Oh-- and the other thing to watch for since we're using that same virtual schooling model? Make sure that he can continue to work at his own pace in secondary. That's a huge catch with Connections. They can't; they MUST work synchronously and in order once they reach secondary math. Also make sure that if you're going to venture outside that system for enrichment/alternatives, that you've satisfied the requirements for graduation and have the requisite coursework listed on a high school transcript somehow. This may mean that your DS
has to take "high school" geometry when he's 9-- which also means that any age-appropriate flakiness has lasting consequences. If they tell you that you can use local university credits to substitute for AP Calculus--
get it in WRITING. We've found that national is surprisingly (or not, perhaps) stubborn about "you should take OUR class... we offer Calculus/Chemistry/Econ/Psychology"
Yeah, but your version is a canned JOKE... and I want my DD's first experience with this subject to be, you know... authentic. "We offer that class."
Just noting that. BTDT. My DD has had to take some really worthless electives.
I haven't checked out the situation with getting the appropriate credits for high school, but definitely will. And I am concerned that the school may be somewhat mediocre apart from the ability to accelerate.
But you have made the crucial point, that once you reach the high school courses you are locked into the standard pace. [For those who are unfamilar with Virtual Schools, the two main curriculum providers being Connections Academy and k12.com, the grade K-8 courses are much like home schooling, and you can accelerate through these courses, but in the grade 9-12 courses have scheduled compulsory teacher-led live online classes, and you must therefore move in lockstep with the rest of the class.] We were aware of this, and that is why we are having our son move quickly through the K-8 Math courses, because that's the only chance to accelerate (and they're really easy). Once he gets to the sequence Alg I, Geom, Alg II, Trig/Precalc, Calculus, he has to take the full year for each course, so he'll do them in grades 3-6. (Geometry and Algebra II can be done simultaneously, which is how these 5 courses can be done in 4 years, despite having to take the standard full year on each.)
