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Can anyone compare Connections Academy with K12?


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We are considering one of these for my current 9th grader (both dh and I feel that I am exhausting myself trying to help him and that it's time for him to take responsibility for his work...that's the EXTREMELY short version of a long, convoluted story). We have both options available to us here in CO. We actually have another one available, Branson, so I guess if anyone knows anything about it, jump in as well!:001_smile: A friend of mine uses it, but her kids are WAY younger, so she hasn't experienced the high school level yet.

 

I'm curious about how it all WORKS. Do the kids just work on their stuff on their own? Do they have to be able to "teach themselves?" Or are there videos or something that they watch? Or would I be required to teach him, just using their curriculum? How do they place the kids in the curriculum?

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But I hated that no one was answering your question :). I have friends who are using K-12 and one of them moved over to using Connections. My friend said that Connections projects were smaller and more manageable. I looked at the website for Connections and it looked to me more textbook based (Holt? I don't really remember right now), whereas K-12 is more "in-house" for some subjects. I really hope I have this right. I reiterate that I don't have any experience or direct knowledge ;). Have you poked around on the website? I think they have sample lessons on both sites...

 

Martha

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Thanks, Martha! I did look some at K12 and wasn't impressed. It looks like there is very little teaching and like the student would need to have extremely strong language skills just to be able to do their assignments like math or something. I might as well just hand him a textbook and say "Go at it.":glare: My ds needs more instructor support than that, so I think I'll probably cross K12 off my list. I looked at the Branson one I mentioned in my OP, and they at least have some recordings of teachers TEACHING. I'm also considering The Potters School too. It's not free, but that's not really why I'm looking at K12/Connections/Branson anyway.

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I'm pretty sure that there are on-line classes with live teachers for high school classes (and middle school, too, I think) and access to the teachers for further help.

 

Martha

Hm, I'll have to look closer then. I viewed some of their sample high school classes, and it was just online slides that the student read and then clicked for the next slide. They had some interactive video things now and then, but those were supplemental activities. I didn't see anything that was a live video or anything like that. But maybe these things are supposed to be viewed while there is a live class going on???? I honestly couldn't tell.

 

AND maybe it differs from state to state??????????? No idea if it's all set up the same way or not.:confused:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am currently using k12 through our local state school with my ds7 and ds11. I believe as part of k12 all schools offer class connects weekly in math, and language arts. I believe at the high school levels class connects would be offered for each subject probably once a week. Class Connects are where you get online with other students in your class and your teacher and the teacher actually teaches a lesson. I really don't know how it is set up for high school. I would call K12 and ask them any questions you have. As with anything there are going to be things you like and things you don't like. k12 didn't work for my dd12. I found myself supplementing with other materials because the curriculum just didn't fit her so I decided to withdrawl her.

 

I hope that helps! And I hope others here will chime in!

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I'll throw this out there.... 9th grade isn't the most wonderful year. Hormones, getting used to high school level work. If high school isn't working because your 9th grader is very social and needs peer pressure (and maybe wants to participate in sports), you might be in for quite a ride. If all of you are on the same page to continue homeschooling, curriculum tweaking might be in order. (One homeschool friend of dd really likes to blaze through Lifepaks and is doing well with that, it gets him finished with schoolwork quickly so he can work and do other things he wants to).

 

I know several people that did online learning through what is available in our area, but I don't know if it was K12 or Connections. One mom (using it for middle school and elementary) said it was too hands off and inflexible. They spent their Christmas vacation catching it up, then put the middle schooler in private school, and ducked out. They found another online program they like as their other kids came into high school, I think it was more flexible. Another friend of ds and dd passionately told me that it was very difficult to just sit at the computer all day. She failed half of the classes (she is a good student). She ended up at public school the next year. So in my world, the online deal was just a step to the kid going to public or private school (with some being behind because of the online school).

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My ds wanted to go to "real" high school for 9th grade and Connections Academy was our compromise. We only lasted the fall semester before returning to regular homeschooling for one very specific reason...these online schools are designed for the "average" student.

 

If you have a child who is advanced in certain subjects they will become bored and frustrated because you cannot vary from what is being taught and you cannot work ahead. Everyone has to stay in the same week to make the one day per week live class useful.

 

By the way students are not allowed to use microphones during class because they consider it to disruptive so your child must be able to type and read fast to keep up with the discussion. Sometimes if students are way out of hand they will take away the ability to type in the chat.

 

If you have a child who is struggling in a certain subject they will fall behind quickly and be placed on probation. The solution is that teachers will allow open note/open book tests and/or will allow students to retake assignments, quizzes, and tests. These solutions are not necessarily bad in moderation but when a child is left independently and/or knows the teacher cannot see what he or she is learning it quickly becomes a crutch and real learning and understanding is pushed to the side in favor of getting it done quickly to keep up.

 

You have to remember that just because this is online and completed at home does not make it homeshcool. You only have so much leeway in course selection, must complete standardized testing (which may require a long drive to another city), and you must adhere to all school rules and regulations. For example my son only made it 1/3 of the way through Pre-Algebra for 8th grade. Therefore I wanted him placed in Pre-Algebra in 9th but they could not do it because state law required all 9th graders take Algebra 1. I could see the handwriting on the wall but he wanted to try.

 

What I did love about Connections Academy was the free computer and textbooks, the parent support through online workshops, and the field trips that allowed students to get together for fun and education together. For these reasons I wish we had been able to stick with CA but I could not justify my son's complete boredom in Honors English, struggle with Algebra 1 and Spanish 1, and disappointment in Honors Biology because of no real labs. The only left that he loved was Art History, Personal Fitness, World Geography.

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My ds wanted to go to "real" high school for 9th grade and Connections Academy was our compromise. We only lasted the fall semester before returning to regular homeschooling for one very specific reason...these online schools are designed for the "average" student.

 

If you have a child who is advanced in certain subjects they will become bored and frustrated because you cannot vary from what is being taught and you cannot work ahead. Everyone has to stay in the same week to make the one day per week live class useful.

 

By the way students are not allowed to use microphones during class because they consider it to disruptive so your child must be able to type and read fast to keep up with the discussion. Sometimes if students are way out of hand they will take away the ability to type in the chat.

 

If you have a child who is struggling in a certain subject they will fall behind quickly and be placed on probation. The solution is that teachers will allow open note/open book tests and/or will allow students to retake assignments, quizzes, and tests. These solutions are not necessarily bad in moderation but when a child is left independently and/or knows the teacher cannot see what he or she is learning it quickly becomes a crutch and real learning and understanding is pushed to the side in favor of getting it done quickly to keep up.

 

You have to remember that just because this is online and completed at home does not make it homeshcool. You only have so much leeway in course selection, must complete standardized testing (which may require a long drive to another city), and you must adhere to all school rules and regulations. For example my son only made it 1/3 of the way through Pre-Algebra for 8th grade. Therefore I wanted him placed in Pre-Algebra in 9th but they could not do it because state law required all 9th graders take Algebra 1. I could see the handwriting on the wall but he wanted to try.

 

What I did love about Connections Academy was the free computer and textbooks, the parent support through online workshops, and the field trips that allowed students to get together for fun and education together. For these reasons I wish we had been able to stick with CA but I could not justify my son's complete boredom in Honors English, struggle with Algebra 1 and Spanish 1, and disappointment in Honors Biology because of no real labs. The only left that he loved was Art History, Personal Fitness, World Geography.

 

I think here you might have pointed out some good differences between connections academy and K12. K12 is mastery based which means the student stays with the lesson until that have reached mastery, which is a score of 80% of the assessments. They do not have to stay with the class. In fact based on their scantron tests at the beginning of the year they are placed in different groups for the class connect sessions. So if your child is struggling in math, for example, they would be in one group, if they are average they would be in a different group. Another great thing about k12 is that if you don't get a lesson finished that day it atomatically moves over to the next day on the lesson plan. If it is a subject your child excells at they can do as many lessons they want in a day. Everything self adjusts. So you aren't forced to get a certain amount of work done in a day.

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  • 1 month later...
I think here you might have pointed out some good differences between connections academy and K12. K12 is mastery based which means the student stays with the lesson until that have reached mastery, which is a score of 80% of the assessments. They do not have to stay with the class. In fact based on their scantron tests at the beginning of the year they are placed in different groups for the class connect sessions. So if your child is struggling in math, for example, they would be in one group, if they are average they would be in a different group. Another great thing about k12 is that if you don't get a lesson finished that day it atomatically moves over to the next day on the lesson plan. If it is a subject your child excells at they can do as many lessons they want in a day. Everything self adjusts. So you aren't forced to get a certain amount of work done in a day.

 

 

I know it works that way for the K-8 group but K12 HS is very different from what I understand and they are attending actual lectures on a daily basis for 5 hours and must be able to keep pace with the rest of the class. Its literally regular high school but online in front of a computer rather then a B&M class with 30 other students. At least thats my understanding of it.

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I don't have personal experience with either company, but have done a little research since both have became available here in Louisiana this school year. Most of the textbooks and online textbooks that are listed for their courses can be bought on Amazon very cheap. You can even access the sames online course content online yourself for free and have your student work at their own pace. Once the student has read the text, they take the online quiz and email the results to the parent. The parent would be responsible for keeping up with the graded quizzes for transcripts and course descriptions. I will include an example here.

http://www.amazon.com/Biology-Dynamics-California-Glencoe-Science/dp/0078665809/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2ST8DDGKQAK1N&colid=1KFCQIGZL156F

 

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/biology/bio2004/index.html

Edited by Mouseketeer67
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I've never used Connections, so I'm no help there. I did post a review of our experiences with MNVA (K12's MN virtual academy) a while back that might be helpful for you to read. My daughter used it for 9th grade, but we went back to independent homeschooling for 10th grade.

 

Here's the link to our review. :)

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What about something like Switched on Schoolhouse, or Monarch? It will schedule out all his assignments automatically, grade most of it, etc. It is interactive, will read the text aloud if he has trouble reading, has games and videos, etc.

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What about something like Switched on Schoolhouse, or Monarch? It will schedule out all his assignments automatically, grade most of it, etc. It is interactive, will read the text aloud if he has trouble reading, has games and videos, etc.
I've never heard of Monarch.:confused:

 

His problem isn't reading - it's understanding language in general. So having a text read aloud doesn't help at all. He does best when something is actually TAUGHT and re-explained differently from the text (and possibly in several different ways).:tongue_smilie:

 

I think we're going to end up using The Potter's School for many of his classes next year. He is taking a health class right now and it's going OK so far. He's having to get used to actual assignment due dates and stuff though - that seems to be his biggest struggle.

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