Wanted: Common Core aligned curriclum for homeschooling

[Ellie]

My kids are enrolled in a public virtual charter school, they are enrolled in Calvert. They sent us our materials.

 

Her virtual charter doesn't seem to work like the others.

 

I don't know if having so much choice sounds like it is worth all the confusion. 

 

In California, hers is the norm. Also, there are two general kinds of home-based charter schools in California: Internet-based (those which provide/require K12, and Connections Academy) and those which provide actual textbooks or other instructional materials, with the families being given stipends to purchase those materials (or they give their shopping lists to the charter school which then purchases the materials); they might also pay for outside classes. Only those which do Internet-based instruction are referred to as "virtual" charter schools.

[Farrar]

But it sounds like her VA is not the norm, even by CA standards, in the way they want evidence shown to them in terms of the standards.

 

I wonder if CC is going to end up turning more people in CA away from the charter option if this sort of thing becomes more common.

[Mango]

In California, hers is the norm. Also, there are two general kinds of home-based charter schools in California: Internet-based (those which provide/require K12, and Connections Academy) and those which provide actual textbooks or other instructional materials, with the families being given stipends to purchase those materials (or they give their shopping lists to the charter school which then purchases the materials); they might also pay for outside classes. Only those which do Internet-based instruction are referred to as "virtual" charter schools.

 Our charter school is a virtual based charter school. Math is always online using Aleks.com for k-12. This fulfills the virtual requirement. 

 

For all other subjects you choose: Online or Project based. It can be some or all in either category. 

 

The project based learning is where the challenge arrives. My stupid begins when the lesson plan ends. I like a lesson plan. The school will buy me curriculum to use, if I can get from it the required amount of projects per quarter. They don't care if I teach the lesson plan or not. Their objective is the project. This is whole other debate, please don'tstart that! 

 

Personally I chose this year to teach the lesson plan. My hope was that the projects/experiements/optional activities in the curriculum coud count for the required number of projects. Therein lies my challenge, there are projects, but no clue which fulfills which standard. Also projects in the curriclum never go far enough. So it helps knowing which standard we're working towards so we can make up the deficit by asking the teacher for suggestions. 

 

What we will do next year is in discussion. But for now I must dig my head into the internet and help 3 of my kids kids come up with 8 projects for second semester. The the other two just need 5 projects each.  The teachers are asking for 2 projects minimuin English, Science, Soc. and 1 in PE.  YIKES!  Did'ja do the math? 34 projects. Yes, I already know you don't want to be me.  Please don't be cruel. 

[kitten18]

Our charter school is a virtual based charter school. Math is always online using Aleks.com for k-12. This fulfills the virtual requirement.

 

For all other subjects you choose: Online or Project based. It can be some or all in either category.

 

The project based learning is where the challenge arrives. My stupid begins when the lesson plan ends. I like a lesson plan. The school will buy me curriculum to use, if I can get from it the required amount of projects per quarter. They don't care if I teach the lesson plan or not. Their objective is the project. This is whole other debate, please don'tstart that!

 

Personally I chose this year to teach the lesson plan. My hope was that the projects/experiements/optional activities in the curriculum coud count for the required number of projects. Therein lies my challenge, there are projects, but no clue which fulfills which standard. Also projects in the curriclum never go far enough. So it helps knowing which standard we're working towards so we can make up the deficit by asking the teacher for suggestions.

 

What we will do next year is in discussion. But for now I must dig my head into the internet and help 3 of my kids kids come up with 8 projects for second semester. The the other two just need 5 projects each. The teachers are asking for 2 projects minimuin English, Science, Soc. and 1 in PE. YIKES! Did'ja do the math? 34 projects. Yes, I already know you don't want to be me. Please don't be cruel.

Mango, are you in CA? Can you explain more about the projects? I'm not really understanding.

I might be able to help if I understood more about the project requirements.

If you are in CA, this project thing is unique to your charter, it isn't a state requirement.

[KarenNC]

 Our charter school is a virtual based charter school. Math is always online using Aleks.com for k-12. This fulfills the virtual requirement. 

 

For all other subjects you choose: Online or Project based. It can be some or all in either category. 

 

The project based learning is where the challenge arrives. My stupid begins when the lesson plan ends. I like a lesson plan. The school will buy me curriculum to use, if I can get from it the required amount of projects per quarter. They don't care if I teach the lesson plan or not. Their objective is the project. This is whole other debate, please don'tstart that! 

 

Personally I chose this year to teach the lesson plan. My hope was that the projects/experiements/optional activities in the curriculum coud count for the required number of projects. Therein lies my challenge, there are projects, but no clue which fulfills which standard. Also projects in the curriclum never go far enough. So it helps knowing which standard we're working towards so we can make up the deficit by asking the teacher for suggestions. 

 

What we will do next year is in discussion. But for now I must dig my head into the internet and help 3 of my kids kids come up with 8 projects for second semester. The the other two just need 5 projects each.  The teachers are asking for 2 projects minimuin English, Science, Soc. and 1 in PE.  YIKES!  Did'ja do the math? 34 projects. Yes, I already know you don't want to be me.  Please don't be cruel. 

 

Given the stress this is causing you, is there a reason you can't switch the children to the online program for this semester? Even switching just some of them or in some subjects would be a help. If the online curricula is not your ideal, you can always supplement at home with things that don't have to meet their criteria.

 

If you can't switch, do you have any contact with other families using this charter, people who know and have access to the same standards information to which you are being held? Can you collaborate with others with kids in your grade levels, say each one pull together a project that meets criteria in one subject and sharing the information with the others? 

[Farrar]

Okay, I think I'm starting to get what they want (though the absurdity of it would make me madder than mad). You need to do 34 projects in all (8 for three of your kids, 5 for two of them). Is there a single standard for each of these projects or are there multiple ones? As is, do you need to have one project that shows compare two characters, settings, or events in a story? Or do you need to have one project that does that and half a dozen other things?

 

Also, what exactly are these standards? Common Core is only ELA and math. There are also the NGSS for science, but I'm not aware of anything nationwide with much traction like that for social studies. Perhaps those are California ones? Have they interpreted these standards and listed them clearly for you or do you need to go find them as well?