I'm almost afraid to ask....or to admit (about virtual schools; Connections & WIVA)

[GothicHipChick]

We have used CA when DD16 was in 6th grade up to the 1st semester of 9th grade. We did not qualify for it when we moved overseas so I started using a mix of curricula and basically did all the planning and teaching "from scratch." I've had a good experience with CA plus the teachers were really helpful and supportive. The homework needed to be submitted on a PS schedule BUT we managed to do our own schedule but still submit stuff on time. We did work in advance and then took vacations. When DD16 did her lessons, she did all the work on her own and we had our own discussion sessions about the lessons so that I could gauge her understanding as well as give her the chance to clarify things. Every assignment that she had to submit had to pass through me first before she turned in it to the teachers (or submitted it to the LMS). Mediocre work had to be redone and soon she knew what was expected of her. As for her tests, I did not allow open book. She was given ample time to study and when she was ready, I printed out the exams and she had to take it on paper. I "inputted" the answers on the computer.

 

I don't feel bad that we used a virtual school. It was the first time we homeschooled and I think she knows more than her peers who went to public school and have a similar curriculum. By doing school at home, she was able to focus on her work better and ask for help from either myself or her online teacher (super fast reply via email or chat, btw). I also had the chance to listen to her teacher do online lectures and she was able to explain concepts pretty well in an engaging manner. When she was in a brick-and-mortar PS in 5th grade (one of the main reasons I pulled her off PS), I asked her teachers numerous times for a lesson plan or some sort of syllabus so that I could have an idea of what she is learning but to no avail. The teachers never got back to me or just never answered my emails. The thing I liked the most was that I was able to see what she was actually learning (or being taught) via the LMS. The lesson plans were readily available and I could browse it in advance (except for the exams of course) and "track" her progress. No more, "I don't know, they never taught me that" retorts when you ask them what they learned in school today. Of course the teacher support (and lots of encouragement) was very helpful as well.

 

Anyway, so that's our experience with CA. She is now in 10th grade and we use SL, IEW, Jensen's, Kumon Japanese, outsourced art class, Jacob's Geometry, and a bunch of other stuff that works for us.

 

I honestly think that virtual school is also homeschool if the parent puts a h*ll lot of effort in helping their child understand the material/lesson. We all want what is best for our kids so if virtual school is what works for now, then so be it. :)

 

So...what did you learn in school today? :):):)

[BatmansWife]

I haven't had a chance to read all of the replies, so forgive me if I'm repeating what's already been said. First, I always felt that every child learns differently and if a virtual school works for you then that's all that matters. I just wanted to give you a quick heads-up on something that might be coming down the road. We live in PA and there is currently a bill working its way through our state House that would require anyone using a virtual charter school who's home district has their own virtual school to pay for the charter tuition. I don't know if other states have this already or are considering it, but I don't want you to get stuck with a huge tuition bill unexpectedly. Just something to be aware of--good luck with whatever you decide!

 

That would really stink if that bill goes through in your state. I hope it wouldn't happen here because we do live in a school district that has a virtual school for high school. It's just not my top pick. That would be really unfair because it would basically force people to chose that particular school....because I think there are a lot of people doing virtual schools because of no tuitiion.

 

We have used CA when DD16 was in 6th grade up to the 1st semester of 9th grade. We did not qualify for it when we moved overseas so I started using a mix of curricula and basically did all the planning and teaching "from scratch." I've had a good experience with CA plus the teachers were really helpful and supportive. The homework needed to be submitted on a PS schedule BUT we managed to do our own schedule but still submit stuff on time. We did work in advance and then took vacations. When DD16 did her lessons, she did all the work on her own and we had our own discussion sessions about the lessons so that I could gauge her understanding as well as give her the chance to clarify things. Every assignment that she had to submit had to pass through me first before she turned in it to the teachers (or submitted it to the LMS). Mediocre work had to be redone and soon she knew what was expected of her. As for her tests, I did not allow open book. She was given ample time to study and when she was ready, I printed out the exams and she had to take it on paper. I "inputted" the answers on the computer.

 

I don't feel bad that we used a virtual school. It was the first time we homeschooled and I think she knows more than her peers who went to public school and have a similar curriculum. By doing school at home, she was able to focus on her work better and ask for help from either myself or her online teacher (super fast reply via email or chat, btw). I also had the chance to listen to her teacher do online lectures and she was able to explain concepts pretty well in an engaging manner. When she was in a brick-and-mortar PS in 5th grade (one of the main reasons I pulled her off PS), I asked her teachers numerous times for a lesson plan or some sort of syllabus so that I could have an idea of what she is learning but to no avail. The teachers never got back to me or just never answered my emails. The thing I liked the most was that I was able to see what she was actually learning (or being taught) via the LMS. The lesson plans were readily available and I could browse it in advance (except for the exams of course) and "track" her progress. No more, "I don't know, they never taught me that" retorts when you ask them what they learned in school today. Of course the teacher support (and lots of encouragement) was very helpful as well.

 

Anyway, so that's our experience with CA. She is now in 10th grade and we use SL, IEW, Jensen's, Kumon Japanese, outsourced art class, Jacob's Geometry, and a bunch of other stuff that works for us.

 

I honestly think that virtual school is also homeschool if the parent puts a h*ll lot of effort in helping their child understand the material/lesson. We all want what is best for our kids so if virtual school is what works for now, then so be it. :)

 

So...what did you learn in school today? :):):)

 

Thanks for sharing your experience with CA. It's always good to hear positive experiences.

[candikane]

Did anyone give WCA, WIVA, or WVL a try?? I'm in the same spot trying to decide which one to try. I'm leaning towards WCA which seems to have better test scores, but the k12 "entertainment" and kit seem better. My daughter will need a good entertainment "game" system with math to keep frustrations low and desire to participate high. She is 8 and struggling hard with math, but is way advanced in reading.

Edit: I like the extra science things in the WIVA kit, it seems like it'll have much more hands on experiments in science.

[BatmansWife]

Did anyone give WCA, WIVA, or WVL a try?? I'm in the same spot trying to decide which one to try. I'm leaning towards WCA which seems to have better test scores, but the k12 "entertainment" and kit seem better. My daughter will need a good entertainment "game" system with math to keep frustrations low and desire to participate high. She is 8 and struggling hard with math, but is way advanced in reading.

Edit: I like the extra science things in the WIVA kit, it seems like it'll have much more hands on experiments in science.

 

I'll be the first to answer you.....because I was the one who originally posted this 3 years ago (I used purple font then, LOL!).  Wow....this is so weird to see this bumped because so much has changed from what I had been considering.  We ended up not doing any virtual school.  But, it's only because I had found out that our own school district has a "home-based educational program".  I was on a wait list 3 years ago, because only 12 students are allowed in.  We did get in and this is actually our 3rd year in it.  I love it...and I'm so glad our district has this program.  We are given a very large allotment per student to choose what we want and the school buys it for us.  If I hadn't found out about this program, I would have gone with one of the virtual schools in our state.  I'm not sure which one I would have chosen though.  So....I know this isn't even helpful to you at all.  Hopefully someone who is in either WCA, WIVA, or WVL will comment.  I haven't looked online at the virtual schools in our state for 3 years so maybe there are some other good choices out there.  I do know of CAVE (Cameron Academy of Virtual Education) which is very similar to what we are in (ours is only available for those in our own school district).  Open enrollment with them (maybe the others in WI too, I don't know) ends the end of this month.  I hope you'll get some other responses to help you decide.
 

ETA: I forgot to say that you could call your local school district and see if they have any home-based programs.  More schools are doing that.  Ours isn't advertised or on the school website or anything....it was just a fluke that I heard about it.

[BatmansWife]

Sorry....double post (stupid computer!).

[...................]

Run the other way!!! I have FIRST HAND experience with COnnections Academy, and lots of info...

 

My own sister used it with my nephew and she was having a very hard time.  She went on vacation and my nephew stayed with me for 10 days so we did 6 days of schoolwork in that time, and boy could I feel her pain!

 

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY horrible!!

 

1. RANDOM tests will be thrown at you.  He "happened to have 2 state wide reading tests.  Logging in, taking the tests, making sure it is saved and then emailing or checking off the work was NOT on my agenda or his, but because the state required it, it had to be done.

2.  THe Connections Homeroom Interface.  THE STUPID way that the student goes to a screen, and then from that screen to these online e-books is ridiculous!  It is very cumbersome, going back and forth like that.

3.  Always counting off days and checking hours.  If you don't log in THAT DAY and you do all your work, but you forget to log in and check that you were present, guess what?  You are absent.  THey will tell you, "Oh it's no big deal, we can override it." but then you have to wait for your teacher to override it, and in the process you look like you are truant.

4.  Same thing with coursework...you can end up with an F for not checking something in, or uploading it, even though the work was completed.  My nephew amazed me that he could get (most of this) straight!  For a 6th grader, he was very on top of all this ridiculous red tape.  Sadly, he did get an F on an assignment that had to be overrieded when my sister came back from vacation, because he and I just could not figure out how to complete the assignment, check it in, upload it and do all the little hoops properly.

 

All of that is about Connections system...now let's talk about Connections EDUCATION...

 

SUCKS....I cannot think of a better word.  It is absolutely abysmal.  My 6th grade nephew's history assignment for ONE day was like this:

Go to homeroom screen

CLick on history

Read Overview (This is a lame 2 page computer summary showing you that "original documents are important when understanding historical events.)  

Click on Reading 1 - takes you to onine/e-book page where my nephew had to read excerpts from the Magna Charta.

Click on Reading 2- 5-6 page excerpt from one of the French Revolution documents (ahh yes because the REIGN OF TERROR is something we should copy.)

Click on Reading 4- Read an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence 

Click on Reading 5- If I recall this was about the Constitution of the US and its amendments.

Click back to Homeroom and take a quiz. 

 

Ok, so my nephew just covered about a 1000 years of history in 5 random excerpts (badly excerpted might I add)...Now he's supposed to gather something important.  We had no idea what.

 

How about LIterature?  Oh, they give you a real book for literature.  Yay!  No..hold your horses that real book is for Writing and guess what?  You get to skip all over the book and online.  One writing assignemnt had him reading his summary, an excerpt from the online portal, and then another excerpt from his Prentice Hall English textbook.  He never got to sit down and work through one text, and follow its logical writing structure and conclusions.  

It's purposefully designed to ensure that parents feel inadequate to just use the texts they send.  Honestly, I could think of no other reason for all of the skipping around when the explanations from the Prentice Hall text were more clear. In fact, they skipped ALL of the explanations and teaching writing and just used the excerpt of the writing sample instead.

 

My sister dropped out of Connections and became an independent homeschooler and they are doing wonderfully.

 

DO NOT use Connections.

 

EDITED: Can't believe I just wrote on a 2 year old thread.  Duh.  But, I'm glad because if anyone searches for Connections this might help them.

[5LittleMonkeys]

OP - I don't know if you can edit your original post but you might want to put an update notice on it so people know that this is an old thread and that you've moved on from your original problem. :) I know many times people will post after just reading the first post without realizing it's old.  

 

I'm really glad to hear that things worked out so well for you!

[BatmansWife]

OP - I don't know if you can edit your original post but you might want to put an update notice on it so people know that this is an old thread and that you've moved on from your original problem. :) I know many times people will post after just reading the first post without realizing it's old.  

 

I'm really glad to hear that things worked out so well for you!

 

I thought the same thing last night...so at about midnight I posted an update at the bottom of the original post.  I see it...do you not see it (just wondering because you posted this after I had already made an update)?  I do think I'll post something at the top of my original post now though. 

 

ETA: OK...I moved my update to the top of the message instead of having it at the bottom.