Can a High School girl do K12 on her own?

[Nan411]

Hi,

I'm asking this for my little sister who is 13. She is going to be in High school next year. She has not done well in Middle School. We live in a not so great neighborhood. (My family and I currently live with my mother and her while we save up for our own place.)

The neighborhood is working class neigbhorhood with a primarily hispanic/african-american/philipino population. (We are Hispanic) The school she goes to is rough and there are a lot of fights, kids in gangs or whose family members are in gangs. It's just a difficult place to learn IMO. My sis is a smart girl but she often gets into it with teachers. She can be really sweet but she sometimes has a difficult personality. She can be sarcastic, rude with teachers she "doesn't like". As a result, her grades all over the place. She always gets grades like 2 A's, 1 C, 1 D and and 2 F's. One of the classes she got and F in this semester was PE (seriously?) She is in advance math where she always gets an A or a B.

Anyway, as a result of her grades she will probably not be able to go to the high school she wants to which is in a better neigborhood and has a better reputaton. Our district has a rule that in order for a highschooler to go to an out of area school they have to have a certain gpa, otherwise the have to go to the local neigborhood school. Ours is even worse than the middle school that she currently goes to.

So, I've been thinking that if she has to go to the local high school maybe it would just be better for her to do K12. She would probably do better, and have a better chance of getting into college. The only thing is she would probably have to do it mostly on her own. I don't mind helping but we are planning on moving out of my mom's house before next school year. I could come and check on her work  twice or 3 times a week, but otherwise she would be responsible for most of it on her own. I doubt my mom would want to do anything. Her English is limited and she just doesn't have the inclination.

So what do you guys think? Will she be able to do it mostly on her own. All communication with K12 wll be through me but she will be responsible for most of the work herself. How do colleges look at K12? Is it considered the same as public high school or will the think less of it. I want to make sure it doesn't put her at a disadvatage. Sorry this is super long but I could really use some input. Thanks!

[pollyanna02]

I have no experiance with k12. but if i remember from when i was in highschool most students did their work by themselves.And in highschool being responsable for your own work was good prep for college.

what you would need to do is look into what you would be required to do for the state you live in.

I think if she really would want to do this it can be done. :)

hope this helps a bit

Pollyanna

[BellinghamCrunchie]

She should be able to do it by herself.  She would have some online classes, and the program is overseen by a teacher, so she would have monitoring and help that way. She can ask her teacher questions via email or phone.

It's a pretty intense program, and she will get a good education (better than she would get at a brick and mortar school). Its also considered public school, so its not like homeschooling then getting a GED.

[1jooj]

I think she could certainly do it, but not without agreeing to a few major points, and making a major commitment to herself and her own education.

My ds is in his first year of K12 (private, not charter, because we live abroad). He is a MSer.

The biggest adjustments he is making now:

1. He is a more active part of his own instruction: he has to monitor when he should be online, make appointments with teachers when he needs to meet, read and/or listen to the instructional units of his subject work. If he needs help, he needs to ask me or a teacher right away, or he will quickly fall behind.

2. It is a heavy workload. Again, ours is not a state curriculum, so PE is not assigned, and there could be other modules like health or various counseling-type things that states do, that we don't. Even so, ds has been doing a lot of writing, in Composition and across the curriculum. Lots of writing-intensive work, which is new to him.

3. He has to work well with Mom, and treat me with the same respect he would a teacher. This is more of an issue than you might think, especially when he is working through a longer assignment, like a research paper, that takes several steps over a couple weeks. It's easy for him to want to spend his free time just reading or playing games, and he has to be committed to the whole thing in order to respond appropriately and stay at it when he's on deadline. Good real-life stuff, though.

She'll have to be committed to having a positive and professional relationship with teachers. In terms of delivery methods and interactions between students and teachers, K12 has the potential to let her see what it might be like to be a student in college--depending on what her online classes are like, and how well-disciplined other students are. But, if attitude got in the way before, it can be a real problem online. She'll need to be ready to write serious, professional-sounding e-mails, speak on audio with composure and confidence, respect deadlines, and all of that if she is serious about doing well.

The same would go with her relationship with a learning coach (sounds like that would be you, and in truth, there needs to be someone willing to commit to the role). Your sister will need to understand that she needs to be open and cooperative with her LC in order to succeed--and that means bringing a good attitude to school every day. Be prepared to do a lot of high quality writing, and brush up on citing sources and the like. Academic integrity is a big deal.

There are issues K12 can help you avoid, like school violence and probably some issues of classroom distraction. But in my understanding, there is plenty of potential for cyber bullying on message boards and chat spaces. Charters usually have some required minimum online attendance for Class Connects (international does not have this), and might also have some required attendance at a local place for testing, that kind of thing.

For the most part, I think a kid with solid abilities can do well using K12, as long as the positive attitude and time commitments are in place. And once things are running smoothly, she likely will find herself better prepared for college than she might be if left to the local high school.

Good luck! We are glad we made the switch in our case, and even if my kids end up back in B&M school before the end, I know that many of the skills they are developing now will help them succeed there, too.

[Nan411]

Thank you for the honest feedback. She has expressed interest in being homeschooled but I just don't know that she is ready to be responsible and self directed. I think she has the idea that it will be me sitting there and instructing her and giving her worksheets or something. Although she is a smart girl she is somewhat immature and that is what worries me. I will need to talk to her and make sure she is truly commited because if she slacks off or falls behind it will be on me.

[lalovelady]

She could do most everything on her own if she understands the importance of it and if she is willing to go to her teachers when she needs help. If she is not used to being self-motivated she will probably struggle. However, if she can understand the importance and pour herself into the process, she will be so much more prepared for college. K12 is a great program to get her prepared for self-discipline of college. It would be great if you and/or her mother could make sure she is turning in assignments and communicating with her teachers when she needs help. We have been very happy with our teachers and they are more than willing to help anyone who wants it. However, if she puts off doing her work and gets behind then it will not be good. I think this is probably a decision she needs to make. And hopefully she can see the importance of taking responsibility, being mature and doing "hard things" to prepare herself for a better future. Good luck. She is lucky to have you as a sister who is looking out for her.

[mata]

I have a 13 year old doing K12. It's a rigorous program, with a *lot* of work-i.e. weekly writing/research assignments, powerpoints, experiments, reading, etc. I would say your sister would need to be very self-motivated and disciplined, otherwise it might not work for her.