K12 Curriculum? - Page 3

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by elizawill

in the state of SC you need to log 5 hours. it's not the charter school school, but my state that created that stipulation. i had actually enrolled with connections academy but withdrew in august before school started when i found out about the 5 hours (6 hours for kids over grade 3). i posted about it back then & was freaking out. however, i will say...it's not as bad as it seems. i've since found out that you don't need to log "what" yo do to create those 5 hours at all. you aren't accountable for writing it down and such (which was my biggest issue!! i didn't want to tally time all day with my child). you just check off the lesson and type 5 hours in attendance. like k12, you have to turn in several assignments each month, but they are simple assignments. anyway, i can't speak for other states but that's the deal here with logging hours - it's not expected to be seatwork. the teachers know it only takes a couple of hours to complete assignments and they leave the other 3 hours at the discretion of the parents with no explanation needed. hth.

That's the way it is here, too. There's not a daily/weekly requirement - I think it's a certain # of hours per year that averages to 5 hours or so per day for my 3rd grader and 4ish for my K-er. No one is on hour case if I only record an hour of school in a day, though I usually do more even if we do very little work on the curriculum - and if we take a field trip to the zoo or something, we just mark the whole day as science, or art if we went to the art museum, or math if they spent the day helping grandma bake christmas cookies. No big deal.

[moondiapers]

I like the K12 curric and would keep using it if I could afford it myself. I'm pulling my kids out of CAVA at the end of the semester because they are wanting to see more and more of their work (meaning you can't just teach things your own way as much) and they've added 3 more scantron tests per year!!!! I'm sick of all of the testing!!! In the mean time I'm going to refuse the testing.

[moondiapers]

Originally Posted by eclipse

I think it would be very difficult if a charter required doing and/or turning in every piece of work. I would not have signed up for something like that, and if my charter ever changed to require that, I'd be out in a half a second. I also think it's easy for us because my kids are, as the charter puts it, advanced learners. They're ahead of grade level, so if they "slack off" for awhile, it's no big deal. It's also not difficult for them to get the concepts CAVA/k12 expects them to learn. If my kids were struggling, I'd probably go in a different direction. As it is, I doubt I will enroll my youngest the first year he's elligible, unless he changes a lot.

They don't want it turned in, but are asking to look in all of the folders/binders and see the work. Especially if you are finishing a subject early and want to order the next one. Our teacher, CAVA@Sonoma, is supposed to look at History Journals, Science labs, Math Journals, and all Writing assignments and confirm that the work is being done. And we just got an email last week that they've added 3 more scantron tests per year.

[eclipse]

I saw the thing about the scantron testing, but, uh, we're not taking them. I told my teacher we weren't interested, and she said no problem. It seems like it depends a lot upon what teacher you get - mine has never asked to see all the "assignments" and I'd probably be on the phone to someone if she did. And if they insisted, I'd be out. I think that's something that you have to be prepared to do if you sign up for any of the charter homeschool programs - be willing to walk. Otherwise, you really are forced into conforming to the standards of others.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by eclipse

I saw the thing about the scantron testing, but, uh, we're not taking them. I told my teacher we weren't interested, and she said no problem. It seems like it depends a lot upon what teacher you get - mine has never asked to see all the "assignments" and I'd probably be on the phone to someone if she did. And if they insisted, I'd be out. I think that's something that you have to be prepared to do if you sign up for any of the charter homeschool programs - be willing to walk. Otherwise, you really are forced into conforming to the standards of others.

I agree, I was wondering though, we haven't been around long enough to really do any scantron tests, we did one for reading and math but it got us the placement we needed/wanted. I personally don't care about the testing, I mean other then its boring why does it matter? Are the test results going to change anything for you? I mean are they going to kick you out of the program if you don't score well enough in their opinion? I look at it this way, I'm getting to use the materials I want for free, taking a couple tests a year for that privilege is not a big deal imo. Now if they start wanting to see tons of busy work then we'd walk but tests? We can deal with that

and yes I know, study! I can't, water heater died and there here replacing it.

[eclipse]

I don't really care much about the test, except that they annoy my son, so if we can avoid them, we do. In general, testing doesn't bother him, but the initial scantron test he took in Septemeber was really, really long for him, because they started at grade level(and i think they still had him lested as a second grader, so for him it would have been one year below grade level) and he had to keep going until he missed enough in a row to be considered not proficient in that level. . .so his reward for missing a bunch in a row was not having to continue on the test. I'm pretty sure he finally started picking wrong answers so the dang thing would end.

In any case, my teacher said they are requiring students who scored under grade level on the september tests to take these ones, but since we didn't feel like taking them, and ds scored above grade level on the Septemeber ones, they wouldn't require him to do this one. I think he might still have to take the end of the year scontron test, though.

[eilonwy]

Wow, this is a seriously negative thread. :

Originally Posted by Linda on the move

Yep. In some states, kids need to do all the work and turn it all in. In some states unenrolling is more complicated than others. And if the reason you did it was to get all the cool stuff, turning all back in can be painful.

If you're talking about variations by state, then are you really saying anything about K12 or even about charter schools aside from "they're all different?"

I'm not knocking it, really. I'm just saying that if someone is going to use it, they should do their research and go in with their eyes wide open.

A reasonable sentiment, but wow is it ever being expressed with venom.

just curious -- for those who use it and like, how long have you been using it and what grades are you kids using? I wonder if the grades one is using makes a difference, or just the charter you are going through.

My son has worked through kindergarten, first, and most of second grade as well as half of the third grade math course.

Some of the differences have to do with the schools, but I'd be willing to bet that many have to do with the teachers. K12's philosophy is fairly clear, and favors a far more flexible approach than some of you are describing. One of the things that I heard over and over again, both from the school and from K12, was that we were not supposed to do everything. K12's curriculum is designed to meet the needs of many different kinds of learners, but it is mastery-based. This means that each lesson has an objective and several activities which are designed to help different kinds of learners meet those objectives and master the material. There are stories, there are worksheets, there are projects and activities, and very few are 'necessary' for anything. If your child has mastered the objectives, you don't need to do anything but cross your t-s and dot your i-s.

Bean's Schedule, for those of you who are interested:

Monday: Math. We usually spend 15-30 minutes working on lesson material (math is very easy for my son). He completes at least one assessment, and goes back to whatever he was doing before I called him to do schoolwork. I count at least an hour of time for math, depending on how much work he does and how many other math-related activites he does during the day.

Tuesday: Language Arts. 30-45 minutes on assignments, at least that much time reading (usually not curriculum-related), and library time in the late afternoon/early evening. I count an average of 180 minutes for LA.

Wednesday: Art and History. Bean hates doing art, so we really play up the art-history connection and spend a lot more time on discussion and artists than we do on drawing/painting/etc. History is LOTS of fun for Bean, so more often than not I have to tear him away on these days. He spends an average of 60 minutes on schoolwork these days (more than Monday or Tuesday) and I count at least 120 minutes, based on what he's done, any other history discussions we have, and documentaries we may watch.

Thursday: Science. This is another day when I have to pull him away from his schoolwork. He spends an average of 60 minutes on schoolwork, again, but engages in many supplementary activities. I count at least 120 minutes of school time on Thursdays as well.

Friday: Music. These are short days; We usually do a lesson or two and then spend the rest of the day running like crazy people. 45-60 minutes, depending on his mood.

All the rest of the hours that I count are only peripherally related to the curriculum, if at all. For us, the benefits far, far outweigh the drawbacks right now.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by moondiapers

They don't want it turned in, but are asking to look in all of the folders/binders and see the work. Especially if you are finishing a subject early and want to order the next one.

My son's ALP director and I are actually working on standards for just this sort of eventuality. My son has completed every course in which he's been enrolled "early," and I've been given particular assignments to send to his teacher to prove that he is actually doing the work. Nobody has said that he has to do every single page, though, and I was advised that if we had skipped a particular asked-for assignment that I should simply ask for a different one from that unit.

[marimara]

I'm glad somebody finally got on this thread to talk about how K12 is and not how "it's not homeschool" Thanks eilonwy!

[elizawill]

there's a ton of k12 yahoo groups too & the members will be very helpful in answering questions. plus they'll have files with FAQ that you can read.

anyway, just another thought for those of you looking to get more questions answered.

[Dreama]

Hi Eclipse. I was reading the posts and came across yours. I just recently started K12 in Arizona. I don't quite understand the work sample part. We have a class connect today with his teacher for work samples. What I'm not understanding is do I have to turn in work or will my son be required to do the work during class connect. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Dreama]

I directed this towards Eclipse, but if anyone else can answer. That would be great!