K12/Virtual Academy Fall 2009 - Page 6

[Satori]

Originally Posted by eclipse

I have no idea about the DE, Satori. My teacher is a new substitute, so I think I know more than she does. If you find more info about DE, will you pass it on to me?

Sure, we already have access though another source but I'd rather CAVA paid for it

[kittie313]

Really I don't think I've found any cons yet. Well, except the fact that I don't like having an actual curriculum for art and music................ lol Melissa has to do their art and music, and I was wanting to get her started on violin lessons but dh said that we should wait another year on violin so that we can see how the ohva music program is.

Now for us, when we enrolled our girls for this school year, we did it back in April I think. Melissa still had to finish up the school year, was struggling like crazy with her reading (the teacher helped her memorize the readers she brought home so it looked like she was learning to read, I figured it out just after school let out when I heard Melissa reciting a story that she had brought home to read us and was acting it out with her toys, she told me that when I asked her about it) The enrollment process was completed, but unfortunately nobody actually told the school that we were withdrawing her (which I was told by the district that they would inform her school for us) so I got a card telling us what her bus assignment was for this school year just the day before school started. I had to make the call myself, and her school was NOT happy that the district didn't inform them when they did the transfer of records. I'm just happy that it all got sorted out though, because the girls are totally thriving with learning at home (and doing some of it together even) and they are developing a VERY important close bond with their sisters because they aren't split up for the day at school.

[EXOLAX]

Originally Posted by lovinlife1219

How does moving forward work, exactly?

I guess I just don't quite understand how it works or what our school year will look like. For instance, if our first day of school is on monday and we do phonics and math, will I just be doing assessments with him until he hits a wall and doesn't know something? The placement testing for K has to be special ordered, and I didn't want to skip K altogether without going through it first, in case there was something in there that he didn't know. But is it possible that the first month or so can be spent doing only assessments? What do you guys do if your child is ahead of what they are trying to teach?

I spoke with our teacher the second day of school about this. Since they don't do testing anymore where we are she said to just do the assessments until DD misses one, do that lesson until she passes the assessments then go back to doing assessments until we hit another wall. So far most of her math time each day has been doing assessments. I just tore the assessments out of the book and put them on a clipboard for her. She does them until she gets bored with it. We're stopped right now on nickels so we will do that lesson for the day.

Originally Posted by kittie313

Lydia's almost halfway through K math already now, will they move her up to 1st grade without much issue or am I in for a fight? S

I don't know but I will tell you next week! Our DD is in K and is over halfway through math. I have a phone conference next week and will ask our teacher then what to do next.

[meg-momto2]

thanks for the answers. i think i'll just call and find out what they want us to do about withdrawing him and the waiting list. i've already got a ton of workbooks and stuff for DS. he's blowing through them in just about every subject except reading. i guess we could test him up and see what happens. GA has mandatory schooling from ages 6-16. i still have until December to have him "officially" in school, be it home or public. i'm sure i'll be back soon.

[Autumn Breeze]

GVA has not requested my son's records as of 2 weeks ago....so you might have to keep on them once you are enrolled. We are enrolled and schooling, and his former school, had no idea what our intent was (and if you are doing GVA you do not need to file an intent to homeschool. but if you are not already enrolled, and working with access to the OLS, then you might need to, especially if you are withdrawling after the start of the school year. )

[Marcee]

We started WAVA today with our 9 year old. So far so good. He seems to really enjoy it so far.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by lovinlife1219

I'm not sure what I'm asking, LOL, I guess I just don't quite understand how it works or what our school year will look like. For instance, if our first day of school is on monday and we do phonics and math, will I just be doing assessments with him until he hits a wall and doesn't know something? The placement testing for K has to be special ordered, and I didn't want to skip K altogether without going through it first, in case there was something in there that he didn't know. But is it possible that the first month or so can be spent doing only assessments? What do you guys do if your child is ahead of what they are trying to teach?

My son's been way ahead from day one. For Phonics and Math k and 1 we did assessments almost exclusively (and Bean started with Math 1). Language Arts K & 1 didn't have tons of assessments, but we did all of those and a handful of assignments that his teacher specifically requested. For science and history, we did our own lessons and all of the assessments, and turned in required assignments for promotion. I expect that history and science will continue as they have in past years for us, but that math will slow down this year and language arts will be slowed considerably UNLESS his new 504 (which will happen after his OT evaluation) allows him to keyboard. If it does, he'll probably complete two years of language arts this year, too. Bear in mind that not only does this vary from VA to VA but from child to child. I know many other Agora students, but I don't personally know any other students who learn similarly to my son. Given their current enrollment numbers, it's possible that there aren't any others at the elementary level (though I consider it unlikely, as these programs tend to attract exceptional learners on both sides of the spectrum).

Originally Posted by kittie313

My father was hating the idea of us not leaving Melissa in public and enrolling Lydia in public along with her, even after seeing how much the school didn't do for Melissa and her needs (and knowing they no longer have a gifted program, which Lydia needs) Then he came over one day (at my request) to give me a hand with watching the kids, doing some chores, and Keeping an eye on Melissa doing her assessment session with the teacher on the computer. He hasn't been negative about it since then, and apologized for giving me a hard time for the choice.

Fabulous.

Originally Posted by kittie313

Lydia's almost halfway through K math already now, will they move her up to 1st grade without much issue or am I in for a fight?

They'll probably just promote her without much argument. They may do an assessment first or ask for more work samples from you. Where most people run into problems is when they have a child who completes two years of math in a single year-- then you might have issues getting her promoted.

Also, when would they do testing for a learning disability? Melissa has some sort of learning challenge but our public school we were in last year said they don't test until 3rd grade.

Originally Posted by eclipse

As far as the testing for a disability, if you request an evaluation, I think they're legally required to do one, even if they'd rather not, regardless of how old she is. I would ask on the Special Needs parenting board about it, because a lot of the moms who post there have navigated the IEP system already, and can give some good advice.

This. In Pennsylvania, if a parent requests an evaluation for learning disabilities they have to have it done within (I believe) 30 days. I thought that all states had similar legislation.

Originally Posted by meg-momto2

DH isn't 100% on board yet. i loaded him up with all the pros but he wants to know if there's any cons to the programs. if any of you have an issues with the curriculum or set up, what would they be?

I wish they'd destrand the language arts curriculum. If we could separate spelling, literature, reading and GUM and address kiddos on their own levels, it'd be perfect. While I love the music program, I'm not sure how you're supposed to teach it if you're tone deaf so I think that some kind of adaptation is necessary. That's really all I can think of right now.

Originally Posted by kittie313

Melissa has to do their art and music, and I was wanting to get her started on violin lessons but dh said that we should wait another year on violin so that we can see how the ohva music program is.

Were I in a position to do it, I'd absolutely enroll my kids in music lessons (I might anyway if I can find a way to make it happen). The music program is fun and will teach many cool things, but playing an instrument is a very different experience. The two will complement one another, but K12's program focuses primarily on appreciation rather than performance.

[meg-momto2]

so after spending 15mins waiting for a person on the other line i gave up and left a message with the toll free number for GVA. i'll try calling tomorrow i guess. i'm going in tomorrow to withdraw DS. i guess i should ask for a copy of his record just in case.

we kept DS home today and his mood was so much better. his tic was barely noticeable and i was so motivated. i think he had a lot more anxiety about public school then we thought. i've also been so stressed out the last 4 weeks of public schooling. i'm really looking forward to having virtual/home schooling for him.

[Jennifer Z]

Just found the thread! My son is doing 2nd grade through Lawrence Virtual School (in Kansas).


We began, did one day, then both kids and I got sick. Chicken Pox, of all things. So, we are set to go back to it tomorrow and finish "lesson 1" in Math and LA. I *might* do a history lesson too. If that goes well, I might do the art because it is supposed to coincide with the history stuff.

Anybody else freaking a little about the History stuff? I haven't touched on history to this point and, theoretically, they assume that he has had history before. He has such a serious language delay that all my focus has been on language arts type stuff, with math as his "reward" to do afterward. I hope that they don't assume too much or it could be insanely long lessons to get him caught up.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Z

Anybody else freaking a little about the History stuff? I haven't touched on history to this point and, theoretically, they assume that he has had history before. He has such a serious language delay that all my focus has been on language arts type stuff, with math as his "reward" to do afterward. I hope that they don't assume too much or it could be insanely long lessons to get him caught up.

I freaked a little about history because my son is so much better with it than I. Getting caught up for History 2 shouldn't prove difficult at all-- you'll have a geography review and then (I believe) a short review of History 1. It's lots of fun, my kids really enjoy it --the history buff and the novice alike.

[lovinlife1219]

Thank you everyone for your answers, advice and input .

We just received our computer and printer yesterday and picked up a big desk from Craigslist. We are all set and are now just waiting for our books to arrive. We are really excited.

I am enjoying reading everyone's experiences. I am anxious (in a good way) to start next week.

[Autumn Breeze]

Originally Posted by meg-momto2

so after spending 15mins waiting for a person on the other line i gave up and left a message with the toll free number for GVA. i'll try calling tomorrow i guess. i'm going in tomorrow to withdraw DS. i guess i should ask for a copy of his record just in case.

we kept DS home today and his mood was so much better. his tic was barely noticeable and i was so motivated. i think he had a lot more anxiety about public school then we thought. i've also been so stressed out the last 4 weeks of public schooling. i'm really looking forward to having virtual/home schooling for him.

The stress of public school is such a huge weight off your shoulders. My son and I are having a MUCH better year than we would be if we were still shipping him out to the school down the road. Now, don't get me wrong, he LOVED school, he usually wanted to go even if he was sick.

Now, we do still argue a little, and I can have a difficult time getting him to focus. Yesterday we didn't complete our Language Arts lesson because he HATES writing and was refusing to cooperate and come up with sentences.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Z

Anybody else freaking a little about the History stuff? I haven't touched on history to this point and, theoretically, they assume that he has had history before. He has such a serious language delay that all my focus has been on language arts type stuff, with math as his "reward" to do afterward. I hope that they don't assume too much or it could be insanely long lessons to get him caught up.

My kids have really enjoyed history. My son, in particular, is a history buff and does the history lessons for fun. There's a lot of information in each lesson that is interesting, but not necessary for your child to remember in order to meet the lesson objectives. If your son struggles, I would focus only on those objectives. It really isn't a problem picking up in the middle. Second grade history starts with a review of geography, and then starts in with the Romans.

[elanorh]

Rock Chalk, JenniferZ! -- From what I recall of the intro, it said that some review might be necessary, but that your 2nd grader will probably be able to quite quickly pick up and go with history. If you can find an affordable geography or encyclopedia reference that's for K-4 or so, that might be handy to quickly look up things that they refer to, which are unfamiliar for your ds.

We just finished the online orientation - the online community bit. I didn't go do anything there. I feel like I'm already busy enough without adding another community to my list ... those who've been doing this for awhile, am I being silly, and should I join it, and would it be helpful?? Bearing in mind that there aren't a lot of us involved in WY since it's the first year, and we're very scattered....

We've been taking it to slow with company etc., today is the last day with great-grandma before she flies home - but we're going to try to get a whole day's worth of work done before we go visit g'gma this afternoon. Ina has been ITCHING to do art, so that will be the first class ... which may mean it's the only class. I think that SJ can do the music right along with us, and will enjoy that.

[eilonwy]

Well, Bean finished his first Scantron test today and I got the lowdown on his math scores. It looks like he's appropriately placed for math at the moment, and we're on a good path there. The gifted coordinator (who proctored his Scantron testing) is also working with us on a plan to deal with Bean's needs for science and history, so that we can try to add depth and meaning to his learning rather than slowing his progress with busywork. Decent!

[meg-momto2]

well, i'm going to lurk for now. i went down to withdraw DS and was given the option of switching his class. we're going to give it a shot. i can always pull him out if it doesn't work. i'm still going to look in GVA just in case. thanks for the help ladies.

[elanorh]

Let us know how it goes!

[zacharysmom]

we completed the fall Scantrons last week we are in week three of our year . we had out first face to face today a feild trip to pick raspberries it was fun and a very low keyed activity. tomorrow are the state wide back to school picnics but we have opted out of those to over whelming for both me and DS

[Satori]

Well so far were surviving easily, much easier then last years nightmare. I was kinda freaked out when this years stuff arrived but I think this is actually going to be a pretty easy year for us now that were actually doing it. I finally pulled everything out of the boxes today and was surprised at the lack of reading materials for 3rd grade. Last year they sent TONS of books to read, this year we got like 10 total.

[eclipse]

Yeah, most of third (and fourth) grade LA is in the Classics for Young Readers books. You probably noticed already, but there are also four novel choices sprinkled throughout the year that you need to get on your own (because you and your dd choose from a list of about 20 books). One thing I really don't like about 3rd grade plus in LA is that the reading materials are so. . .blah, I guess. It's not a big deal for ds, but I worry that it will be more of a struggle when DD finishes 2nd grade LA. She still really loves to look at beautiful things, and I think the boring look of the materials will be a problem for her.