Does anyone here use a virtual academy with K12 curr.?

[gandpsmommy]

I never thought I would consider using a virtual academy because I so loved choosing our own curriculum and not being a part of the system. But, a lot has changed over the past few years. Dd went to public school last year for fourth grade and loved it. She is happy to be in fifth grade at public school, has good teachers, has made good friends, and is fortunate to be a part of what has so far been a good gifted program.

 

We decided to try to send ds7 to public school for the first time this year for second grade. It has not been a good fit for him at all. So, I'm thinking of bringing him home again. But I feel as if we need more structure than I needed with dd for some reason. And K12 looks very similar to the curr. we used anyway. The only thing I would really be sad to not use is Righstart math, and I guess we could still use it if ds wanted to do extra math.

 

I'm curious to know, though, what it is like to be enrolled in a virtual academy, because it is a public school, just at home. Do you find the teachers helpful and warm? Is it challenging to keep up with the pace of the work? How often do you have to meet with teachers? Is there still flexibility? Do you still feel as if you are homeschooling? Have you met any other families through the virtual school?

 

I have to admit I am tempted by the free curriculum. We usually spend around $600 on curr. in the fall, so free looks really amazing.

[Ria]

K12's program is really awesome. I'm not kidding...it's some of the best curric. I've ever seen.

 

That said, it really depends on your state and their requirements as to whether or not you will be able to use the program the way you want it as part of a cyber school. We tried it and couldn't deal with the oversight and ridiculous requirements (we are in PA). We left the K12 program but were with another cyber school for a while.

 

Honestly, if I could have used any curric. I wanted (ie, if cost was not an issue) I would have used K12 for many of our subjects.

[gandpsmommy]

Thanks, Ria for your reply. I really appreciate your input. We live in Ohio. Does anyone know what kind of requirments we would have to meet and what kind of supervision we would receive? Thanks for any input!

[mytwomonkeys]

i've never used it. but my sister (lives in ga) is using it this year with my nephew (7 years old & in grade 2). he has dyslexia & really struggled last year in public school. she is schooling at home this year to try & help him catch up, so he can return to PS next year stronger. so far, they both really love it! she's not feeling overwhelmed or anything, which surprised me honestly. they also honored his IEP, which i thought was very cool - so the curriculum is very tailored to him.

[Scarlett]

K12's program is really awesome. I'm not kidding...it's some of the best curric. I've ever seen.

 

That said, it really depends on your state and their requirements as to whether or not you will be able to use the program the way you want it as part of a cyber school. We tried it and couldn't deal with the oversight and ridiculous requirements (we are in PA). We left the K12 program but were with another cyber school for a while.

 

Honestly, if I could have used any curric. I wanted (ie, if cost was not an issue) I would have used K12 for many of our subjects.

 

Hi Ria! So funny to see you on this thread since I first asked this question about 6 years ago and you answered me then.

 

To OP, I have been with K12 through the Arkansas Virtual program for 6 years. I've had zero problem with them. Yes, there are a few hoops to jump through, but nothing compared to having a kid in public school (I imagine). I have had people say they couldn't 'deal' with the AR oversight, but honestly I find the hoops a little silly and I just go along and get along with them. It is not difficult at all IMO.

 

I am not sure about OH...hope someone chimes in.

 

I agree with Ria that the K12 curriculum is awesome. I love it. I recommended it to my friend who couldn't get in to our virtual school and she bought K12 independant. She is in her 3rd year now.

[gandpsmommy]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm hoping someone from Ohio might chime in, but users from other states, what kind of hoops exactly did you have to jump through? What kind of oversight was there? Thanks.

[catz]

That said, it really depends on your state and their requirements as to whether or not you will be able to use the program the way you want it as part of a cyber school. We tried it and couldn't deal with the oversight and ridiculous requirements (we are in PA).

 

We have not used it, but I regularly get together with other families who have used it. This is the biggest criticism I've heard about this curriculum. I have hardly heard of a family using it more than a year or 2. So much hoop jumping and paper work. For a 7 year old, I'd expect to work maybe a couple hours a day. I know 2nd graders working 4-6 hours a day at cyber academy curriculum.

[Tarreymere]

I'm curious to know, though, what it is like to be enrolled in a virtual academy, because it is a public school, just at home. Do you find the teachers helpful and warm? We had a wonderful teacher assigned to my dd. She was very sweet and seemed to really enjoy talking to my daughter. Is it challenging to keep up with the pace of the work? No, we did not find the pace to be difficult. Some days dd would want to only do lessons in one subject, other days we would just fly through one lesson in every subject, according to her choice. We never felt behind, and there were plenty of 'extras' we could do if we wanted to explore something further. How often do you have to meet with teachers? Our teacher telephoned us monthy and we met with her twice for assessments in one semester. We also had daily online web meeting type classes, some with our teacher and some with a different teacher, where dd could actually talk to the teacher and other kids. It was more social than educational, and dd loved it. We did not 'attend' all of those, so I'm not sure if they were mandatory but if they were there was no problem with our missing a few. Is there still flexibility? Not as much as doing it on your own, but it isn't too bad. The assessments were annoying, two in six months. The daily reminders to log attendance got annoying, just little things. We tend to be pretty consistent on our own, so we didn't really mind being consistent with the online school. Do you still feel as if you are homeschooling? No, it did not seem like I was really homeschooling, I did not have control of the content or direction of my child's courses. Sometimes I would notice that she had not really 'gotten' something we had covered in the past, and it seemed difficult to circle back and go over it again because it had to be in addition to the regular work. It did take a lot of the joy out of learning, it was more like public school in that respect. Have you met any other families through the virtual school? No, even the teacher commented on how there were no other families in our area that were enrolled in that school.

 

I have to admit I am tempted by the free curriculum. We usually spend around $600 on curr. in the fall, so free looks really amazing. The curriculum is really good, I almost decided to stay with K12 and the online school because of it. But I finally decided on the the freedom to chart our own course instead. But you never know whether K12 will 'fit' you until you try it. We may very well go back to it at some point.

 

The only 'hoops' for us were the assessments (twice in one semester in first grade!) and the reminders to go to the test prep website daily and 'practice', although they did sweeten that up by offering prizes and stuff (like an ipad) for completing the practice drills. I guess the daily online web sessions are a 'hoop' too, but my daughter looked forward to them. You get emails all the time too, about any get-togethers in your area, or surveys, or reminders about turning in health assessments, or invitations to join their booster club. I really can't think of any other 'hoops'. It wasn't too bad, hoopwise!

 

My daughter was in first grade when we tried it, and we did about 2-3 hours of work a day. If she wanted to do more, like the time she got caught up in making maps, then we spent more time. They do have plenty of 'extra' stuff that you can do if you want to, and some people seemed to have trouble deciding what was extra and what was necessary. You have to look at the objective and assessment for that particular lesson and if your child can meet the objectives then the rest is 'extra' and you don't need to do it. We also broke it up, did the test prep stuff in the evening after dinner and did the regular work in the morning.

 

I just decided I would rather do my own thing, that I picked out specifically for my child and to do it my way. If things changed here, I would not hesitate to go back to K12.

 

:001_smile:

Edited August 19, 2011 by Rainefox

[courtney.byrum]

We are using k12 through a VA for our 2nd year. The kids really enjoy it. We have to log 4-6 hrs but it never takes anywhere near that amount of time. We can finish everything but independent reading in about 2 hrs time most days. The biggest thing both kids love is that they can move at their own pace. If they want to do 3 science lessons one day and 2 history the next they can with no issues at all.

 

I have heard each state is different in requirements so definitely try to talk to people from your state to find out how it is there, but the curriculum is great in our opinion.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

A K12 virtual academy is worth exploring but you need to aks very detailed questions about rules,expectations,testing,flexibility,assignments to be turned,etc.

 

 

My post in this thread has some detailed questions to ask:

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161828

 

We did a K12 virtual academy here in PA and it was a good experience. I love the curricula. I have heard mixed reviews on the new K12 math but I have personally never used it. I have a chance to enroll ds in another K12 cyber school in our new location but chose to do homeschool with Calvert. I also thought about K12 homeschool without the cyber school but it is a little more expensive. I chose not to do K12 cyber school here because the new one has mandatory 1/2 day weekly sessions at their school. I would rather optional in weekly in person sessions IMHO to give us more freedom. Therefore it is critical to ask very detailed questions.

[Live2Ride]

Anyone use the language program through them? Would love feedback on it.

[Scarlett]

Anyone use the language program through them? Would love feedback on it.

 

I have for 6 years with ds. I think it is awesome. He has scored advanced level on his standardized state testing every single year.

[gandpsmommy]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and feedback. :001_smile:

[linguistmama]

We used one last year. The K12 charter had a website where they listed the requirements. Does the one you're looking at have a website? We aren't in Ohio. In ours testing was required starting in 3rd grade, we marked daily attendance, had to complete 80% of the curriculum, email a one sentence progress report weekly and speak to our teacher on the phone once a month. Our teacher was great, she was also homeschooling her own kids with the same program. Usually I see more hoops to jump through in other states. We're in UT which tends to be lower regulation in all kinds of matters homeschooling or not.

[Live2Ride]

I have for 6 years with ds. I think it is awesome. He has scored advanced level on his standardized state testing every single year.

 

Awesome, thank you. I am having a hard time with choosing for dd. She's wanting to continue with spanish. She took a bit last year.

[Mosaicmind]

We just got our acceptance email today for the pilot K12 virtual school here in Indiana. This is the first year they will have a totally virtual charter school. I thought I would never put my kids in a public school again or use public school curriculum, but never say never. For various reasons I know this is the right thing to do for us in this season.

 

I will have a 4th, 5th and 8th grader. At first we were told we had to be put on a wait list and then later this evening I got three emails that stated that each of the boys have been offered a seat in the Hoosier Academy Virtual School. I am really excited and so are the boys. There are different start dates depending on when you accept your seat. The boy's first day will be September 6th.

 

I did read the entire handbook and there are requirements that we will have to adhere to, but nothing that I don't see as unreasonable or that we won't be able to do. I would challenge you to really look at what will be expected of you and your kids, look at the curriculum and then talk to others who have used it or are using it. That and alot of prayer is how I made the decision to do this for this year. Next year I don't what we will do and if we finally end up moving to Kentucky, I will have to home school the kids using my own curriculum because there is no K12 charter school option in KY.