightest. Honestly, I would have re-enrolled her in a heartbeat, but we feel that a school setting will be better for her learning style.

My kids have a laptop to share. We have had it about 2 yrs and we bought it used, so it is pretty old. They can use it in the school room (which is open to the living room and kitchen) and in their rooms to watch a DVD or something if they are sick and have permission. It is nice for them to have a computer that I do not care if they destroy (okay, I DO care, but at least it is not my computer) :)