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.
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.
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.
