Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments K12 thru public charter school?

OK, so in my curriculum investigations, I've discovered that there is a public charter school here that utilizes the K12 program. Attendance is required at the school 1 day/week (minimum) for core classes and electives and the rest of the curriculum is done online at home (unless you wanted to attend more classes, I guess, which I'm pretty sure DS wouldn't ).

If I understand it correctly, he'd still be a public school student, would take state assessments and so on, but would do the bulk of learning/work at home. I was told that he would be assessed to figure out what grade levels he would need for each subject, and that's what would be used.

Enrollment is limited, of course. I feel like I must be missing something, because it doesn't sound too bad. Sort of like easing into homeschooling with some professional guidance...

Does anyone have any experience with this type of 'school'? What am I missing? What questions did I neglect to ask?

I'm not all that familiar with K12 so I can't comment about the quality of the curriculum or the balance that this school could provide but I will pass on the one potential "issue" that I am aware of . . . We attend a homeschool science class at a local museum. One of the children in the class is part of a virtual public school (K12??). After our full morning at the museum, this child has to go home and work for another 6 hours to complete his virtual school requirement for the day.

To me, one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling is to be able to go off on tangents, to have the time to explore and to delve into subjects and I don't know if this school would give you that (that is . . . if you desire that in the first place).

Sounds like all the charters around here except for the K12 part. And yes, that is really the best of both worlds IMO for easing into homeschooling. You get a teacher, guidance when you need it and the freedom to adjust speed and level as necessary.

We are in our first year with a k12 charter school for our DD5 in K so our experience is limited. Our school is a little different in that it is all online and there are no required classroom days (they offer some that are optional though). It can be a great way to ease into HS'ing, but one might find themselves sticking with k12 as well.


With k12 this is what I would do in this situation: I would do a block schedule for some of the classes and do science on this day. I would count this time as science and be done for the day and do none of the online work (or, I would find a lesson matching the museum class description and mark that as complete). There is that flexibility in k12.

They do supply lessons and materials, but all you really need to do is look at the lesson objectives and see what the goal for your child is. You can then either follow the given lesson or teach it yourself however you want. Our DD came across a lesson on tallying, the objectives were to teach her how to tally up to 5. I showed her how to do it and she ran with it. She created a survey about favorite colors and while out to lunch and the park asked 80+ what their favorite color was. She then made a graph to record her results. In the process she also learned how to tally past 5. Going back over the lessons she ended up doing over a weeks worth of materials in one day. We marked those as complete and moved on.

With our K DD she has a required 2.5 hours a day of attendance. She may complete a lesson in 10 minutes but then we count attendance in supplemental hours (playing board games, exploring, cooking, etc.).

DD8 has gone to private school since K so we have a direct comparison of curriculum's. I find k12 to much more academic then DD8's school which is supposed to be. DD5 is allowed to move at her own pace. She has options to be able to focus on just one subject for an entire week or more. She finished K math in a month and we were sent 1st grade immediately. She is close to finishing K phonics and LA. She's 'behind' in History because she wanted to focus on other subjects but that's ok, she'll finish it before the year is out. They also put her into an Accelerated Learners Program which I hear offers optional enrichment activities for advanced kids but that paperwork was just filed this week so I'm not sure yet.

DD8 has decided that she wants to do k12 next year so that she may have this same flexibility.

It's not for everyone, but I like the accountability and the curriculum guidelines. It took some pressure off of me and eased some of my concerns. What was going to be a one year test has turned into a lifestyle change for us all. I'm pleased with it so far.

Thanks everyone for the replies. This option is under consideration, but DH isn't wild about it, not that he's the sole decision-maker. Truthfully, I wasn't terribly impressed with the person I spoke with at the school, but we are keeping an open mind and looking into it further.

While it does appeal to us to have some help or guidance, we are finding that we can also get that from other schools that are totally online. Anyone have feedback on Connections Academy (no school in my state, so it'd be online only)? Or any other virtual schools?

I guess I'm a bit nervous and excited at the same time. I like the accountability to a school that will be responsible for maintaining his records and can let me know if I'm doing something wrong (before I really mess things up), but I'm also really looking forward to doing this at home. I know it'll be a lot work and difficult at times, but I also think it's going to be fun and that DS will begin to enjoy learning again. I'm (a little) afraid that once we tell him we're HSing, but he has to go to school once or twice a week that he'll hold on to the negative attitude he's develop(ed/ing). He's terribly excited at even the prospect that he might be HSed.

We're still looking into everything, so any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated. Thanks again!

You might look into other homeschooling options first, just to see if this option looks better to you than others.

Your DS is young, right? Early primary grades? What can go "really wrong" at that age? Worst case scenario? Homeschooling is a dismal flop? Well, he can go back to public school. There's very little long-term risk involved in homeschooling because it is reversible. And early primary school truly is not rocket science. If you can do math, read directions, and write complete sentences, you can make it work for your child. Remember that you don't have to know all the answers. No second-grade teacher knows all the answers! If you can parent your child, you can homeschool him.

See http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum/grade2 for a sample of acceptable curriculum standards. Other grade levels are listed on the left side so you can find the grade your son would be in. From there you just find books or programs to cover those topics. Done! It's really not that hard to create/find a curriculum.

As for record-keeping, even in the most restrictive states, it usually isn't much more than keeping track of what hours you worked and on what subject. Every state is different, but many states don't even require that much record-keeping! For example, my state requires 1) annual standardized achievement testing (my choice of test) and the passing score is really low, or 2) portfolio review. I'm bad with keeping stuff and organizing, so we do the testing. It's nearly painless. But no records beyond the initial "intent to homeschool" letter are required. Easy!

Have you checked out www.homeschooldiner.com ? I especially like the nuts-and-bolts approach to the various options that they have, and all in one place. Try this: http://www.homeschooldiner.com/guide/intro/main.html

I think the trade-off with any online public school is that you lose much of the freedom that homeschoolers usually gain. There are requirements for time spent online. For some people, that's fine. For others, it is a big hassle. It does tend to be a time sink, and I've heard that testing can be a nightmare--a least some kids in online public schools still have to take the state tests in person. I don't know if that's the rule everywhere, but I have read firsthand reports on homeschooling forums from people who used online public schools, and they weren't happy with it.

My take: I figure there's no harm in looking beyond this one option, so that would be what I'd recommend to you. If this K12 program still looks great to you after that, then you can always pursue it. But knowing what else is possible and what other options would require gives you a better idea about what you could do if you want to.

And I promise you that curriculum is not as hard as you think it is. In fact, I think that's the easiest part of the job! I'd be happy to tell you more about the parts that are actually hard sometime...

Actually, he's 9 and in 5th, so he'd be 10 and starting 6th when we'd be doing this (next year). I know what you mean about the early primary grades though, I'd be totally ready for those, LOL! Thanks for the links, I'm off to check them out next.

Do tell...I'd like to hear the bad with the good, so to speak. Thanks for your input.

Well, even 6th isn't rocket science.

DS8 is in a similar place--in the 5th-8th grade range on most everything. It's not that hard. And what I said about it being reversible still holds true. There is no failing, just changing gears.

Aside from finding out the rules for homeschooling where you live so you jump through the correct hoops, the other thing I can think of off the top of my head that you might need to consider is making sure you document well enough so that if he completes 3 years of coursework in a year and is ready for high school sooner than expected AND if you want to transfer him to a bricks-and-mortar high school, you have documentation of what he's accomplished so they'll let him in. There are helpful resources for putting together a working high school transcript for a homeschooler, so that can be managed.

Again, not rocket science. Don't be put off.

Virtual public schools don't always allow acceleration, so ask questions about this. If things are moving too slowly, do they allow testing out? Does he still have to sit in front of the computer for X amount of time if he mastered the material already? Some are more flexible than others.

If it helps...we've just started algebra this week. It's a fairly simple, nuts-and-bolts version, with plans to move to the Art of Problem Solving book (class?) next year for a higher degree of difficulty. Similarly, I'd like to get to geometry early and spend extra time on it to go more in depth and slow him down. There are good, cheap resources out there for this sort of stuff. It's not that hard to do.

The hardest part is not getting overwhelmed by the incredible variety of materials that are out there.

That's why I recommend an early stop at the Homeschool Diner. I hope it helps you. Julie does a good job of describing different styles of homeschooling, and then you can say, "I'm not into Charlotte Mason (or whatever) for my child, so I can skip that material if I see it." It lets you filter what you find.

Everyone is different, so I don't want to seem like I'm telling you what to do. Not my intention! But I think knowledge is power, especially when it comes to educating an HG+ child.

Now for the bad and the ugly...

>The hardest thing for me is getting enough alone time. If you are a person who needs that, schedule it!

>If a child doesn't buy into homeschooling or chooses not to cooperate for whatever reason, life can be darn near unbearable for you. You can lead a child to homeschooling, but you can't make him work! If he decides to fight you, decides that homeschooling is where he's going to rebel, you may have a bad time of it. There are strategies for dealing with this, but they can be hard to figure out in the heat of the moment. Of course, there are also school days that are achingly beautiful because you see your child grow before your eyes! So you take the bad with the good. We had a lousy day on Monday, but then Tuesday was the easiest, most pleasant and fun day of the year. Usually a bad day means that something I'm doing isn't working. I adjust, and things improve. You figure it out.

>Finding homeschooling groups and/or friendships (with homeschoolers or not) that suit your family can be a challenge. It's often good to have a group. This is harder in some places than others. (We discussed this already, right?) Homeschooling does not have to be isolating, but it can be.

>If you have other children who are not homeschooling--especially younger children--it can be difficult to get the work done. Again, there are ways around this, but it is definitely an added challenge.

>Finding the right level of challenge for him can be hard. I tend to want to slow him down, to review, to fill gaps. When I do, he acts out--just as he did when he was underchallenged in public school! Duh! But I am apparently a slow learner...

99 days out of 100, homeschooling has been a great solution for the problems DS8 faced. He's very happy with homeschooling. He has not always been happy with the homework I assign him or with the daily schedule. But those are logistical problems that we can solve.

It works for us.