Duval Virtual/Florida Virtual Schools for high school...pacing question xposted

[Cottonwood]

If you have any experience with Duval Virtual Instructional Academy in Jacksonville, FL or Florida Virtual School, I have a question. 

 

Both schools have told me to count on 7 hours of uninterrupted instruction time per day if we are taking 6 courses ....and we are going to have to take that amt per year to meet the 12 credit requirement to advance as a Junior when the kids get that far.  Part of the reason we HS is for the flexibility.  Both kids are performing music students and we have other serious obligations weekly and I'm not sure 35 hours of school per week is doable to keep the balance.

 

The guidance counselor said it's not that way with every kid, and some courses take a while per day and some are much quicker.  She said too, that many students actually get ahead during the year and finish the year a little early.  She keeps saying, that she 'honestly doesn't see this as a problem with most of the student body" and I wonder is it US or THEM?  lol  Granted, we have yet to try it out so my kids might actually be able to get it done much more quickly. 

 

I guess my question is...if you have experience in either of these virtual schools at the high school level, what has been your experience with the load or the pace?

[Melissa B]

FLVS 

 

You do not have to take six classes at one time. You could start with four (I don't allow my kids to take more than three) at a time. Try for two heavy and two light classes and then sign up for a new class once you finish one. Some classes take my kids much more than an hour per day, however, some are very short and easy - Information Technology, Driver's Ed and Theater come to mind. :) Trying to juggle six teachers would cause a great deal of anxiety. There is a lot of pressure to stay on pace (much easier to do if you only have three or four classes going.) What tends to throw my kids off are all of the required phone calls and collaborations and needing to obtain a password for every test. 

[mom2att]

If you are doing FLVS full time or Duval Virtual, you are considered a public school student and follow their schedule, their pace, their calendar, etc. I could very well see this taking 7+ hours per day for 6 classes. The benefit to full time is that you get a high school diploma from FLVS upon completion of their program. They are an accredited institution and the student remains on their public roll, so if those things are important to you, full time may be a good option. However, though you are at home and doing the work at home, you lack the flexibility of truly homeschooling because you are tied to their schedule and calendar. The student is also tied to the computer for 7+ hours per day, which IMO is way too much. As another poster mentioned, keeping up with tests and DBA's and monthly calls from 6 different teachers would be a headache I'd want to avoid.

 

However, as mentioned above, there is another option. FLVS Flex allows you to take as many classes as you like--one or several--without following the county's schedule and calendar, and maintaining "homeschooled" status. Whatever credits you don't take with FLVS, you take at home or with another outsourced provider (co-op, tutoring,etc.). You do have to stay "on pace" and complete the course in what amounts to a semester per segment, but the semester can start and end at any time and is not subject to the school calendar.

 

My kids do a few FLVS classes once they hit high school. My oldest did all of her math and foreign language with FLVS. I'm not sure of her daily time commitment because she's very independent and just did the work. My current high schooler is working through Spanish 2 currently, and I'm right there with him. It's a 1 -  2 hour per day,  4 - 5  day/week commitment for just the one class. He is admittedly a very slow worker, but it would be difficult to actually learn the material in much less than an hour per day for any student, I would think.

 

With FLVS Flex you can be registered as a homeschooler with the county and there is no cost to you for the classes. You do not receive a diploma from FLVS (or anyone else, for that matter) and you are on your own as far as preparing a transcript, but in my experience the lack of an accredited diploma is not a problem. Colleges recognize that homeschoolers forge a different path and while some may have a few additional homeschool requirements (UF, for example), nearly all are very welcoming of homeschooled applicants.

 

 

 

[FloridaLisa]

Did they tell you the courses are exactly the same, whether you go with Duval or FLVS? They are written by FLVS but counties have tested option of providing the teachers and keeping the $$ for that student. This is outside your question, but after an experience with St. Johns virtual a few years ago, I would choose FLVS hands down. The teacher support was super limited,he knew the material but not the course...really limited with the tech stuff of resetting or glitches. And it was tied to the county school schedule (start and completion date) even though it was just one class.

 

The FLVS teachers IME are much better equipped to handle the online courses and non-public school students.