Has anyone compared SOS to K12??

[Momma4Boys]

I have been looking at K12 (free to me here in Texas) and it seems very similar to SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse). I would prefer NOT to send my kids to a virtual public school where there is no flexablility and there are restrictions. I don't like being told what to do :lol:

 

Has anyone compared these 2 programs? Any feedback on either one?

[BlueTaelon]

I like the K12 LA, Science & History, don't like the VA math (its different then the stuff independent families get). Never tried SOS.

[Momma4Boys]

anyone else? <the sounds of crickets chirping>

[frugalmama]

I have been looking at K12 (free to me here in Texas) and it seems very similar to SOS (Switched on Schoolhouse). I would prefer NOT to send my kids to a virtual public school where there is no flexablility and there are restrictions. I don't like being told what to do :lol:

 

Has anyone compared these 2 programs? Any feedback on either one?

 

I'm in the same position - I like the look of k12 and it's free here in Texas, but dealing with all the hoops makes me hesitant. Plus the fact that DD is gifted / accelerated and they'd bump her down at least 2 grades if they go by age for k12.

 

But SOS is just too costly to buy new - I've been trying to find used older versions.

[ChandlerMom]

I don't know about SOS, but how good K12 is depends a lot on how the VA operates. I'd suggest joining the Yahoo groups for TXVA to find out how flexible the VA is.

 

FWIW, K12will normally do placement testing (simple testing) before you start. It depends on the VA, so you want to know their rules and if they have any "won't reveal for 30 days" sort of thing if one person is telling you "start here and we'll adjust later" that may not be the case. K12 is all about teaching to the objective, so it is say to accelerate, even complete full grades of LA/math in a few months. History and science are often pegged to grade though, not a big deal since you can go deeper.

 

So yes, look seriously at the hoops and requirements, but don't forget you can withdraw your child at any time. If you do it, don't feel like you need to do every problem if you kid gets it -- just teach to the objective and move on.

[Samiam]

I've used SOS a few times here and there. Used it for Science and history, in about 3rd grade cuz it was free for me (a friend gave it to me) and I had just had a baby that year, so thought it would be great for my son to be able to do those on his own if I was bogged down with newborn duties.

 

I've used K12, paid for it independently for 4th grade, used the Math, the LA, the Science and the history, and continue to use the history for another year.

 

Then we used Monarch which is SOS but online, instead of disc, for 7th grade, for State History.

 

We now use K12 via our state virtual academy, ie free to us, but my son is considered a public school student.

 

They are not alike at all, except that you use the computer.

 

SOS is very stagnant. Meaning most of the lesson is the student reading from the screen, often long sections. As if they took a book and put it right to the computer screen. Occasionally, there is a short video clip that a student can click on that might have some video of additional information. There is very little offline work (ie not much you do away from the computer). It is also no flexibility. Meaning if the answer is supposed to be "blue and white flag" but your child says "white and blue flag" the answer is considered wrong because it was not exactly like the system was programed to accept as correct. Now you can, as the parent, go back in and mark it as correct, but it's just the point that your child thought he had it right, and was marked wrong. Also there is very little need for parent interaction. Depending on the age of the child, they could literally sit there and you would not be involved at all except for a few grading things here or there (ie occasional essay)

 

K12 is much more interactive. Also, depending on what grade level the child is in, it's not much online. For example, K-3, will have about 15% of their day online (this is straight from a K12 rep's mouth). What is happening the other 85% of the time? YOU. That's right, you are teaching your child using the resources that K12 gives you. As the child gets older, there is more online work, and perhaps less that you as a parent need to do. My 8th grader does most of his work on his own, but I do go over his offline work to make sure he is putting his best effort in (but it is important to note that my 8th grade son did most of his work on his own as a "pure homeschooler" before we started K12, too. He's an independent kind of guy and prefers to work on his own). Every lesson has off line things, whether it's questions, labs, map work, fill in the blank, etc...something off line to do.

The online lessons do have quite a bit of interactive stuff, from short videos, to links to websites, to interactive tutorials. Each page may have a paragraph and then a picture or visual, and then you click to the next page. No reading on and on and on trying to pull out the pertinent info. Short snippets. I feel that is much better for younger children. Each lesson has a short quiz, with online questions that are auto-graded, but also off line questions that you as the parent grade (with the answers K12 gives you).

 

Also, if you look closely at SOS' history, it's not really history, it's social studies. Learning about this community and that area's resources. K12 does real history, starting from the Ancients, and moving through time.

 

It's often said that K12 gives you TOO much, and you do have to pick through the activities to decide what you need to do and what you don't. When you use K12, you will get boxes and boxes of real books, workbooks, teacher books. When you get SOS, you'll get nothing like that.

 

Now that is all about the curriculum itself.

 

The next thing you need to consider is the school itself, your state virtual school. Every state runs their virtual school differently. They will put their own "spin" on K12, meaning how many hours a week they require you to do, what kind of testing they require, etc. I wont' bother to go into details about it, since I am probably not in the same state as you . I'll just leave it at the fact that since joining our K12 virtual school in January, our day to day lives have not changed a bit. I am a pretty hard core homeschooler, I guess you could say, meaning I have a plan, and schoolwork is our main priority of the day. We do some things that my children like, and we do somethings they don't, but unfortunately for them, they don't normally get a say in the matter if they don't like it (unless they have a really valid reason). So having a daily schedule, staying on task with a goal in mind for the end, that's pretty much how we operated anyway, so K12 did not change our day to day life in that aspect.

 

p.s. Wanted to add that most of the state virtual schools will enroll your child in the grade by their age, but that does not mean your child will have to do that grade level work. They will assign the work based on the testing your child does at the entrance. So a 3rd grader could be doing 5th grade math, 2nd grade LA, 3rd grade Science, etc. They have resources for gifted as well as resources for delayed learners, at least in my state. You may want to look on Facebook, if you are on it, as there are several K12 groups on there, and specifically for each state.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Samiam

[Momma4Boys]

Thank you! That was some awesome and extremely helpful feedback!!