Connections Academy?

[faiths13]

Does anyone here use or have used Connections Academy? How do you like it? I read they do placement tests - do they actually place your child according to where they are at, or just put them in grade level subjects? How is the curric? How is the teacher support?

[1jooj]

I am planning to enroll both ds (6th) and dd (3rd) for fall semester with Connections National Academy. I have not gotten a lot of details about how they manage all these things in the National version, but my sister has used the state charter program for several of her children, and has been very pleased with their academics. She did mention having kids working at multiple grade levels in different subjects, so I know they had an easy enough time accelerating (math and reading, I believe). She found the teacher support to be more than adequate--though to be fair, she is a teacher by vocation. She was very pleased with the curriculum, and every one of her kids who was schooled this way, when they went on to a B&M school, was advanced in nearly all subjects.  Not that the kids are necessarily exceptional, but it seemed to be a good combination of one-on-one instruction (mostly by parent, of course) and quality curriculum.

I've been putting off the communication with the company, just because I am in denial about all the changes we have to manage over the next couple months (finish school, pack and move house, pack and travel back to US for summer, ship a cat, and only then am I really allowed to think about school in fall).

I'm planning the switch because I have zero experience with homeschool, don't have a budget for it (while I do have access to a school tuition budget), and need a solution for school that can travel around the globe with us. We did international school this year, and that is definitely not the right thing for us right now.

Maybe I'll ping them for more info than the brochure and website offer, and see what I can find out. 

[1jooj]

Serial posting...

So, I went back to the website and dug around some more. They do have a new brochure out for the 2012-2013 school year, and it does include more information than the old one did: On the left side column of this page.

It does say there that the child's teacher will do assessment sometime after the start of the school year. It also details the curriculum for core classes at all levels. They talk a lot about individualization.

That said, I did send a 6-question email to the national office, and I do hope to get an answer soon. I'm bummed that it looks like my older kid will get French and my younger one Spanish, when they wanted the opposite, but since we are working at home, both kids can piggyback in one another's lessons and get some exposure, so maybe both kids will pick up on both languages. We'll be doing Arabic language on our own, outside school.

[earthyhippymom]

My son did connections when he was in 6th grade. We loved it! The teachers were so awesome. Unfortunatly, we had to stop because i was working outside of the home and my son needed (more) supervision. He's in 9th grade now and wants to do it again now that I am home but we're having him finish out the year.  I have recommended it to quite a few :)