K-12 Online public school - satisfied?

[eclecticmom]

Texas has the K-12 online virtual academy that will pay for our tuition, books, art supplies, PE supplies, science supplies, computer and printer. I did the online orientation just to see what it was all about. I was tempted by having everything paid for with the tax dollars I already contribute to the state. They use Joy Hakim's series to study history chronologically and latin is available. They are using Sadlier Oxford Math, which I know nothing about, but apparently didn't work too well at our co-op before I was enrolled there. They repeat over and over that it is not homeschooling - it's public school at home. So my questions are these:

 

1. Has anyone used K-12 and had good or bad experiences with it?

2. Is it enough of a classical model? If not, why not?

3. What really is the difference between homeschooling and doing school at home? Is it the addition of (or emphasis on) Bible, character training, life skills, and family socialization?

4. Is it possible to do the public K-12 and still feel that you are successfully homeschooling?:grouphug:

[EKS]

I have used some K12 courses independently for the past two years and it has been a very positive experience for my children and me. Generally the courses are excellent, though they tend to have a lot of worksheets. I just selectively assign the worksheets and do a lot orally.

 

That said, I think I would go nuts doing a full load of K12 courses with a virtual academy, especially with more than one student. The virtual academy looking over my shoulder would stress me out.

[Radish4ever]

We're in TX and def. won't be doing K12 because a lot of the reasoning behind homeschooling for me was to be able to opt out of standardized testing (which is excessive in TX, imo).

I also like the flexibility of being able to adapt material to the learning styles of my DC.

 

I don't have any experience with it first hand though, so I don't know!

[Sunshine State Sue]

I probably have no business answering these questions because I have no personal experience, but I have a friend who uses the local virtual academy. I'm not sure if it's K12 or not. Please feel free to ignore my response.

 

1. Has anyone used K-12 and had good or bad experiences with it?

I have a friend who uses the FL virtual academy (books, computer, etc. included) and is happy with it.

2. Is it enough of a classical model? If not, why not?

I wouldn't consider it a classical model. But, I don't really know enough about it. I don't think they do the 4yr history/science rotation. My friend doesn't do Latin.

3. What really is the difference between homeschooling and doing school at home? Is it the addition of (or emphasis on) Bible, character training, life skills, and family socialization?

For me, I like to choose my own curriculum and schedule. The school dictates both in the virtual academy. Also, as public school students, they must take the state test.

4. Is it possible to do the public K-12 and still feel that you are successfully homeschooling?

Absolutely! My friend is not very organized and that is why she likes using the virtual academy. They keep her and her children on track.

 

ETA: One thing that I notice is that her children have a LOT of work to do, and they all get stressed out a bit, particularly at the end of the year because they seem to have large end-of-year projects. In some ways, that makes my friend feel good because she KNOWS that they are working hard. From my perspective, though, it's a bit too much.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Sue in St Pete

[Hsmomto4]

It is not a classical education to me at all. I would never use it at all unless I was forced to, specialy when the state is involved. I did not use it, but had 2 friends use it and both hated the amount of extra non sense work they had to do. Both dropped it after one year.

[Lori C- Texas]

We only lasted about 4 months with Texas K12 academy. I could not stand the amount of prep work that was involved for the TAAS test. My dd was in 5th when we tried this. She had to spend 15-20 minutes a day on their online TAAS test site then, do a workbook that was to help taking standardized tests, PLUS driving once a month over an hour away for practice taas tests or for the actual test. My daughter did enjoy when she went online with the teacher and class once a week because she got to use the microphone to talk over the computer. But that was about all she liked. She was also doing so much work!! It was amazing. She would start at 8, take a break for lunch, do more school, go to dance, have dinner and then still do homework!!

 

I think I would love to do K12 with out the virtual academy. If we could have slowed down and did it at my daughter's own pace, it would have been a lot better.

 

HTH,

Lori

[Supertechmom]

It's in the second year here in my state. The biggest gripe I hear is that no one tells the same story twice about how it works. Some say you can log in whenever just as long as the work gets done, others that it has to be at certain times, others that you can advance your students, others that you can't and so on. I haven't used it but run a support group and hear the stories. Some good , Some bad but all have issues with getting the same info twice out of K-12. Beinga new program here, I hope that is just working out the kinks.

 

I can address question 3. The big difference is that you are considered public school. You fall completely and totally under their jurisdiction, their rules, their laws, their requirements. You actually cause your home to be a "mini-public school" and subject to the state. Some people are okay with this and some are not. I don't know if I can post the link but SCHEA(south carolina home educators association) has a FAQ about virtual schools and the differences between public school at home and homeschooling. From the main site, they have a blue box stating Virtual Schools have come of age...click here. that will take you to a page with a lot of info on virtual schools. Granted it is very biased :001_smile: but they still give some good info about the differences. Maybe that can help answer some questions.

[Ellie]

What really is the difference between homeschooling and doing school at home? Is it the addition of (or emphasis on) Bible, character training, life skills, and family socialization?

As a homeschooler, you get absolute complete control over what you do. You are a private school, and you are not accountable in any way regarding what you teach, when you teach, whether you will test or not, when your dc graduate, and more.

 

If you enroll your dc in the public school, they will be subject to public school laws, including having to take the TAKS test, immunization requirements, graduation, time spent doing Official School, and more. You might be able to use the materials you want to...if they give you permission to do so.

 

HSLDA has quite a few articles about this.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

WE live in PA and use a public cyber charter that uses K12. For grades 1-4, I believe that history covers prehistory through the middle ages or thereabouts. In fact, I know for 1st grade the history is based on Story of the World but in an online format. Also, the language arts covered phonics, handwriting, grammar, beginning composition, and classic children's books/stories. Math was comprehensive.

 

I recommend checking out the scope and sequence on K12.com website for more info. They also have sample curriculum. I would also ask the specific school questions about testing and frequency of testing. In addition, I would ask about what work samples are required to be submitted and how grades or performance is determined. They should be able to anwer these questions or refer you to a person who can. They may also be able to refer you to another family to speak to as well. Lastly, I would ask about any mandatory online classes and their frequency and scheduling.

 

As for flexibility, I know in the younger years, it is very flexible in the sense that we had the freedom to still do some of the things that I felt were important. I was told that the curriculum is mastery based and that you do not have to do every last bit or activity of a lesson if they have mastered the objectives for that lesson. K12 offers a lot of activities for each lesson and if you did all of each lesson it might be time consuming. However, since it is mastery based it is not necessary to do every activity. They provide all of the activities for those who need it. I would ask the particular school if this is how they do it.

 

I also found K12 flexible in that if I felt that a science book from the library met the same objectives, then I used it sometimes. They do expect you to complete or master the lessons though in a timely fashion. They give you the lesson assignment each day. I do know that some parents will change schedule to do block scheduling which is ok, but I would ask the particlular school. Also, we were told that we could log hours 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, but that we still had to mark attendence each official school day and mark at least at least one lesson each school day as done. As far as progress, they expected you to complete about 10% of each subjects lessons per month. They do have a screen to check your progress as well.

 

I hope this helps.:)

[flyingmommy]

We tried K-12 with the Texas Virtual Academy. It was good in that it helped me make the leap to homeschooling. But that's about it. To be fair, it was the first year in the DFW area so they hadn't worked out the kinks. Our first teacher was great, but quickly became overwhelmed and bowed out. Our second teacher was a ditzy woman who seemed to be completely unable to answer a single question.

 

Texas requires you to jump in where you are supposed to be, so when we started in November, we had a lot of catching up to do. We couldn't do it. The pace was too hard for my dd. We were doing sixth grade, by the way. They basically hand you a math book and say "here you go." I guess that's ok if you are a math minded person, but I was at a loss as to how to teach some of the pre algebra and it was a nightmare trying to get through the math. It did show me, however, just how much she had not learned in public school, despite making all A's and B's.

There is an unbelievable amount of busy work. Theoretically, you have to log 30 hours a week, which averages to six hours a day. There was absolutely no way we could accomplish her work in six hours a day. We had to skip most of the science experiments because the prep time plus the work time was too lengthy. To get credit for the courses, a certain amount of progress was required. So we were forced to drag along even if she wasn't getting something, which was really the reason I wanted her out of public school.

 

In addition to her work, she had mandatory study hall every week. Not a bad thing except the teacher seemed to be under the impression that she was speaking to kindergarteners and not sixth graders. It absolutely drove my daughter crazy to listen to the teacher's sing-song voice. She spent most of study hall going over "ribbons" that various kids had gotten on Study Island, which was another mandatory thing my daughter had to waste time on. She was required to log into this thing every single day for a certain amount of time. Then there was the mandatory math tutoring they decided she needed. Great, but they were tutoring several children at once and never really helped her with anything.

 

Texas also requires a certain number of minutes of "PE" each day so that was an hour of her day that had to be spent doing a sanctioned physical activity. Playing outside didn't count. Riding her bike didn't count unless she did it for the required amount of time. I don't have a problem with PE but it was just one more thing to worry about.

 

What really was the clincher in our decision to leave the virtual academy was how much testing was required. We had to drive an hour away to do benchmark testing....twice. Then the TAKS test was two more days of driving an hour away. Then she had to take mandatory course completion tests that were to take two to four days....you guessed it.....an hour away. An hour away from home through Dallas traffic is a nightmare!

 

In the end, the hoops were just too many to jump through and we left six and a half months after signing up.

 

It is a big decision and I send you all the positive vibes I have to help you.

 

Jeannie

[Pamela H in Texas]

We did TXVA and it was the best decision we had ever made. Just for background, we had been independent homeschoolers before TXVA and have since gone back to being independent. My kids were in a brick and mortar public school for 8 weeks in the fall of 2001 but otherwise have been homeschooled.

 

TXVA (and k12 in general) is EXTREMELY flexible. Obviously other people feel differently, but you can pick and choose what of the options for an assignment your child really needs to do. There may be two activities to help them learn the point and another 3 for further exploration. So if your kid REALLY likes a topic, they give ideas for ways to follow up. The time they do that counts as school, helping you out with the time. However, if your student already knows a topic, they can easily take the assessment and move on or skim and move on. Both teachers we had felt this was the biggest problem for most parents. The teachers said over and over in meetings, conferences, etc that no student SHOULD do all parts of a lesson. K12 says that. There is WAY too much to require all of it of your student. And yet parents seemed to have difficulty paring it down. I'm not sure why.

 

With TXVA, you only have to finish a percentage of the curriculum, not 100%. For an A, it was like 90% last year. So if there is a topic that offends your conscience, skip it, it won't count against your student.

 

At the same time, you have to put in an average of 6 hours per day. Well, the curriculum doesn't take that long if you do the above (and I have a special needs student they required to work on age based grade level!). So then you add in things you WANT to do and study for time. So we downloaded Alice (.org) for example and he did basic programming with that. He practiced an instrument. He watched a documentary. We do a lot more than 30 minutes of exercise per day so that all counted for him also. Like new homeschoolers, we just paid a lot more attention to what we learned outside of curriculum and gave time credit for it. Family goes to the museum, kid plays with sister's art program, write a letter to grandma, etc all counts as school. Because of our religious materials, we were able to count that study also (this is probably not true of most religious materials though; ours is a bit different and can easily count as another subject).

 

Test prep is a pain and is part of public school. The timing requirements for the program came out to something like 20 minutes three times per week for that though. ANd it's a game format. We did have some online testing to do, but they got rid of the driving an hour away for benchmark testing (I'm not sure that is a good thing for the student, but I sure appreciated it). However, between the two benchmark tests, the TAKS test and the end of year test, we're talking 5-8 half days in a whole year. I just don't think that is obnoxious. The kids got school credit for the times, we did other fun things with it, etc.

 

And there are short conferences with the teacher. These aren't that big of a deal. Everything is fine or help us tweak this and it's over. They talk to the student and it's just as short. 15 minutes and done. I can spare 15 minutes per month to talk to the teacher.

 

The only other blah requirement is sending in work samples. It wasn't that bad, other than I just really don't like doing things on someone else's timing. Of course, you would think they took care of that when they told me months ahead what the 2 week window was, but I still hated that part. And the works samples were no big deal really. Send in a copy of something they did for history and a paper they wrote. Or send in a science worksheet and a math test they had taken recently. So not hard AT ALL. I just balked at it.

 

The other thing that worked well for us was that my son did REALLY well with having outside accountability. Sometimes those preteen years can be a struggle with mom and son as both are trying to find their place. There are posts galore about this on the WTM forums. But also, I think it is good for preteens and young teens to have some accountability outside the family at least for a time. My daughter attended a private school for one class, my son had TXVA for the experience.

 

Anyway, someone posted to the board about TXVA in Oct 2007 and we joined right away. My son mostly liked it and it was good for us. It turned a critical year for learning for my son from what would have easily been the WORST school year academically into the best. We continued through Dec 2008 and went back to homeschooling for the second semester of 8th grade.

 

It IS public school. They were VERY VERY VERY clear about that when I originally called. They were VERY worried about veteran homeschoolers coming in and thinking they were just getting free homeschooling materials to completely do or not do as they please. They had already had issues. They also found many homeschoolers unwilling to follow the rules. Part of that is normal for homeschoolers of course. Part is because homeschoolers LIKE dropping the ball too much (IMO). But in my experience, it was still closer to homeschooling (my kids attended public school for 8 weeks so we have a little experience with real public school. This wasn't it!). The flexibility of the program far outweighed the few hoops to jump through at least during the time we needed something else.

 

Okay, so YES we were very satisfied. I think independent homeschooling is superior if a parent can and will follow through, but I think TXVA is definitely a good option for those that have other needs or desires.

 

I didn't answer your questions but have written a book <sigh>

 

It is not strictly Classical and esp not in Texas. For example, the Texas science pulls from a couple sciences rather than just being one type of science. There are American History courses, so not the same 4 year cycle, though it does have all time periods covered more than most public schools. The art is really good if you want plenty of history and appreciation on top of application. Those sorts of things. I find it odd that Calvert is okay'd by many WTM'ers but K12 isn't. I find it similar.

 

ANd again, you can add in what you think it's lacking. You need the time anyway. Just add in what you want.

 

There is the question of time, but really, between natural learning, interest based learning, "afterschooling," etc, you'll have more than enough time. Assuming your children aren't VERY young, it should be fine. I do NOT think any young child should be doing 6 hours (on average) per day. But don't forget, you can count things you do on the weekend also. Just note the documentary you watch or whatever to put on Monday's time. You can log up to 12 hours per day. If you do THAT much on the weekend, spread it out over the week.

 

Okay, I'll quit rambling. I LOVE homeschooling, but TXVA was VERY good for our family for the 15mo (minus summer) that we used it.

Edited July 29, 2009 by 2J5M9K

[schsmom]

Ok Let me start by saying it does work for some people. Mostly it works when they just do a lesson or 2. I do have a friend that started her 2 boys at the same time I started my kids last year. It worked for her and she is doing it again this year.

Now with that said it absolutely did not work for me. My DD was 9 my DS was 7. 5th/2nd grade. It was SC first year doing this so one big issue is was it changed constantly for the first 3 months. We were their guinea pigs and they kept tweeking it.

Second the virtual academy is virtually impossible for the kids to learn when there are 50 kids in the "class" and not everyone gets a chance to practice. Third the actual materials that come in for k12 were scattered and we were always needing to start something without the materials.

Lastly the curriculum was truly 100% public school. If you don't have a problem with that, it may work for you. But at home I had incorporated a bible lesson and it is hard to teach bible when your kids are learning about greek gods in history at 2nd grade, they get a little confused. When I voiced concerns about the curriculum I was told by the kids"teacher" that k12 IS NOT a homeschool program it is a virtual public school. I really felt misled by the program description and was 150% overwhelmed by the daily routine the kids were expected to meet. The times schedule for the virtual school was strict and if you missed on you would get reemed out, at least I did. Honestly the way SC set this program up I truly felt as though it was just a way to discourage actual homeschooling. We made it from Aug to Dec and bailed out. I bought a workbook curr and although it was far from perfect our life became much more learning friendly and lots less stressful.

I guess if you don't mind being told what to do in your own home and exactly how it is and what it is your kids will learn and when it may work for you. But honestly it is far far away from homeschooling. Yeah your at home but that is it. Everything else is decided for you. Possibly there were teachers out there (just like public school) that are good but mine was strict and would not bend on anything! If I'm going to give so much of myself to have my kids at home...I'll be darned if someone is going to tell me what I'm going to teach. Hope this helps.

[eclecticmom]

These were such great replies! I appreciate everyone's experience and opinions. It sounds like it's a good option for families who like external guidance, like routine structure, have the ability to sift through the daily lessons activities and choose only a few activities, take requirements for testing in stride, don't feel the program represents an intrusion into their home, and who don't feel a significant loss of control when they can't influence the curriculum decisions.

 

My husband thought it sounded like a good idea but he knows trusts me to decide whether it's really a good fit or not. We're going to stay our course right now with our current curriculum, but I know it will come up again next year when my daughter is also of age to begin the program. Actually, I'm printing out the answers so I can pull them out of a file and remember why I made my decision this year! You're all wonderful!!

[newbie]

I have used some K12 courses independently for the past two years and it has been a very positive experience for my children and me. Generally the courses are excellent, though they tend to have a lot of worksheets. I just selectively assign the worksheets and do a lot orally.

 

That said, I think I would go nuts doing a full load of K12 courses with a virtual academy, especially with more than one student. The virtual academy looking over my shoulder would stress me out.

 

:iagree:We do it independently for six yrs and now have one in the Icademy, which dd loves.

[TracyR]

We are with a K12 PA cyberschool and we've had a positive experience with K12 (and the school). K12 can easily be adapted. Their curriculum comes with a lot of great literature and story books. So far we've only have used K and are going into 1st this year. The one thing I like is the OLS(online school system) that they have. It has help kept me on track. There are workbooks but if you can find something that meets the same objective then by all means use it. We don't do every worksheet or sometimes I we do something hands on or something totally different all together to learn the info if we have to. I know K12 has given me a lot of great ideas or has even spawned great ones out of me as well.

 

Anyways to answer your questions here:

1. Has anyone used K-12 and had good or bad experiences with it?

 

We have had a good experience with K12. I use what fits and adapt when need to be. I have homeschooled on my own and use virtual schools. If given the choice of a christian curriculum and a non I usually go with the Christian curriculum. With that said though K12 is one of my favorite curriculums I have used in the past 6yrs of homeschooling.

2. Is it enough of a classical model? If not, why not?

I wouldn't consider K12 classical in a sense. Granted from what I've heard SWB has written the history course for K12. Other then that no. To me though K12 is like Sonlight with workbooks, if that makes any sense. They have great literature , with workbooks included.

3. What really is the difference between homeschooling and doing school at home? Is it the addition of (or emphasis on) Bible, character training, life skills, and family socialization?

1. Homeschooling- you get to choose the curriculum that fits your child(ren)'s needs. If one doesn't work you can chose something else. You have complete power over what your children learn and when.

2. Schooling at home- you have to follow the school's rules. If K12 doesn't fit your child well not much you can do about that they aren't going to change the curriculum for your child. State testing. I think this is the thing that turns me off. You spend lots of time throughout the year to teach to the test, along with using K12. K12 is perfectly enough for children but if it doesn't correlate with your state's standards then your child will be spending time on the computer doing programs like Study Island and it just takes time away from doing their studies as well. I think this is the only thing I have not liked about being part of the virtual cyberschools. State testing doesn't begin until 3rd grade in our state so I will stick with our K12 school until then. Also you are responsible for keeping track of hours of schooling you do each day. So if you don't have to do that now as it is with homeschooling you may find this very cumbersome.

4. Is it possible to do the public K-12 and still feel that you are successfully homeschooling?:grouphug:

Absolutely. I have never felt anything but that I've been homeschooling. Granted I didn't have a choice in curriculum but in PA we have such strict and stringent rules just for homeschooling alone that I haven't really noticed the difference. Well except for the fact I can chose what I want to do but I'm still responsible for quite a bit that actually the cyberschools do for you.

 

 

Now with all of that said if you live in Texas and your child has never been to a public school I honestly wouldn't do it. That is just my two cents. That is unless you have children that do well with testing and it doesn't matter to you. I have friends in Texas and I tell them I'm about ready to move there,

My honest opinion is:

If your hurting for money right now it won't hurt to give it a try

If you have a child coming out of the school system and your new to homeschooling, this is good practice

If your child just thrives with a public school type learning enviroment give it a try

If your state is cumbersome with its homeschool laws (which I know Texas is NOT) then give it a try

If you feel you want more oversight and feedback with your children, then give it a try

 

If I've read Texas state law right if your enrolled in the public school system and pull out you are responsible for reporting to your school district. If you have homeschooled all along you are free to do what you want. Which would you prefer?

 

If you can afford it just purchase some of the courses and give them a try. I know K12 has payment plans for seperate subjects.

 

About the Sadiler math. It seems to work very well for my daughter so far. I like it much better then Calvert math any day of the week.

[iluvmy4blessings]

I am going to be doing the K12 Virtual Academy this year in Texas. I am really excited about it. I am leaving my teaching job to come back to homeschooling but I am hoping that I will at some point work my way into a job with K12 also. I will get my feet wet by using the curriculum with my own children this year and really see how it works. It looks great and I have high hopes.

[JenniferB]

These were such great replies! I appreciate everyone's experience and opinions. It sounds like it's a good option for families who like external guidance, like routine structure, have the ability to sift through the daily lessons activities and choose only a few activities, take requirements for testing in stride, don't feel the program represents an intrusion into their home, and who don't feel a significant loss of control when they can't influence the curriculum decisions.

 

My husband thought it sounded like a good idea but he knows trusts me to decide whether it's really a good fit or not. We're going to stay our course right now with our current curriculum, but I know it will come up again next year when my daughter is also of age to begin the program. Actually, I'm printing out the answers so I can pull them out of a file and remember why I made my decision this year! You're all wonderful!!

 

I think you have assessed K12 w/ a virtual academy just right. It's not for everyone, or even the majority, but it can be wonderful if you want rigorous, and you need structure and outside guidance to accomplish it. That is me, and K12 has been wonderful for me and my children, whereas piecing together my own thing, and what I felt to be "winging it" did not work for me after 5 years of trying.

[Guest EricBGee]

We did TXVA and it was the best decision we had ever made. Just for background, we had been independent homeschoolers before TXVA and have since gone back to being independent. My kids were in a brick and mortar public school for 8 weeks in the fall of 2001 but otherwise have been homeschooled.

 

TXVA (and k12 in general) is EXTREMELY flexible. Obviously other people feel differently, but you can pick and choose what of the options for an assignment your child really needs to do. There may be two activities to help them learn the point and another 3 for further exploration. So if your kid REALLY likes a topic, they give ideas for ways to follow up. The time they do that counts as school, helping you out with the time. However, if your student already knows a topic, they can easily take the assessment and move on or skim and move on. Both teachers we had felt this was the biggest problem for most parents. The teachers said over and over in meetings, conferences, etc that no student SHOULD do all parts of a lesson. K12 says that. There is WAY too much to require all of it of your student. And yet parents seemed to have difficulty paring it down. I'm not sure why.

 

With TXVA, you only have to finish a percentage of the curriculum, not 100%. For an A, it was like 90% last year. So if there is a topic that offends your conscience, skip it, it won't count against your student.

 

At the same time, you have to put in an average of 6 hours per day. Well, the curriculum doesn't take that long if you do the above (and I have a special needs student they required to work on age based grade level!). So then you add in things you WANT to do and study for time. So we downloaded Alice (.org) for example and he did basic programming with that. He practiced an instrument. He watched a documentary. We do a lot more than 30 minutes of exercise per day so that all counted for him also. Like new homeschoolers, we just paid a lot more attention to what we learned outside of curriculum and gave time credit for it. Family goes to the museum, kid plays with sister's art program, write a letter to grandma, etc all counts as school. Because of our religious materials, we were able to count that study also (this is probably not true of most religious materials though; ours is a bit different and can easily count as another subject).

 

Test prep is a pain and is part of public school. The timing requirements for the program came out to something like 20 minutes three times per week for that though. ANd it's a game format. We did have some online testing to do, but they got rid of the driving an hour away for benchmark testing (I'm not sure that is a good thing for the student, but I sure appreciated it). However, between the two benchmark tests, the TAKS test and the end of year test, we're talking 5-8 half days in a whole year. I just don't think that is obnoxious. The kids got school credit for the times, we did other fun things with it, etc.

 

And there are short conferences with the teacher. These aren't that big of a deal. Everything is fine or help us tweak this and it's over. They talk to the student and it's just as short. 15 minutes and done. I can spare 15 minutes per month to talk to the teacher.

 

The only other blah requirement is sending in work samples. It wasn't that bad, other than I just really don't like doing things on someone else's timing. Of course, you would think they took care of that when they told me months ahead what the 2 week window was, but I still hated that part. And the works samples were no big deal really. Send in a copy of something they did for history and a paper they wrote. Or send in a science worksheet and a math test they had taken recently. So not hard AT ALL. I just balked at it.

 

The other thing that worked well for us was that my son did REALLY well with having outside accountability. Sometimes those preteen years can be a struggle with mom and son as both are trying to find their place. There are posts galore about this on the WTM forums. But also, I think it is good for preteens and young teens to have some accountability outside the family at least for a time. My daughter attended a private school for one class, my son had TXVA for the experience.

 

Anyway, someone posted to the board about TXVA in Oct 2007 and we joined right away. My son mostly liked it and it was good for us. It turned a critical year for learning for my son from what would have easily been the WORST school year academically into the best. We continued through Dec 2008 and went back to homeschooling for the second semester of 8th grade.

 

It IS public school. They were VERY VERY VERY clear about that when I originally called. They were VERY worried about veteran homeschoolers coming in and thinking they were just getting free homeschooling materials to completely do or not do as they please. They had already had issues. They also found many homeschoolers unwilling to follow the rules. Part of that is normal for homeschoolers of course. Part is because homeschoolers LIKE dropping the ball too much (IMO). But in my experience, it was still closer to homeschooling (my kids attended public school for 8 weeks so we have a little experience with real public school. This wasn't it!). The flexibility of the program far outweighed the few hoops to jump through at least during the time we needed something else.

 

Okay, so YES we were very satisfied. I think independent homeschooling is superior if a parent can and will follow through, but I think TXVA is definitely a good option for those that have other needs or desires.

 

I didn't answer your questions but have written a book <sigh>

 

It is not strictly Classical and esp not in Texas. For example, the Texas science pulls from a couple sciences rather than just being one type of science. There are American History courses, so not the same 4 year cycle, though it does have all time periods covered more than most public schools. The art is really good if you want plenty of history and appreciation on top of application. Those sorts of things. I find it odd that Calvert is okay'd by many WTM'ers but K12 isn't. I find it similar.

 

ANd again, you can add in what you think it's lacking. You need the time anyway. Just add in what you want.

 

There is the question of time, but really, between natural learning, interest based learning, "afterschooling," etc, you'll have more than enough time. Assuming your children aren't VERY young, it should be fine. I do NOT think any young child should be doing 6 hours (on average) per day. But don't forget, you can count things you do on the weekend also. Just note the documentary you watch or whatever to put on Monday's time. You can log up to 12 hours per day. If you do THAT much on the weekend, spread it out over the week.

 

Okay, I'll quit rambling. I LOVE homeschooling, but TXVA was VERY good for our family for the 15mo (minus summer) that we used it.

 

 

 

I realize this in a rather old thread, and I'm sorry to revive it.  I stumbled upon this post while doing some research, and haven't (yet) found anything this helpful to me that was more recent.  I've been very interested in homeschooling my son, a 4th grader with Asperger's, for a while now, but for various reasons have become more serious about it in the last few months.  I live in West Texas and had, in the course of my research, found the Texas Virtual Academy, and it seemed like it might be just what I was looking for.  A little more research, naturally, led me to discover many complaints from long-time homeschoolers... many of which, not knowing any better myself, seemed rather nit-picky to me.  My boy really needs a rather structured, but flexible, routine, and I have no problems with Texas' required standardized testing, personally.  I haven't talked to the people at TXVA, yet... I'm still standing on the edge trying to talk myself into jumping.  Pamela H.'s post above just almost pushed me over, but I'm wondering if her feelings about TXVA have changed over the last four years... 

[Tidbits of Learning]

I realize this in a rather old thread, and I'm sorry to revive it.  I stumbled upon this post while doing some research, and haven't (yet) found anything this helpful to me that was more recent.  I've been very interested in homeschooling my son, a 4th grader with Asperger's, for a while now, but for various reasons have become more serious about it in the last few months.  I live in West Texas and had, in the course of my research, found the Texas Virtual Academy, and it seemed like it might be just what I was looking for.  A little more research, naturally, led me to discover many complaints from long-time homeschoolers... many of which, not knowing any better myself, seemed rather nit-picky to me.  My boy really needs a rather structured, but flexible, routine, and I have no problems with Texas' required standardized testing, personally.  I haven't talked to the people at TXVA, yet... I'm still standing on the edge trying to talk myself into jumping.  Pamela H.'s post above just almost pushed me over, but I'm wondering if her feelings about TXVA have changed over the last four years... 

 

We are not in Texas so I can't speak for their virtual school program.  We use k12 virtual school and so far have been very satisfied.  Yes, you are considered a public school student in virtual school.  We have not used high school, but used their 4th grade materials last year with my son who has dysgraphia/dyslexia.  I found it to be a really great year.  It was our 4th year homeschooling and yes I do consider us still homeschoolers.  You can make it what you need.  It is a buffet and as long as your child retains the material and makes an 80% on the unit assessments, you really can teach it any way you see fit and use as much or as little as you need.  The free material has been great and the teacher help was what I needed when I had become burnt out schooling 4 kids.

I did find that a lot of homeschoolers couldn't see it as having flexibility and complained of not being able to adjust for their kids, but we were adjusting and no one was knocking on my door telling me we couldn't.  I think a lot of it is perception though.  We started at the same time as a few other homeschoolers we know and some really liked it and are still in the school and some felt trapped by the school since they were no longer in total control over certain decisions in their schooling such as testing or introducing writing early.  We just adjusted and did things orally some times.  As long as we had the work samples in writing, no one questioned every assignment.  I do feel you can still very much make it your own with the virtual school in the elementary years.  Middle school was more structured and led by the teachers.  I have no clue about high school as we have not made it there yet.

[stoverdavid30]

Yes, highly recommend it.

[stoverdavid30]

Ooops, we are from SC.

[Crimson Wife]

If you need IEP services and your district does not provide them to private homeschoolers, then definitely look into the virtual charters. I don't know if Texas has any virtual charters that will give you a stipend to buy (secular) materials and classes of your choice, but if that is an option for you, I would go with that over K12. With our charter, we could use the stipend to buy K12 courses if we wanted, but we have a lot more flexibility than the official K12 school offers.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Eric,

 

Yes, I stand by that review of TXVA with the understanding that things could have changed significantly.  We used TXVA from October 2007 through December 2008.  We then returned to independent homeschooling.  Like I said, for the time period we did it, TXVA was the best choice we made for my son.  

 

We have not used it since.  My son graduated this past December and started college in January.  My daughter had graduated before I wrote the review.  I didn't even know my littles back then (they came to us in April 2011 and the more recent ones in April 2013).  My children are not yet old enough for TXVA; and now there is a requirement of attending public school before doing TXVA (and I'm unwilling to put them in school to do that).  

 

I will say that I have heard some things have changed pretty significantly.  I'm sure some of what was necessarily, probably in part, because of the behavior and attitudes of homeschoolers (sorry, jmo).  Additionally, due to state standards, many courses are changed from k12-ness to Texas-ness.  I think that shortchanges the program as a whole.  I mentioned one of the changes above pulling sections from multiple sciences rather than studying earth science in 8th, for example.  My understanding is that picking and choosing has happened to even a greater degree since we left.  

 

I hope if you do it, you'll find it just what you need.  IME, *nothing* is perfect in home education of any sort or any other part of life.  There is give and take, surprises, blessings in disguise, set-backs, etc.  They all amount to our experience which pretty much is what we make it.  

 

Totally JMO :)

[Guest EricBGee]

Thank you very much for your replies.  You've given me much more to think about.   :unsure: