k12

[4JMJ]

Today was the first time I heard about this program and I am looking for any feedback. We are teaching 1st, 3rd and 5th grade this year and are considering switching over after the new year. We currently use resources from a few different companies and are sort of all over the place. I am wondering if this program will make me feel more organized or more overwhelmed? I am amazed that it is FREE and am a little sick over the HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of dollars we spent on curriculum this year!
So I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth the switch or not, and like I said looking for any feedback....

[elanorh]

Hi!
This is our second year with k12 - dd1 is in first grade now.

It works for us; I think a lot has to do with how relaxed your state's guidelines and how relaxed your assigned 'teacher' are. WY has been relatively relaxed thus far.

This is the support thread for this fall's k12/virtual academy families, if you want to skim through it and see whether it helps you in making your decision.

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho....php?t=1251853

DH really likes k12. He likes that it's *free.* They have been flexible with us in allowing us to count piano as music (we don't like the music program). We travel a lot, it's nice to be able to do school online when we get to a destination, and in the vehicle en route (paper stuff). One concern we had was whether I would procrastinate and put things off .... I think I would. I still do. But the k12 attendance policy and timeline helps me keep more on track with things. At the same time, I do resent it sometimes. In spring and fall when I'm busy with the garden, it would be nice if Ina could just do it with me (she loves it) rather than school. My goal this year is to be far enough ahead that I have most of our school work done by May 1, so she can just help with the garden to her heart's content. We do unit studies over the summer (relaxed) and if we work ahead and complete a course prior to mid-March, they send the next year's coursework for that class, so we worked on math last summer (next grade up) - I hope to do a little of that again this year.

I'm not sure we'll stick with it forever; we don't have to do the state tests 'til she's in 3rd grade. I'm curious to see how the state tests impact schooling in the third grade year; that will probably decide whether we should continue in the program. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point, we're doing more "unit study," etc. type homeschooling and not a virtual school. But so far, we are enjoying it.

We only have one in school - I'm not sure how balancing computer time etc. between three students goes. There are some parents posting in our thread who have multiple students - maybe they can shed some light on how it's working for them?

[4JMJ]

Thanks so much for your response!  I'm going to check out the thread for sure! 

[mamasgirls]

We are doing it for the first year after being traditional homeschoolers for the last 3 years.  We tried it for a variety of reasons, and there are many pros as well as many cons.  I have a 1st and 3rd grader (and a baby).   It is OVERWHELMING doing this with 2 young-ish kids, I honestly cannot imagine it with 3.  There is a lot of work that has to be done every day, and we struggle to get through it.  I cannot even think how long it would take with a 5th grader, too.  The attendance requirements are no big deal.  Some of the silly extra stuff is no big deal, some is a pain.  The curriculum is great.  We LOVE the history.  Our days are just a lot longer than they used to be.  But, there are benefits as well.  My older dd is writing much better.  My younger dd is reading much better.  I am undecided if we will do it for another year.   There is a price you pay for getting free curriculum, though, and that comes in the way of tests, skills checks, weekly reviews and answering to anything the state wants, which also can change at any moment.  Just this year they have changed their requirements more times than I can count.  Anyway- not trying to sway you one way or the other.  I am still somewhat undecided about it myself and we have been doing it for almost 3 months.  Our "teacher" is very nice, but that term is somewhat misleading as you are essentially doing the teaching yourself- which is what I want but they sell it like the "learning coach" is just there to support- that is not the case.  But- I often have to try things myself to see if they work before I can really decide one way or the other, and I don't regret giving this a shot- and we may do it another year- or maybe not, LOL.

[MissRubyandKen]

I think the most important thing to consider is that K12 funded through the state is not "free curriculum" for homeschooling. It really isn't. It is a public school funded by your child's attendance. I enrolled my eldest dd in K12 for Kindergarten. We completed K, then went on to 1st. I disenrolled her out a few months into her 1st grade year and have been homeschooling her ever since. Loads of people like K12 and the option to school at home. Its good to have many options for schooling, including K12. You have next to no say in the curriculum. You will be putting in the hours to teach your child, but they will have a teacher who will be in constant contact with you and your child by email, phone, and for some online meetings. You will need to fulfill the teacher's requirements, as well as the school's. It will depend on the teacher you get as to how lenient or relaxed you can be about using the curriculum or substitutions. You will need to submit work to the teacher at certain intervals, attend face to face meetings, and do yearly testing. I'm not sure if all K12 state schools are do so, but the one in OH is also now requiring students to attend group classes online with other students where the kids and teacher all talk and can hear each other. So please take into consideration if this is want you are wanting as part of your child's school experience. It wasn't what I wanted, so we left.

Edited by MissRubyandKen - 11/11/10 at 4:32pm

[kittie313]

I just withdrew my oldest two girls recently from k12.  I LOVED the curriculum and the support and structure, but at this point for my family it was just too much for us.  I'm in college full time and my dh works 50-70 hours a week, and k12 just wasn't flexible enough for us at this point while I'm in school.  I agree that buying materials is very expensive, I just made a big purchase a couple weeks ago and I almost cried at the amount I spent (and that was AFTER I had cut a lot from my order before buying, I cut the price in half).  K12 in the free version, like a pp said, is a public school funded by the state, which gives you the perks of having all the services readily available and a teacher (or more than one depending on grade) for help and ideas and such, but it also means that you are held to your state's attendance and testing rules.  If your state dictates that starting in grade 4 they must take a standardized test annually in public school, your k12 students will do it as well.  You must log a certain number of hours each week (here in Ohio, the k12 school requires 940 hours a year logged during the school year, they pull attendance regularly and have a guideline of 25 hours a week).  It is great if you don't have the discipline to make yourself do lessons regularly, or you don't mind being told to teach this, that, and the other in a specific order.  The k12 curriculum for us was a great program, I agree with what the grades I've done so far teach (grades K-2) and how its taught.  But the biggest reason we withdrew was because I felt pressure to keep up and push dd1 through the material even if she didn't understand because of the attendance rules changes that were made for this school year, and that led to a huge fight regularly from dd1 on doing lessons so her day would drag out unendingly it seemed like and that took time away from dd2 so I didn't get to spend as much time with her.  DD1 has learning challenges, and dd2 is an accelerated learner, so it just created issues here because I was pushing one more than she could do while holding the other one back at the same time.  We didn't do too well with it obviously this year, but now we're back with Sonlight and everyone is much happier.  DD1 is plugging away in Miquon math and dd2 is flying through Horizons math, and they are enjoying learning again.  I like that much better, I don't feel the pressure to just keep moving even if they don't really have it.