Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments CTY online for homeschooling?

DS currently attends an independent school & has been there for several years. We are happy with his progress & he LOVES his school. He's found a home there. He fits in, he's a leader & he's stimulated. He attended public school for a few years prior to attending his current school. Suffice it to say, I will never send him back to our local school district.
So what's the problem? Thankfully, there are none this year. It's next year, when he starts middle school, that has me really worried. The middle school, essentially tossed out it's rigorous curriculum this year and implemented a poorly conceived 1:1 iPad program without a curriculum. Each student was given their own personal iPad to carry around & use all day. The iPad program is a disaster for many reasons. I'm not opposed to using technology in the classroom, but I have a big issue with them giving my then to be 11 year old unsupervised access to the internet & gaming apps all day. I'm also concerned with the unhealthy amount of screen time kids have, the decrease in 1:1 teacher interaction, and the fact that all work must be done on the iPad, including notetaking.
I'm considering homeschooling for middle school. If he's going to be using an iPad app all day in school, I'd much rather he use CTY online for core course work under my supervision. We live near a major city so we have easy access to all kinds of museums, colleges, and cultural offerings. My concern with homeschooling is that my son is a social butterfly, and as an only child, he can get very lonely. I know homeschooling networks provide social opportunities, but ds craves daily interaction with peers.
I really don't want to pull my son out of his school next year, but I can't imagine anything good coming out of the messed up middle school iPad program. To me, it is not worth the steep tuition to send him to a school for the social factor alone. It's heart breaking...
I'd appreciate any input. Anyone have experience with using CTY to homeschool? What can I expect from CTY online courses?
Thanks!

Take a look at the local public school. You may find that the Middle school is much much better - a whole different animal than the elementary. It maybe worth it in terms of 'free babysitting' with Afterschooling.

I would certainly talk to the Independent school and ask if they have block on sites to games, etc. How many Middle school students left last year due to the changes? Does the Independent school have a High School attached to it? Look ahead to the good High School programs and ask them which Middle schools do a good job of preparing their students.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

We're using CTY for high school (9th grade this year). My son is taking a forensics course designed for grades 7-9 and it's SUPERB. Just fantastic. I can't gush enough praise about that course. The instructor writes up a new lesson every week, and stays in very close touch with the students. The stuff she writes is lively and engaging. The exercises are a lot of fun, and he's learning a ton.

He's also taking "From Structure to Style" which is for grades 7-12. Again, superb, and all the comments I wrote about Forensics apply to this course. It's maybe not as much pure fun as investigating a "crime scene" that your mom made (the cat was the perp), but still very engaging. My son's writing style has improved noticeably after only three weeks. It's that good. Both teachers clearly have a gift for what they're doing.

This is our first year homeschooling, and so I can't comment on other CTY online courses that apply to middle schoolers.

We're using a mix-and-match approach. Thus, my son is doing CTY courses, an EPGY course, an AoPS course, and a distance course from France (he went to French school for many years). For PE, there's a free after-school program in the gym at a local middle school (is there anything like this in your area?). I think he runs more now than he ever did in school. The kids who go to this gym basically play very active games for as long as they're there (2 hours a day 3-4 days a week for my son).

So you don't have to be confined to CTY only, though they are the most organized (AoPS is also very organized). The EPGY classes involve a live online classroom, which is nice. That part of EPGY is really great. And the course he's doing there is also wonderful. AoPS is cheap but moves quickly. But they also don't grade unless you ask them too, which removes pressure (the problems are tough). ThinkWell also has online classes, I think.

The best part of all of this is that after ~8 weeks, he's happy, engaged, and learning. There's no pointless homework and virtually no time wasted. All these courses require work, but not to the grindingly misery-inciting levels that happen at some schools.

I agree with the previous poster about gathering more info from the school about implementation of the iPad program. I would be concerned too about the screen time and gaming. It seems like that school has worked really well, and if you could be given reassurance that they have thought through the iPad program and addressed your concerns, that might be the best option.

Having said that, I am a devoted homeschooler. There are so many wonderful opportunities for hs'ers, both on and off-line. Socially, I am lucky. I am in the Philly area and there are two drop off programs for hs'ers in the area. Sort of like part-time school. My DD 10 goes there two days per week where she takes writing, local history, model UN, and Odyssey of the Mind. It really addresses her need to be with her friends. If you live in a major metro area, maybe there is something similar?

FWIW, I wanted a place like that so bad when I started homeschooling that I helped create the one where my dd goes. It can be done!

I see what you did there.

This is interesting to me in that we have our EG 2e ds12 enrolled in a small independent school which has been a tremendously better fit than our public schools were. Starting this year his class is required to use iPads for their classwork, but it hasn't been anything anywhere near a disaster for ds - in fact, it's been great (from my perspective). I too don't want my children spending all their time in front of screens, and I also agree that googling isn't the way to really do research or learn but implementing iPads hasn't worked out that way for us. The kids still have textbooks, but they have the additional option of having some of the *same* textbooks online. They have the options of purchasing eBooks if they prefer to read (literature) online. The students do have internet access during the school day but they don't have free reign to play games etc - there are rules from the school outlining what they are and aren't allowed to do during the school day and the school enforces them.

The school has the children use the iPads for their written composition work, for making flash cards to study with, for internet research (which they did anyway previously using classroom computers), for making presentations, and for reading when they (optionally) choose to purchase the classroom reading books for LA online. They also use the calendar for scheduling and they use email to turn in assignments and for the teachers to send assignment instructions etc.

The concerns I've heard from other parents really have very little to do with actual school work, but with what happens at home - their children wanting to spend time online or taking the iPads to their room or playing apps all the time etc, but I see those as issues to address at home and not rooted in the concept of having technology at school.

Is it really true that your school has thrown out the previous curriculum? And haven't they replaced it with some kind of curriculum? It just seems that a school that has been such a good school wouldn't willy-nilly embrace new technology and throw out all the good things at the same time. What were they really good at before that you found of value? Building character? Working together as teams? Project-oriented learning? Motivating children to love learning? Whatever it was that drew you to the school originally - is it really gone? What about the 7th grade teachers - have they changed or are they the same teachers? If they are the same teachers and if you felt confident in them pre-iPad, have you talked to them about the iPad experiences? Do they feel it's a disaster, or are they happy with it? What do they see as the challenges?

Re public school, I also wouldn't give up on going back for middle school unless you've looked recently and don't think it's the right choice for your child. Middle school *can be* very different from elementary, so the concerns about your elementary experience might not be relevant and middle school might work out.

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - my kids have taken (and are taking) CTY course and we LOVE them... but they are *expensive* and I can't imagine building an entire homeschool curriculum around them.

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I will certainly explore Thinkwell & Plato. Tuition at our school is very high, so I'd actually be saving money even if I used CTY for everything.
As far as public school goes, our home district is not, nor will it ever be an option. We have one of the highest bullying rates in the state & athletics are more important than academics. My son was literally physically & verbally abused by a bully in elementary school. The MS is way worse that the elementary school for bullying. Our home district is also an "at risk", title one district with the main focus of bringing up the bottom.
That said, I looked at sending him to other public school districts. The district I thought would be a good fit charges 10K tuition for out of district students.. Less than private school, but still a lot of money. After touring the middle school and speaking with the principal, I realized that even this highly regarded district, with many, many bright students, is not the right fit. Basically it boils down to the fact that my son is much further ahead of their middle school program & they would have to patchwork a program with the HS to meet his needs. They didn't seem very eager to do this, when they can get another tuition kid who isn't going to be as much work for them.
I did explore another public school district that's offering a STEM Academy next year. Admission will be very competitive. Students will attend the neighboring university for STEM,, take classes with college students, and earn up to 40 college credits & a college transcript. My son was thrilled when he toured the university. They have one of the top ranked engineering programs in the country with a state of the art building & labs. This seems like a great fit & it's FREE! Downside, the program hasn't started yet & though they offer MS, it's just their regular program. The true academy doesn't kick in till HS.
Right now, I'm waiting to see which direction our school is heading. They've been thru several Heads of School since we started there. After our first year, the Head who had been there for 30+ years retired. The most recent Head started the iPad program. This person does not have any experience in education & it shows. The iPad program has been a mess because this person decided Apple education IS the curriculum. It's crazy! The MS teachers (who are not the same lower school teachers we know & trust) were told to select apps and just teach from them. Many of the apps don't work consistently causing time lost. In October, the MS language arts teacher announced at back to school night that she didn't know what books they were going to read because there's no budget for ebooks! (state law requires local districts to fund / provide text books for private schools, but ebooks are not part of that fundingt) A properly certified & experienced administrator would know about this funding arrangement & would have considered this well before OCTOBER. The Head is so stuck on this "no paper" policy that the school can't get good old fashion books till they figure out this mess.
Most teachers are unhappy with the iPad program. The iPads were recently serviced because students added a second Apple ID & could download gaming apps, etc. Teachers had the kids watch movies all day because they cannot teach without the iPads! Last year these same teachers did just fine teaching with paper & pencils. Makes me think the teachers are having a silent revolt. The Head claims the network is protected but a MS student was just suspended for sending porn videos to all of his classmates thru the system. Teachers have implemented new policies for iPad use during the classroom, but during recess and lunch kids are still using them inappropriately. These are very smart kids and they will figure out a way to sneak onto Minecraft, Facebook, etc. One is smart enough that he's hacked the school's system twice already.. It all boils down to the Head pushing this iPad program without the proper research & support. The school is very small (less than 200 pre-K thru 8) and lacks people with technical experience. Having a Head of School with a degree in business and no experience as an educator has created nothing but problems. This person has created a cold, professional environment & fired many staff. Among many other concerns, the Head wants to get rid of tracking because it's unfair.
All that said, a parent group is forming to try and save our school from heading down the wrong path. So, I'm holding onto hope that they will get rid of this Head and find a person who understands how to implement technology into the framework of challenging academics among other things.
There's been so much talk & research about teaching to different learning styles, it amazes me that folks fail to recognize that this applies to the use of technology as well. I believe the study about not retaining info learned via electronic media may be correct. There are connections the brain makes when learning and many of those connections are not being made when kids learn from a screen. I wonder what the impact will be on our youngest children who are literally growing up attached to iPods/iPads, etc.

BTW, EPGY courses for credit are expensive, but you can get EPGY "school open enrollment" for very little. The downside of school open enrollment is no transcript from EPGY, but if you're in it just for the learning, not the credit, it's fine. (I'm not against credit! :-)) There are various homeschool groups that have signed up as a group to get EPGY "school" open enrollment -- try the Hoagies' gifted forums.

(We happen to use Laurel Springs Academy (a GT program run through Laurel Springs School) and are v. happy with it.)