Thinking of joining a public ISP (Nor Cal folks chime in please)

[dangermom]

I recently discovered a public charter school that is a parent-directed program. For you Northern CA folks, it's called South Sutter Charter School, and it has sister programs called Ocean Grove and Sky Mountain (?) or something like that.

 

The deal seems to be that they do the paperwork, and a teacher comes and visits you about once a month. They emphasized that the teacher does not have to check everything--it's fine to just show a list of what you've done. (I don't really have a problem with showing work anyway.) As long as you can show something in the 4 core subjects of math, English, history and science, they don't bother about keeping to the state curriculum or anything like that. Of course they can't pay for something like Rod and Staff, but they don't mind you using it. The important thing is that you get money.

 

Oh, and they're accredited, which is nice for getting into a UC. UC does not currently care much for homeschoolers and I've been figuring that either things will change in the next 10 years or we'll go to BYU or Stanford (should my kid turn out to be a genius). It would be really nice to have the option of the UC system.

 

We are broke, and I'm currently unable to buy anything at all (my husband runs a start-up and we're hit a rough patch). So the money is a huge draw. It's far more than I ever dream of spending and would cover extra-curricular stuff like dance and music, as well as science kits and all.

 

I've always been very independent and haven't wanted to have to answer to anyone about homeschooling. I have my standards and I don't want to have to deal with anyone else's. But this school appears to be ideal for me--no fuss, no hoops, just a little reporting and money to get the stuff I need.

 

Any thoughts on making this switch? Experiences with this particular charter school?

[Pink Fairy]

I'm familiar with South Sutter, and I actually know several ES's that work there. They offer a huge vendor list, and if I remember correctly the funding is very generous.

 

We've chosen to go through Visions Charter School, because the one drawback with South Sutter is that most items other than workbooks are considered returnable--even things like flash cards. Although you are allowed to keep things from year to year, when you either withdraw or graduate you have to turn everything back. I didn't want to be responsible for keeping track of things for several years.

 

The people I know that work at South Sutter are really nice, and the school isn't intrusive. You are free to choose your own curriculum (although of course they won't pay for religious curriculum, but you can still use it if you pay for it yourself).

 

Hope that helps!

[dangermom]

We've chosen to go through Visions Charter School, because the one drawback with South Sutter is that most items other than workbooks are considered returnable--even things like flash cards. Although you are allowed to keep things from year to year, when you either withdraw or graduate you have to turn everything back.

Aha. Now that is something they didn't tell me. Hm. Why would they want stuff back--do they re-sell it? I will have to look into that. I guess I don't really care about returning old Saxon textbooks or whatever, but it could be quite a pain keeping track of smaller things.

[Pink Fairy]

I don't really know why they want it back. It might be because it's paid for with public funds, although that's also true for my charter school and others that don't make every little thing returnable. I was just speaking with a friend about it this weekend (her dh is an ES), and she said his office is completely crammed with people's returned curriculum. She's not the only one to talk about this. It seems like it mostly ends up in the ES's garage, doing no one any good.

[JenneinCA]

Ocean Grove is the popular one here. One of the big issues some people have had is actually getting assigned an ES. There is sometimes a wait of several months and while you are waiting you don't get the money. This was a problem for a lady with three kids, the wait was six months!

 

Most people really like Ocean Grove and the list of vendors for classes is huge. So they like that. Some ES want more documentation than others. I think it depends on the person.

[King Alfred Academy]

Another option would be Natomas Charter School...PACT program. You don't get a big chunk of money to spend, but they do buy/lend the curricula of your choosing (not Christian though), offer classes (like science, writing, computer, drawing, Spanish, dance, marital arts, ect.)for free, plan field trips (2x month...usually free for the kids and a discount for the parents), and have a great resource room full of books, videos, games, ect available for check out. The best part for me is the community of moms. They are GREAT! I have been able to really connect with some (which was a blessing since we just moved to the area!) and the kids get along wonderfully. Oh, and there is a large group of classical educators...one of the Advisors is heavily into it and offers us "enrichment" classes and the support is nice.

 

I have found the advisors not too be intrusive...well, most of them. Ours is great and trusts my abilities so she just has me bring in the boys work and she heeps mounds of praise on them. They love it and it's nice to have someone other than me praise them...and even offer constructive critisism. We meet every three weeks or so. I was a little nervous about giving up my "freedom", but I have not found that I have at all. :001_smile:

 

I will say that this year has been one of "ups and downs" for the school. They moved into a new building that ended up not being finished on time and tehn it flooded about a month ago. It was crazy! But, things are getting back to normal now.

 

FWIW...I am not a "recruiter" for the school. When you know of a good thing, why keep it to yourself? I found out about the program through another mom on this board (Hi Sailmom!) and I just want to pass the information along. :001_smile:

 

 

ETA: Never mind...I just saw you were in Chico and I think that would be quite a drive for you, huh?

Edited June 3, 2009 by King Alfred Academy

[Carol in Cal.]

One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is state testing. It's required, and very difficult to opt out of--you are risking your spot the following year if you don't choose to participate. It's not administered very well around here--the tests are given in one or two days, so they are pretty intense for a grade school or middle school student. And the testing environment tends to be pretty noisy.

 

I had kind of an epiphany about this two years ago--I decided that the testing procedure was age-inappropriate and that I would monitor and support spreading the testing over a longer period of time. So last year I actually sat outside the door of the test room the whole time DD was testing. I told her in advance that we would be leaving at lunch time and coming back another day. That took all the pressure off.

 

This year, as they had 3 tests to do instead of their usual 2, I came on three different days. Again, I told DD in advance that I would do that. I got some complaints for moving some of her testing into the make up days, but I didn't take a 3 hour test until the SAT's my junior year in high school, and I just don't believe that a 6th grader should take a 5 hour test all in one day. It's not reasonable.

 

My DD took the 7th grade writing test this year, and they had the 4th grade test in the same room. The two teachers who were administering the test were reading the 4th and 7th grade instructions simultaneously! In the same big room! Someone who needs peace and quiet and focus to do well on tests would not show their strengths well in that kind of environment at all.

 

I find that with OG, I have been able to benefit from the ES meetings by thinking about them in advance and deciding what I really need to have covered. Sometimes I just want to talk about my child in private. Sometimes I want to ask that the ES help her correct a piece of writing (the pain of editing and proofreading instruction should be shared, I feel.) Sometimes I want DD to have an opportunity to present her work to someone, especially if she has finished a big project. So in order to have control over those meetings, I try to make sure that there is not much else to talk about--I get the work samples all finished perfectly and copied in advance, and I write up a short description of what we have been doing that month to hand to the ES, and I jot down whatever I want to cover so that we can click right through it.

 

The people I know who don't like OG are mostly people with very flakey ES's--ones who don't show up for meetings regularly or who don't convey requirements in advance. Or otherwise, they are people who don't choose to be proactive and think through what they want from the relationship in advance. In general, I hate the state testing but OG has felt worth it to me.

[Amber in SJ]

Here in San Jose we use Ocean Grove. The reason you have to return non-consumable items is because those items go into their "library." You may go to the library and check these items out for the time that you need them. For example; I can check out the MUS teacher manual that someone else purchased & only use my funds to buy the consumable student textbook. It all depends on how flexible your ES is in determining what is consumable and what is not. That being said I work very hard to use my funds for classes and consumables so I don't have to keep track of very much. For K-8 it is super easy. You only need to provide one sample from each subject area. Your children also have to attend the annual standarized testing. Your ES can be as involved as you want. I don't want/ need any input from her so once a month I fill out a learning record. This is a one page form where I make short notes about what we have done in each subject and e-mail it to her. We meet at the park, I sign the attendance sheets and she asks me or the children any questions she has about what is on the learning record. There are a couple weird things about how they let you spend the $$.

 

High School is a whole 'nother ball of wax (whacks?) First of all you have to have a "highly qualified" teacher (SME) oversee each subject. They take $$ out of your funds for the cost of each teacher. This really reduces the available money. To qualify for the A-G units that are acceptable to the UC system you are required to use the one & only textbook approved by the SME for that class. This is usually a PS text and is often very expensive once you buy the text and the teacher's manual. The text and teacher manual for two classes can take up most of your funds, and then you are stuck for your other classes. The SME can approve another text but you will only get regular units not the A-G units. Also, to receive A-G units your ES must proctor all the tests given in any given subject. The SME will decide how much documentation you will need to provide and for us it has been a mountain. I was turning in 30+ pages of dds work every month.

 

We have loved Ocean Grove for K-8, but high school is hard work. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about any of the little "tricks" I have picked up of the last couple of years. I know that charter schools can be controversial on the boards, but it has really helped enrich our homeschooling experience.

 

Have a great day,

Amber in SJ

[Carol in Cal.]

For ordering materials, OG sticks a very large shipping and handling uplift onto all orders. Sometimes that money shows up back in your account once they turn out not to need it (like if you're ordering from Rainbow and meet the free shipping requirement) but generally it comes back too late to be used anymore and reverts to OG. Just to be clear, I could think of a use for it, but at a certain point OG freezes all accounts and you can't access them for the rest of the school year.

 

It is very much to your advantage to channel as much of the money as possible to classes and consumables. Classes don't have the shipping and handling uplift, and consumables don't need to be returned when you leave the program.

 

So, given a choice of expenditures, pick music lessons over art supplies, and art supplies over non-consumable textbooks.

[Hen]

I am with Sky Mountain. I was with another charter school for 7 years or so, both were run in a more parent-led way, the schools can both be hands off in curriculum/scope and sequence matters if you wish.

 

Sky Mountain seems to be run in a more professional manner than my last one. Yes, they do say that even the workbooks need to be returned- but My ES was really nice about it this year, and let me hang on to mine to work thru the summer with.

 

I use several programs they cannot pay for, but have had no problems. I have always decided what we will study and what books we will use. It has been really helpful to order the stuff I can, such as math and phonics, and we are able to do music lessons that we would not be able to do if not in the charter.

 

it has been a good experience for me, my first ES with the other charter became my best friend.

 

for all the good, because of No child left behind laws- the charters seem to be tightening things for high school. In my old charter school, you could choose a non-UC schools tract- meaning you were not planning on applying to a UC college after senior year...and choosing the non-UC tract, I would have been free to continue on the way I have, doing my own thing. Well, now because of No child left behind, they have tightened things and want things done online or video. We've decided it is too many hoops to jump through, so we are not using the charter for high school.

 

I've had a good experience with charters. Remember to read everything and ask questions, and be comfortable with what they expect of you and what you expect of them. Good luck!

[dangermom]

Thanks so much for all this information. I really appreciate it!

 

I don't mind testing for my oldest now--she'll be in 4th and while I don't approve of the ridiculous amount of testing the state requires, she's at an age to handle it OK. I'll have to investigate it for my younger girl. IMO 4th grade is the absolute minimum age when testing could possibly be acceptable.

 

The HS info is very interesting too. I have pretty clear ideas about high school and they don't include HS textbooks. I'll have to look into that pretty carefully (though ATM we do not have a hard-and-fast plan for HS; we're definitely planning to be home through 8th grade and then we'll see what each child needs and wants).

 

I will be thinking hard about this and asking a lot of questions--thanks so much and keep it coming please!

 

(King Alfred, I appreciate the info but Sac is indeed too far for us to go!)

[JennW in SoCal]

It is fascinating how differently each charter school handles high school. Our charter school has remained VERY flexible through high school, with one child doing a non-UC track and the other a UC track. I have been able to choose my own materials and projects with both tracks. Our EF is supportive of all we do and has been exceptionally helpful in coming up with assignments for my non-traditional learning challenged oldest ds.

 

The school has also been very flexible with testing, allowing kids as much time over as many days as is needed. It isn't mandatory, no matter what they say, but they have to have a ridiculously high percentage (90 -95%) of students take it or they lose funding. That is why they pressure you to have your kids take it. Many schools offer incentives such as free movie passes to all the kids who finish the testing. A friend's dd decided to think of it as a fund raiser for the school to take the pressure and yuck factor for herself out of it!

 

Each school treats consumables differently, too. Our school keeps going back and forth over whether or not Teaching Company video courses are consumable, for instance. I try to take advantage of their library of materials each year, and I figure all of us homeschoolers benefit from the interesting titles we each want. I introduced Foerster's Algebra to the school this year, so next year someone else can consider it when browsing the Algebra section of the library.

 

There are some schooly things that have made being a part of the charter worthwhile. My youngest ds was part of a robotics team, and my oldest was active in a teen club. There are some good field trips and school trips to Catalina or Washington DC. There is also going to be a nice commencement ceremony next weekend. My boys don't care about year books or dances, but I know other kids appreciate those types of school "trappings".

[Amber in SJ]

I know this is OT, but I have a method for dealing with the Ocean Grove (and other charter schools) adding on big S&H that doesn't get refunded until it is too late to spend it. I make my final curriculum purchases by February 10th and that way the excess S&H charges get refunded to my account well before the April cut-off. In April, with the S&H charges refunded, I make a little purchase from one source of consumables. For me this is usually Office Depot for ink & paper, but it could just as easily be Dick Blick for art supplies or Barnes & Noble for summer workbooks. I never have more than $5 left in my account.

 

Amber in SJ