k12 dilhema HELP, advice needed...

[ohiomommy1122]

DS is enrolled in k12 but we really don't use thier curriculum and have been using ouyside sources, well k12 has now gotton very picky and are angry at us for not clicking through thier lesson and doing THIER work, since its close to the end of the year would you click through lesson and say you did them or withdrawl right now and send in Homeschool notification to school board?

According to k12 we have not completed anything this year, but wwe have just not THIER stuff so would you finish out the year with them clicking through lessons or haave him take a standerdized test to proze he is progessng and submit my homeschool forms to school board and be done with k12

we wont be using them next year we are now confident enough to homeschool on our own

just afraid of the law implications so not sure with way to go

[cappuccinosmom]

I don't mean to be harsh, so please don't take it this way...but I can understand *why* they're upset. Not having record of your child doing the work they have provided messes with *their* stats which can affect their funding and status. Cyberschools face a lot of negativity from both public schools and the homeschool community. If they have spotty records for their students, or if records show students not doing their work, that reflects badly on them, and makes htings harder for them. And if you signed up for the school, part of that must have been some sort of parent/student agreement to follow their rules.

We use a cyber charter school too, and they have no problem with us using outside resources, so long as ds's are signed in every day and complete whatever online courses are required. They have been very flexible with us, but we have also been sure to uphold our part of the agreement.

If you can have him take a standardized test, and then call it quits with K12 now, I'd do it. Otherwise you are going to have a lot more time dealing with them and their upset. Hopefully someone else will have advice on how to do that legally and properly. When you have to talk with them, I would also be extremely conciliatory and not at all confrontational, as they do have reason to be unhappy with this situation.

[kittie313]

You enrolled in OHVA and then decided that you don't like their materials. Then you should have withdrawn instead of continuing to not use their stuff. But if you want to finish out the school year, hand your ds the assessments and have him take them to mark off the individual lessons and then when the year is up file your notification with your home district and send back your OHVA computer. They have a right to be miffed, shipping that stuff ain't cheap and you basically told them that you don't like their stuff and that they wasted their time sending it to you. Try to look at it from their perspective a minute.

They just had a major scare in losing funding from the state with budget cuts (thankfully didn't happen) and the charter schools here in Ohio all get a lot of flack from public schools for taking "their" kids away from them and from homeschool groups for advertising as an "alternative method of homeschooling". They have a lot of heat at them now, and having families that aren't using the curriculum at all is like you taking the time to make an amazing meal that your family requested only to have them go into the kitchen and make peanut butter sandwiches to eat instead. You enrolled in the school, and as part of the requirements for OHVA you need to use the core curriculum unless you have prior approval from them for a subject (like I do with their music program, we got approval to go attendance-only on it to do violin lessons instead)

[Smithie]

Yeah, you really misunderstood what the purpose of the K12 virtual school is and how it should be used.

At this point in the year, with a child who is doing well and who can pass the assessments, I would start a major click-through campaign. Let him finish this year and have it on his record. Then you can withdraw, mail back their stuff and become independent homeschoolers, which is clearly where your heart lies (and mine too!).

[kittie313]

Oh gosh, I just re-read my post and hope I didn't come across too harshly. I should know better than to post on forums when I have a migraine, I do apologize if I was too blunt and harsh toward you.

[AAK]

I would click through like crazy, even sit down and do the clicking for my child. I think it wouldn't be helpful to send in notification after the fact. So, you need to click away to get this year over with. Then, learn from it and go independent next year.

Amy

[ohiomommy1122]

thank you all for your responses, I talked with them and was honest about not using thier curric and using our own and thay said as long as we are covering stuff they want but with differnt materials then thats okay just click through assesments. So we will finish out the year with them then be on our own from now on.

Thank you all for your respones, BTW none were to harsh I like blunt honesty and not peoples sugar coated politacally correct views on things. Call it as you see it!

[kittie313]

Glad I wasn't too harsh, I am naturally that blunt and it takes a LOT of restraint from me to come up with not so harsh ways of saying things. I use forums like these to fine-tune my skills of being more tactful and kinder, because its so hard to not take everything at its worst online. Once I read what I had posted, I realized that my migraine meds had helped me feel like it wasn't necessary to try and find a kinder way of saying it. I have a feeling that you and I would get along famously................

[MissRubyandKen]

Wow, sounds like things have changed alot since we used K12. We're in Ohio and dd(now 10) was enrolled in K12 virtual school for K and a part of 1st. At that point I wasn't using any of their materials and really saw no benefit in continuing enrollment at all, for us. We were encouraged to use whatever worked, so long as we were marking lessons complete and testing out. I guess you guys weren't doing that?

My advice- click, click, click AND send out your homeschool notification letter. Why finish out the year? I'm not seeing any benefit in it. Just click like crazy and get your child up to date on work, or very close to, have your letter sent to the superintendent and then call K12 and inform them of your intent to homeschool, pull him from their school, and set it up to return their stuff. Maybe I'm missing something? Why finish the year? If you're going to homeschool on your own you don't need record of your child 'passing'. The only scenario I could see is if you haven't been logging attendance at all and might have truancy issues to resolve. Have the attendance logged and up to date, click the lessons complete, leave, and don't look back.

[Satori]

How did you get this far into the year without any kind of warning for lack of progress? If were more then a week of not logging lessons as complete we get a call and an email seeing whats going on. If they still don't see progress you get moved onto a contract which is on the way to getting kicked out for non participation.

It sounds like you didn't clearly understand what K12 is, its literally public school but just at home. A good example would be, you enrolled your child at your local B&M public school then never sent them or made them do/turn in work missed while not there. You know that wouldn't fly, its no different with K12, yes you can use other materials if it covers the same stuff but you still have to take the assessments and mark lessons as completed.

[MissRubyandKen]

While we're all being blunt , in my experience and observations from having a child enrolled in K12 this is a problem they have bred and allowed to happen. Comes from marketing towards homeschoolers. I'm still not exactly clear as to what the OP was and wasn't doing. Where was the overseeing teacher in this? If she wasn't logging attendance or showing progress why was it allowed to progress towards the year nearly being at an end? When we were researching OHVA and attending a seminar and even after we enrolled and attended orientation, as well as the teachers we were assigned to, everyone we spoke with made it clear they were VERY relaxed as far as expectations. Make no mistake they were marketing towards homeschoolers. They are making money off the children enrolled. After all the costs of business, including any shipping charges they may incur, they ARE making a profit off of having your child enrolled, beyond paying for teachers wages and other costs, K12 is making a profit. Therein lies the controversy. I do know they have gotten stricter in their expectations recently as my sister has two children enrolled right now. But really, as I said, imo they've bred this problem. It was part of the reason I got out when I did, even though they were trying to encourage me to stay knowing I was not using their materials. It never felt quite right to me from the beginning. I'm much happier to be homeschooling.