Helen in OH Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Hello! I would like opinions and experiences for k12. I am a mom with 6 kiddos. The older 3 are boys in PS. They were formailly homeschooled for 4 years. We put them in when I was pregnant with my sixth one. My younger 3 are at home. I use Covenant Home Curriculum with my third and kindergartener. My 3 year old just scampers around the school room. Because we use CHC we are used to a can curriculum. I am looking for something that will help relieve the responsibilities and have more accountablety with my daughter for next year. Because my older ones are in HS I have to be available for them to help make decisions in regards to college. What are your experiences? Thanks-a-bunch, Helen in OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlett Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I am looking for something that will help relieve the responsibilities and have more accountablety with my daughter for next year. What are your experiences? Thanks-a-bunch, Helen in OH I've used K12 through a state VA since ds was in first grade. We are in our 4th year of using it. K12 is a strong program overall. I would like to use it without the state being involved (I seem to get more and more annoyed by the hoops they are making us jump through), but then again if I had to pay for it I probably wouldn't buy it because I think it is fairly expensive. In 4th grade K12 begins the process of student self teaching, but I am still doing a lot with him one on one. He can do the science on his own and is doing so. I love K12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 After being independent with K12 for 3 years, a VA opened in VA this year, and we signed all three of our school-age children up for it. I have a 5th, 2nd and 1st grader. The hoops for the VA have been minimal (at least thus far). I was doing pretty much everything before anyhow, so the only "new" things are the meetings with the teacher, and scanning samples of the work to send in each month. All in all, it's been a very good experience. Having the extra "teacher" is helpful more as an additional point of accountability for my children. They have someone else they need to please, not "just mom." So, getting them to do their best is less ME and more THEM. That is a welcome relief. Additionally, from my standpoint (with 5... 2 of which are 3 and under), it helps me stay on track overall. I am less willing to just say, "oh well, we'll get to that later" with the later part getting further and further away. I love the curriculum. We still have some outside things we do (Bible and Latin), but overall, if they just had K12 they would be getting a pretty well-rounded education. The only word of caution I can offer is with their new placement guidelines. They simply send the "kit" for the child's age-grade. Which may be fine for most -- but we were already well ahead of the core programs (they are accelerated in math and LA, my oldest is also accelerated in science). Some people have had difficulty getting into the correct programs (I didn't experience that, as we were switching from K12 independent... so there was some history there). Most people "assess" their kids out of a program (have the child complete the assessments, skip the daily work, etc.) if the child already knows the material. Thankfully, I have only really needed to do this with my younger son. Best wishes, I can't recommend K12 enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateLeft Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I used K12 independently for many years, and I think the curriculum is stellar. My oldest is a 9th grader in MNVA this year and she just absolutely loves it. It's a perfect fit for her. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen in OH Posted November 10, 2009 Author Share Posted November 10, 2009 Thank-you so much for your replys. We are already used to doing a structured program. I am just wondering as my daughter gets older we may need more accountablity. Plus, my time is going to be take up with my little ones and older ones. It would be nice to delegate some responsiblities without having her attend a traditional school. Plus she she strong in science and reading. CHC has a great reading program. Composition and spelling are weak. Thank-you for input, Helen in OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) I would highly recommend K12. We use a public cyber charter school that uses K12 for the past 3 years for K-2 and love it except for music (probably because I am musically challenged;)). I find it to be rigorous and classical-like. I also find it to be fairly flexible even though it is a public school. I also like to extra-curricular activities our school offers and the extra accountability that my ds has to his teacher. I find that we still have the flexibility to participate in a weekly, all day home school co-op that is not part of the school and to explore other curricula as well. If I had to buy K12, then I am not sure if I would since there are probably cheaper curriculums that are just as good. P.S. If I had a lot of money, then I might strongly consider buying the curriculum;) Edited November 10, 2009 by priscilla clarify Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 For a public option, I could not say. Accountability for independent is just fill in attendance. But, when they enter high school its a whole new ball of wax, I also think they have Icademy middle school now. I am not sure. As to, keeping her on track and schedules, it is good, b/c you can focus on older children that are in high school, while she is working on her independence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferB Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) Thank-you so much for your replys. We are already used to doing a structured program. I am just wondering as my daughter gets older we may need more accountablity. Plus, my time is going to be take up with my little ones and older ones. It would be nice to delegate some responsiblities without having her attend a traditional school. Plus she she strong in science and reading. CHC has a great reading program. Composition and spelling are weak. Thank-you for input, Helen in OH Helen, I highly recommend K12 through a VA. We are in WAVA, and I love it. It has provided the accountability I need to keep on track. It's helpful for my oldest to be accountable to her teacher also, and not "just mom", as another poster stated. I do not know if it will save you time though. It depends on the age of your child/children and how well they work by themselves. Starting out with a new program, like K12 and a VA, there will be a learning curve, and it will probably seem harder than what you are using now. It might take a few months to feel like you are up to speed with the new way of doing things, then a few more months to actually save some time, if you ever get there. Compared to all the many hs curricula I've used, and I've used many many programs, K12 is the most teacher intensive that I've come across. I don't want to scare you off, but it's not geared toward independent student use until grade 6 or higher. It transitions in 4th and 5th to more independent, with 6th - 8th transitioning more and more to independence. Of course you can tweak it to make it more independent, but the lessons are really made to be taught by the "learning coach". As for writing and spelling, I can testify that my oldest daughter's writing and spelling abilities have sky rocketed since using K12. I am very pleased with the progress she's made in these two subjects, as well as language mechanics, science, math, and well....all the subjects. Please excuse my grammar/sentence structure. I've pounded out this message as quickly as possible, and I'm sure there are many errors. Back to teaching lessons.....:D Edited November 10, 2009 by JenniferB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen in OH Posted November 11, 2009 Author Share Posted November 11, 2009 Thanks again for the replys. We have some things to consider for next year. Helen in OH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crowscreek Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 I have looked at k12 several times and I believe it to be a great program. Good luck in your decision. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Indeed Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 I know this is old, but I was just wondering, if I signed us up,a nd then decided it would not work for our family, is is easy to drop out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I have used several courses from K12 as an independent user. If I had to go to a boxed curriculum I would use K12 and if I had to use a virtual academy it would be a K12 VA. The courses are solid, rigorous, and content rich. I like that (at least as an independent user) I can place my children at their level in each subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tatertotschool Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 After being independent with K12 for 3 years, a VA opened in VA this year, and we signed all three of our school-age children up for it. Best wishes, I can't recommend K12 enough. Hi Lisa, I am in Fredericksburg! I don't have a kindergartener yet, but if you don't mind, could you PM me more info on this K12 for future reference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I know this is old, but I was just wondering, if I signed us up,a nd then decided it would not work for our family, is is easy to drop out? Not if you are independent. They have contracts for pymt. One and two yr. plans. So if you drop out you are still required to make the monthly pymt on top of the tuition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyR Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 If you use a virtual and it doesn't work its simple to 'drop out'. All you would have to do is contact your child's teacher and go through the process of unenrolling. If your doing it independently then it maybe different. We are with a K12 virtual school as well. I like K12 quite a bit. Its a very engaging program. It can be overwhelming at first with that many children though. I have three this year and the jump from two to three children has been interesting. If I could go independently I would use K12 as well and I wish I could use it independently. The 'hoops' are a bit much for me this year. But that could be because I have added my two older daughters to the mix. We are required to submit a monthly writing assignment ( this is for elementary not high school mind you) , children are required to attend Elluminate classes for weekly Scantron tests , and they have to do Study Island to help them prepare for state testing in the spring. Other then that I have seen a real improvement with my daughters learning this year. My 6th grader is becoming more independent this year. My 4th grader has been improving with some subject areas she's had difficulty with in the past and K12 has seem to really work well for my 6yr old since we started her in K last year. Of course I've had points where I needed to do something different then just book work. But overall K12 really appeals to all learning styles. You can easily find yourself doing all of it if you don't read through things carefully as the lesson plans give you different angles to teach for different learners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flaura Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 We use K12 independent LA and I enjoy it tremendously. The curriculum gives you lots to do so don't feel like you have to do it all. Pick what your child needs and what you think is important. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meet me in paris Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 We used it for one year when my kids were in 4th & 1st. If you are looking for something they can do independently, you might want to look elsewhere. Not to scare you off, but I was spending SO much time doing school with both of my kids that we were schooling from 8-4 *every* day. I was so burned out! It's a great program, but very teacher intensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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