Virtual School K12

[PiperPizzaz]

Has anyone tried this yet? I like to keep track of what is going on in my area schools even though my Ds isn't quite 2 yet. This seems interesting and may be more challenging than the public schools in my area.

 

[CastleCreations]

Our local public school, didn't work out for us. So in the fall we are beginning K12. Someone on the Dis recommended it and it sounds like it might work for us. So today is my daughter's official last day of school, before she becomes home schooled. Since K12 is considered a public school, in Florida you don't have to contact the superintendent. You just transfer them from one school to another. I'm anxious to begin it.

 

[duckyfordonald]

We have been using K12 for the past 3 years (DS now enrolled in 2nd grade). We are enrolled through a virtual charter school in our state, so it is also considered within the public school system for us. Because of this we do not have to pay for the program or materials and they have even supplied us with the computer! And yes, we have found that it is definitely more challenging than our public school system and students can work ahead at their own pace (for example, my 2nd grader is currently enrolled in 4th grade math) Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

 

[PiperPizzaz]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, it is in our public system here too. It is good to know you can just enroll them anytime.

The only big issues I would have with it is kindergarten, how can they use the computer? 5 hours seems a long time for me to be sitting there helping him. I WOULD if that is what it takes, but it just seems long. Especially if there is a younger sibling about.

Also how do they work vacations? Are they 'off' school the same time everyone else is. Can you take vacations yourself and make up the work?

 

[Nascia]

My oldest is enrolled in a K12 virtual school in Pa. We absolutely love it. I think the curriculum is more advanced than the local public schools' and he can work at his own pace. I understand your concern about screen-time, but the students are not really in front of the computer a lot in the lower grades. My son is in 4th grade and still completes about 75% of his work away from the computer. The only lessons he has online are portions of science, history art and math. All of his language arts and literature classes use text and workbooks. K12 is very hands on and provides manipulatives, experiments and projects for most of their lessons. I really like the school and will be enrolling my middle son in K next year. You can PM me if you have any questions. Good Luck!

 

[rebecca314]

I teach at a small rural HS in Illinois and we encourage our students to take classes thru the IL vK12. We do not have the funds for additional staff and the parents love that it gives options. EXAMPLE: I'm the only foreign language teacher, teaching Spanish. Online there are the options of French, German, and Latin as well.

In my experience, for the older students who have not done this all along, it takes some time to learn the discipline to keep up with the work. There's not a teaching reminding you to submit assignments and it seems they sometimes get distracted easily. (ie: they often seem to be looking for proxies to get to MySpace, faceBook, or YouTube).

Just wanted to give you some info from the HS end.

 

[Chelley00]

We are in Indiana and are actually going to sign our 5 year old daughter up for it this year. We will homeschool our 11 year old, but had already purchased the curriculum for him before hearing about K12. If it works well for our 5 year old, we may enroll the 11 year old in it for the following school year.

I'm glad others have had positive experiences with it. We have friends who are going to use it for their 8 year old son this year as well.

 

[labdogs42]

Hmmm...sounds interesting. My son is only two and I'm already concerned about where I want to send him to school. This is an option I hadn't heard about. (the online homeschooling thing, I've heard of homeschooling!!) Thanks for the post!

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

Can someone please post a link? Thanks so much!!

 

[Benducci]

I signed for some info but haven't heard yet. No one I know in our area has heard of it so I am hoping it is good.

 

[estherhead]

I did this for a year and LOVED it for my daughter for kingergarten. She is gifted & we did it for her at 4yrs old by 5 she was able to read and our local school put her in 1st grade with extra help from a gifted teacher so she isn't bored. It is a fabulous program. Love, love, love it. If I have need to homeschool again K12 would be my first choice for sure.

 

[Nascia]

Can someone please post a link? Thanks so much!!

Here's a link to the K12 site: http://www.k12.com/options/