Aelwydd Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I asked some questions about this cyber school several weeks ago, and found an old thread to read up on it. I read some good reviews, and some bad. So, dh and I enrolled our ds, who is 8 years old, and starting third grade. We're going on week no. 3, and I thought I'd share my impressions, in case others are curious about this program. I know k12 has cyber schools in other states, so I'm also wondering how my experience measures up against others. First of all, it's considered public school, and as such has attendance requirements, end-of-year testing, and must satisfy state curricula standards. So, those things would probably turn off a number of hs'ers. That said, none of those is an issue with me, so long as the curriculum is not centered around test-taking, and the state standards do not detract or inhibit the development of critical thinking skills. I have to say that the k12 curricula is really, really good. It is comprehensive, it is well-organized, and even though the state does not mandate such materials as the art lessons, or the supplemental analogies workbook included with our course work, k12 still provides these along with lesson plans. All of our materials were either new, or so lightly used as to appear unused at all. The language arts is divided into several sections: grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling, analogies, reading, and writing. The reading material includes a considerable number of classics. Writing materials include work books for cursive writing. The math textbook is the k12 Math+ Purple edition, and man, oh man, does it get into some heavy stuff. It begins with a strong focus on place value, and why numbers operate the way they do. It gets into multiplication, division, geometry, fractions, decimals, and even early algebra later on. Science, social studies, art and music seem to offer a good basis, although I'm probably going to supplement k12's science, with Real Science. Anyway, that is all for now. I'll share more as we get further into the year, and get into the nitty gritty of it. The lessons are planned out, and the time spent on each subject is really flexible, depending on how well our ds does. We'll see how he fares come the mid-year evaluation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simka2 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I appreciate it! I have toyed with the idea, but I enjoy my freedom soooooo much and with 3 kids in the program I think I woud go insane. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnsinkableKristen Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I am SO glad you posted this! I am currently happy with what we are using on our own, but I looked into this before and just wasn't sure enough about the curriculum to make any decisions. Glad to know it's working well for you - please keep us updated!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraphina Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We looked into k12 when we were first thinking of homeschooling. I heard good things about the program but man I don't like being told how many hours I need to log, that was enough to turn me off. I get that that might work for some and I am glad you have found something that works for your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phathui5 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Thanks for sharing! I'm considering something like this for my older two this year, since my schedule is going to be crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 I appreciate it! I have toyed with the idea, but I enjoy my freedom soooooo much and with 3 kids in the program I think I woud go insane. ;) Yeah, we're still getting the hang of planning. I mean, the lessons are planned out, and if you skip a day, or whatever, the software automatically reassigns that missed lesson to the next day. So, that's convenient, since we fly through some lessons, but need extra time on others. The program is mastery based. You go over a lesson with your child, and they complete it. If there's an assessment, you give your child the quiz, and then you enter their scores online. If they score less than an 80, you just review the material with your child, and then let them retake the assessment. Once your child scores 80 or above, that assessment is "complete." Other lessons don't have assessments. You just go online, and click on the lesson, and it gives you the prescribed allotted time for that lesson. Say, 45 minutes for spelling. Your student may not have taken the full 45 minutes, but you can still get credit for that time period. You can also put in more time, if it took longer for your child to grasp the lesson. So, in this way, you can get the 6 hours a day (or whatever), although in actuality, your child may master and complete the material much more quickly. However, we're only doing this with one kid; I don't know how difficult or complicated it would be with more than one! The material is comprehensive, so I imagine that with 2 or more, it would definitely take a lot more time, if they are elementary grade level. I think that with middle and high school, the program is set up for the students to be more independent, although all of your students have their own assigned teacher. We "met" our teacher last week. We teach our ds, but she is there to help us with logistical, planning, or other issues in covering the material with our ds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Thanks for sharing! I'm considering something like this for my older two this year, since my schedule is going to be crazy. It's my pleasure! I'm pretty analytical by nature, and when I was trying to decide if this program would work for us or not, I was frustrated by the lack of in depth reviews out there. You know? I appreciate when people share in detail how a particular curriculum or program is organized, and arranged. I mean, there's lots of general information out there, but it can be hard to get a clear picture about the specifics. Like, the logging in 6 hours a day. I was wondering if that would be an actual average work day, or if was just the equivalent of what the state requires. So far, the 6 hour daily requirement has been easily met by lessons, reading, PE (my dh took our ds out ice skating one day), and enrichment activities, with no problem. I was worried that it would be 6 hours in front of a computer every day, and actually, most of the time is doing other stuff. We just have to log on to account for our school days, if that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 (edited) So far, the 6 hour daily requirement has been easily met by lessons, reading, PE (my dh took our ds out ice skating one day), and enrichment activities, with no problem. I was worried that it would be 6 hours in front of a computer every day, and actually, most of the time is doing other stuff. We just have to log on to account for our school days, if that makes sense. We've done K12 with Virtual Academies in PA and here in AZ. AZ tended to be more laid-back in general, but they started to drive me crazy in middle school when they switched to a system of having a different "teacher" for each subject. So instead of reporting to one person, we were reporting to 6?? It was a mess, and I don't even know if they stuck with the model. We dropped it about 3 years ago and we've not gone back. For attendance, I never worried about actively keeping track of time. I just logged the default for each subject as long as we did a lesson or some enrichment in the area. Sometimes it was actually more, sometimes less. Actually, if there was a day we took a field trip to say, the Science Museum, then I would log all of our learning time under that one subject heading, but that would be the exception. Anyway, I figured that in school they count lunch, passing periods, recesses, announcements, etc, etc as school hours, so I wasn't that worried as long as we got our work samples in and were available for the conferences once a month. Barb Edited September 12, 2011 by Barb F. PA in AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Glad it is working for you. :001_smile: I think this would be completely unworkable for me with my three students and my crazy part-time work schedule. It is not even a little bit appealing! Again, though, glad that there are options, and this may be a good fit for lots of folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I know k12 has cyber schools in other states, so I'm also wondering how my experience measures up against others. Technically, K12 doesn't have cyber schools in other states. Other states have cyber schools, some of which use/require K12. Each state will have different accountability requirements, which have nothing to do with K12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiMomNP Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We used K12 in CA through the California Virtual Academy. It wasn't bad but they started to pile on more and more "busy work", like mandatory online enrichment courses, Study Island, lots and lots of standardized type testing. I liked the curriculum for the most part. They had great field trips for families. Enjoy your school year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtney.byrum Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 We are using California VA which uses k12. We did K and 1 last year and are doing 1st and 2nd this year. Meeting the time requirements is fairly easy as there is a default time associated with each class. It rarely takes us, that long to complete a lesson but we usually just use the default time unless we do 2 or more lessons. It was very easy last year to get the kids to a place where they were being challenged a bit more. Math + Red(4th) is similar to Purple but bigger numbers and more in depth fractions/decimals. The 1st half focuses on numbers and operations and the 2nd half more on geometry, problem solving strategies, and the like. 2nd grade LA is all one subject and each lesson has components of spelling as well as Literature, Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, or Composition. All in all we are quite happy with CAVA and definitely happy with the k12 curriculum. I have heard some states are much harder to deal with but I have no reservations about at least recommending checking it out to others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 These tips are good to know. Like I said, before choosing this program, I didn't feel like I had a really clear picture of what to expect. So, I'm sharing as I go along, good and bad, hopefully to give others the benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest I Need a Nap Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Thanks for the review! I've been considering virtual school options for my son (7th grade). Did you look at Connections Academy and do you have any idea how they compare? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 I briefly looked at Connections Academy, but I couldn't tell what kind of curriculum they use. That made it a bit difficult to research reviews by parents and educators. From the website, it looks like it greatly resembles TXVA's set up and organization. But, I don't know what the philosophy is underlying their curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest I Need a Nap Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I briefly looked at Connections Academy, but I couldn't tell what kind of curriculum they use. That made it a bit difficult to research reviews by parents and educators. From the website, it looks like it greatly resembles TXVA's set up and organization. But, I don't know what the philosophy is underlying their curriculum. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 I briefly looked at Connections Academy, but I couldn't tell what kind of curriculum they use. That made it a bit difficult to research reviews by parents and educators. From the website, it looks like it greatly resembles TXVA's set up and organization. But, I don't know what the philosophy is underlying their curriculum. It's public school at home. There will be no understanding of children's learning styles, following the children's interests, teaching children of different ages together, graduating early/late...none of the things that we all most appreciate about homeschooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A home for their hearts Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I appreciate it! I have toyed with the idea, but I enjoy my freedom soooooo much and with 3 kids in the program I think I woud go insane. ;) I am almost certifiably insane! We are in our second week of using K12 through our state virtual academy with 3 kids! I'm suprised I have any hair left. It might help if my kids were older and could work independtly, but mine aren't and can't so I'm being pulled in three different directions all day long. Where we used to combine history, science, art and music now we have 3 different topics and assignments for each! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtney.byrum Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 I am almost certifiably insane! We are in our second week of using K12 through our state virtual academy with 3 kids! I'm suprised I have any hair left. It might help if my kids were older and could work independtly, but mine aren't and can't so I'm being pulled in three different directions all day long. Where we used to combine history, science, art and music now we have 3 different topics and assignments for each! I know my kids are different ages but we do combine some lessons in some ways. You can look for similar lessons in Art and do them all together (or pick one project for them all to do but making sure they can each pass the assessment for their particular lesson. You don't have to do lessons in order so you can skip ahead units to find matching lessons where possible. We've also been known to do the lesson and print out the project info and do it later. History is a bit harder as they will be at all different levels - but they can all enjoy the stories even if it doesn't apply to them. Science might have a few overlapping units - make sure to do those at the same time if there are any. My son's 2nd grade science has a human body unit and so does my daughter's 1st grade science. Now one is unit 2 and the other is unit 10 but we'll do them at the same time. Another thing to really keep in mind is that you do NOT have to do all of every lesson. It's likely in some cases where you don't need to do much in order for them to meet all the objectives of the lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelwydd Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 It's public school at home. There will be no understanding of children's learning styles, following the children's interests, teaching children of different ages together, graduating early/late...none of the things that we all most appreciate about homeschooling. Well, TXVA is public school at home, too. I have to disagree on all points. Learning style: My son is a strong tactile learner, with visual learning second. I present the lessons to him in the same way I did when I used my own curriculum--using a lot of hands-on activities to reinforce, and using physical aids (like an abacus in math, for example). Interest: My son loves math and science, and the program is geared to let him do extra activities and to move ahead, according to his own pace. We can take field trips and pick enrichment activities that he enjoys, like visiting the local aquarium. He is not as interested in reading and writing, but I am not an unschooler anyway. So, he will have to learn things he's not always interested in for the sake of being wholly educated! Different ages: My child's an only, so this is irrelevant to me anyway. But, lots of other families use TXVA and other cyber schools, and have more than one child. Graduating early/late: Texas doesn't recognize any home school graduation anyway. Any diploma a child gets is unofficial, in the eyes of the state. The only way to get around this is to do dual enrollment in a local community college, or similar, to receive recognized credit. And if you're doing that, then your child is still receiving "public" education. TXVA allows my son to move ahead if he's advanced. For example, if he shows that he's mastered the concepts of third grade math, he can go up to fourth grade math. It's flexible like that. So, it has all the things I appreciate about homeschooling, plus, it offers the benefit of a recognized, accredited education. Also, it saves me a lot of time and money in purchasing curricula and in organizing lessons. But that is my experience! Others will find their mileage will vary, of course. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 (edited) I would express something differently. Texas does recognize that our (collective for families) students receive a diploma-- just happens that our homeschool diplomas are issued by non-accredited private schools. That is the legal category into which we fall here. My children could attend all of their school lives, then be graduated from, an unaccredited parochial, or non-religious private, school. Their diplomas would have the same interpretation by the state. So I don't even worry about this minor detail. I have one son at SMU and another returning in spring to UNT. Shifting gears... many years ago we used K12 as private purchasers. (The virtual academies had not yet been introduced as an additional source of revenue for the company.) The math program was Sadlier math, but under the K12 label. If still the case, then you can find out more about your math materials. Enjoy the program! Edited September 15, 2011 by Orthodox6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 We did the Kansas K12 program last year and I loved it. There weren't attendance requirements, but you did have to finish a certain % of the curriculum by the end of the year. One of the teachers said they had taken it before the state ed dept and proved that if a child was progressing through the material and showing proficiency it didn't matter if they did school for 4 hours or 14. "Completion and comprehension of the material" was the requirement, not days/hours/etc. I thought that was AMAZING! The history was great, science was very good, literature was great - I really enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 TXVA allows my son to move ahead if he's advanced. For example, if he shows that he's mastered the concepts of third grade math, he can go up to fourth grade math. It's flexible like that. So, it has all the things I appreciate about homeschooling, plus, it offers the benefit of a recognized, accredited education. Also, it saves me a lot of time and money in purchasing curricula and in organizing lessons. But that is my experience! Others will find their mileage will vary, of course. :) I was able to choose what level to put the older two girls in based on my knowledge of their abilities. They were both in 5th grade history last year, 4th grade science, and their respective grades for LA and math. My younger dd was a year behind in LA and on level for math, history and science. This year, we were planning on skipping a year for dd2 in LA - she is very advanced there, but she would have remained on level for math, ahead in history and on level for science. Her "teachers" were familiar with her work and approved all of that before we knew we were moving. I really appreciated that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyniffrec Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 TN just legalized online schools thanks in part to our newly elected representative who also happens to be a homeschooling parent. There is only one online school right now, based out of a rural county. It uses K12. I have a good friend who teaches for them and two of my close friends jumped on board right away. The school is less than a month old but it already has 1400 students and is waiting to get the records for 1600 more. There was obviously a huge need for it here. The school systems are furious and are refusing to release records. Maybe if the TN schools could have pulled themselves out of last place in the nation (or close to it) they wouldn't be having this problem. My friend who is teaching for them used to be a homeschooling parent and may do so again in the future. She is a very bright math teacher and is happy with what she sees. As someone else said, K12 is mastery based. She is also happy with the history. And in TN at least, the kids keep the teachers for three years in a row (I know there is a technical name for it but I can't remember it). I am very happy for the families who felt like they couldn't homeschool but who were unhappy with the public school system. Maybe some of those kids that I see across the street everyday who look absolutely miserable will be able to go to TVA (we live next to a middle school). I was in their shoes and I know how awful it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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