Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Ready to homeschool - any advice would be helpful

If you are in Nevada your child can attend the online K12 academy for free. We are looking into it for my own children. They are even having a free expo June 21 at the Lied Children's museum.

I was concerned about how much time my child would be spending on the computer but it would be actually less than he spends at school where he can get onto as soon as he is done with his assignments!

Here is their website www.k12.com/nvva

I think they have the program for other states including California.

LOL Area51 Mom!

Must keep our humor!

I know a family in Ohio who uses K12, and the state pays. I hear that it is developing a version for "gifted." Of course thats a word that means something different depending on who is using it.

Smiles and Giggles,
Trinity

K12 is also a curriclum that Utah will pay for. However, if you choose curriculum the state pays for , you have to do all the state required testing, which is a total absurd for a gifted child.

We were able to dual-enroll DS with the K12 and his regular public school. He was able to complete 5 years of math (through pre-Algebra B) in 2 years using their self-paced program during his classes math time. And since the K12 was through a public charter school, we didn't pay a dime; we had to get our principal sign off saying that they were willing to let him dual-enroll (which means less money for them). I'm not sure that every k12 program or bricks-and-mortar school are open to dual-enrolling, but this solution certainly saved our sanity (we could not cope with another year of incremental learning with Saxon!)

Wow Acs, That's wonderful! Did DS use the K12 for other subjects? Imagine that, a school offering two alternative Math programs to better meet children's needs! Wonderful.
Trinity

We just used it for math. DS had asked his 3rd grade teacher to let him move ahead in math (notice he does most of his advocacy work himself!) and she gave him and a group of higher math kids a chance to work ahead in the 4th grade book, but everyone saw this was not enough. His 3rd grade teacher worked with the GT teacher to come up with a plan that would work better in 4th and it was the GT teacher's idea to look into dual-enrollment. At that point, the virtual academy was short of students and was happy to have us and the teachers in his bricks and mortar school felt unable to meet his needs (and perhaps were worried that we would take DS out)so everyone was very supportive. The virtual academy is now much busier and there is a waiting list to dual-enroll, so we were probably pretty lucky to be able to do this. I am told that they lose money with dual-enrolled students.

I should also mention that I did not expect the teachers at the bricks and mortar school to do anything with his math except allow him computer access. I did all the lesson assigning, grading, and work with the virtual academy teacher. I would help him when he got stuck or confused, but, really, that was pretty rare.

What I loved was that I have a transcript saying he as completed pre-algebra B from an accredited public school. It made it easy to get him into Algebra in 6th grade (with the honors 8th graders) next year. My brothers and I were all allowed to work ahead with some of our teachers, but that rarely carried over into true acceleration the next year because there was no firm documentation.

acs,
I'm glad it worked well for you.

You make an excellent point about "informal working ahead" v. "true, documented acceleration."

My younger bothers were "sent up a grade" in math from 3rd to 4th, then from 4th to 5th, then 5th to 6th. What did they do in 6th when they were in the oldest group in the building? From what they remember, they did 6th grade math again.

Now it is true that an 11 year old tends to be more mature, and better equipt to handle poor fit classroom than an 8 year old, so I think they probably benifited somewhat, compared to not being allowed to work ahead at all, but I can't imagine why there isn't a general protest to children being treated like this.

Can you imagine the response if a classroom of 6th graders had to repeat 5th grade math because there wasn't any availible 6th grade books? Wouldn't people be upset?

So, I too, am glad that your son is "credentialed."

Smiles,
Trinity

acs, what virtal academy are you talking about?

Idaho has a charter school virtual academy that uses the K12 curriculum. I think you can just go to www.k12.com to find out if your state has a similar program.

I just found this link
http://www.homeschooldiner.com/index.html
and it looks like a good resource for gifted homeschooling.