Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment K12 online classes

Has anyone used the K12 online classes? My DS's school is starting to offer the program for the gifted kids. There is a cost involved so I am trying to get some feedback on the program

I have used the K-8 classes. What specifically would you like to know?

I am looking into K12 also. Let's say your child is in 3rd grade, but doing 6th gr. math. Would they test and subject accelerate them to meet their advanced needs?

We are also seriously considering K12.

Yoly - supposedly they will allow your child to test into higher math and language arts if they are ahead. That is the reason we are considering it as my current K student is doing 3rd grade math (and about 2nd grade LA).

We'll be doing it through CAVA though not at the local public school.

My 8 year old son has been using K12's public school option (CAVA) since September, and we had relatively few problems getting both whole-grade and subject acceleration. I submitted his Wisc IV and WJ III scores as soon as we registered for the program. Then he did their acheivement testing. Though they did not place him exactly where he tested (because he tested out of highschool in both math and LA), they did allow him to move ahead. He is currently grade-skipped two grades in most subjects and five in math.

Hope that helps!

As far as using K12 as the gifted option at your local public school, I guess it would depend on how they are going to use it. Are they going to enroll them in a higher grade for different subjects or are they planning on using it as enrichment?

I checked into K12 but was told they do 'honors courses' but not grade skipping. This would be through our state, WAVA. I'm wondering if some states choose different programs to purchase from K12. This would correlate with our state not being supportive of gifted ed. You might want to check. Good Luck!

If you use K12 independently, you can place your child anywhere you want. If you use a virtual academy, you have to go by their rules. I believe that WAVA allows the child to test into the initial levels of math and language arts. At least that's what they did when I looked into it--the child would be placed at his/her level in math and LA, and at grade-by-age level in everything else.

K12 has its good points, but some of those good points only apply to using it independently. As an independent user, I can place my child anywhere in the curriculum and go at whatever pace I want. It's a rich curriculum when compared to other "regular" school curriculums, but it can be deadly boring and require too much busywork (defined as output that doesn't further learning in the subject being taught). As an independent user, I can eliminate what I find to be busywork, but I find that there is sometimes so much to eliminate (especially in language arts) that it gets to be ridiculous.

I have used K12 for my just turned 8yo since he was 5. He has done their Science 1-4, Language Arts 2-4 (parts only), and History K. I have also used it with my 13yo. He has taken Life Science (the "advanced" option wasn't available at the time), Literature B, and Literary Analysis and Composition (just the literature piece for both of those).

We have also used their world history series The Human Odyssey, and it is the best mid level history spine that I've ever encountered.

We have never done the math.

We are current K12 users, although we have chosen the Private School route with K12 International Academy. Our DD enrolled in iCademy at just 4yo and was placed in K with all 1st grade coursework. By the semester's end, she was officially placed in 1st grade and finishing up her 1st grade coursework. At the end of our school year, she had been accelerated to all 3rd grade coursework, and will be offically in 2nd grade doing said 3rd grade coursework. (all of this and she just turned 5). The iCademy has been very flexible with subject acceleration and grade acceleration. I feel very fortunate that we have not encountered any friction in regards to doing away with the busy work and in keep boredom and frustration at bay. Our teacher has been very proactive in ensuring that DD be placed at the right level so that actual learning occurs.
We are using EPGY Math in addition or in place of the K12 math, since DD loves the pace of EPGY. We just have to have DD take the end of unit Math assesments for K12 to show mastery of objectives, and that fullfills their requirement.

Thanks everyone for your input. I guess we could try it for the 2010-11 school year for free, since it�s offered in our state. I could then reevaluate after we start. It helps to have your input, so we know what to look out for, since we are not yet homeschoolers. I did see some of their videos referring to the students knowing the subjects through repetition (becoming an expert in the subjects), which I thought was code for busy work.

Thanks for the info! I spoke with someone at k12 in the fall and took notes during that call. When I speak to them next month about registering him for next year I plan to refer to any info I wrote down about accelerating him. I'm fine with him being in 1st with subject acceleration - at least to start with. If it seems way to easy for him even then I will talk about grade accelerating him too I guess.