Hi, I'm very new to HSing and I want to start HSing my 6 & 9 year old starting in August. I've been looking at the K12 program and I'm not sure if this is the way I want to go. If any of you are using or have used K12 I would really appreciate your comments. Thank you, Michelle
My advice is to before starting any "official" program, allow a couple of months (minimum) in the fall for "detoxing" from the school system - whether it was private or public. Allow your kiddos plenty of time to create, explore, read, play...and minimize t.v. and video games. Take lots of field trips and visit the library. I recommend you read lots of books for homeschooling parents by Dr. Mary Hood, Ray and Dorothy Moore, Debra Bell, Sally Clarkson etc...and talk with parents who have successfully homeschooled for many years - especially those who began in the school system and pulled their kids out to homeschool. I pulled mine out 7 1/2 years ago. Now, about K12...if you are using the "free" version through the public school system, then technically, your kids are still enrolled in public school. You will adhere to the school's schedule and routine. You do not do any teaching and have no control over "curricula." I've heard a TON of negative feedback trying to use K12 within the system - no flexibility in scheduling, lacking in creativity, impossible demands of deadlines, kids pushed to regurgitate rote memory and not enjoy learning...etc. However, there are those that purchase the materials on their own and do NOT go through their local public schools. The parents pick and choose what they do and seem to fare better. Personally, I loathe textbooks/workbooks for EVERY subject and especially for VERY young children. Projects, exploration, and delight in discovery is SUCH a better tool for learning (and MUCH cheaper). If you feel you MUST have a complete program, I would check out Rod and Staff. Simple for the parent to use, but very thorough yet gentle. I use their English and some of their math for my third grader. I use the English for junior and senior high. For science and history, we use real books, experiments, and field trips - no fill in the blank style workbooks. Hope this helps! Blessings, Trishy kriagirl.blogspot.com
I have not used it, but I know some who have. It can ease you into to homeschooling when coming from the public school system and you are not experienced with, confident with, have researched, etc. homeschooling in less traditional ways. However, nearly everyone I personally know that has used it in the lower grades have either quit the program midstream or change to another the next year, whether doing a virtual public school program or on their own. It is very workbook or busy work intensive (which I personally don't like either). At first looks, it seems to take the burden of planning off your shoulders as the teacher, but it ends up placing a greater burden on your time in the busy work.
Now, I liked K12. Over at atozteacherstuff, there is a thread about K12. They seem to have a high standard. I believe they are on the up and up, because when I gave Jeannie their placement test for math, it turned out where she is supposed to be. There were things on there she hadn't done yet, which makes me wonder if they might even be somewhat advanced.
Trishy gave some god advice. Here are some further thoughts: I purchased K12 Language Arts a few years ago for two of my kids. It was VERY expensive and not worth that type of money. It was not a bad program, just that there are other programs out there that would have given us the same thing for alot less. We are very much a literature-based family - whole books for almost all subjects, so I could not imagine using K12 for all subjects as it is very text-booky. It also seems to be very time consuming if you did all the subjects. If you do K12 through a charter something you need to think about is that you will not be able to combine your dc in subjects. They will both have to do their own grade-level work. Combining is a super way to homeschool and especially when they are younger quite easy to do. You could very easily combine them in science, history, and art. They study the same subject and can do the same hands-on projects together. You could have them do independent reading at their own level, you could read-aloud to them in each subject, etc. Combining to me is the best scenario for homeschooling because it really makes homeschooling another tool towards family unity. There are curriculums out there, if you feel more comfortable starting out with a schedule and everything ready to go, that will accomodate combining very easily - off the top of my head there is Sonlight, WinterPromise, and Tapestry of Grace and I am sure many others. If there is a homeschool support group near you, try and go to some of their meetings and ask a bunch of questions. I was able to see different types of curriculum before I purchased by getting to know other homeschoolers. It was helpful to see how people actually arranged their days and how they approached homeschooling. Our local group loves when new moms come even if their dc are still in school.
A friend of mine had her four kids enrolled in K12 at the start of last year. Because of some marital issues, she ended up needing to put them back into public school after a couple of months at home. She gave all of her leftover materials and workbooks to me, and I have used some of them this year. I also plan to use some next year. She really liked K12. They have local groups that meet for social activities, and she liked having a teacher to contact at any time that she had questions. She said she would've continued with it had she been able to. From looking at, and using some of the materials, here is my input on it. Positives: Free, at least here in GA and in many other states. I think this is really cool for those who would choose to HS but feel they can't afford to so they keep their kids in PS. Not only do you get workbooks, but you get complete science kits, art supplies, musical instruments, maps, an inflatable globe. I've heard they even give you a computer if you don't have one and pay for your internet access. The teacher's guides are very user-friendly. The 4th grade vocabulary utilizes the Sadlier-Oxford program and you get that workbook. I think it's a good vocabulary program, and plan to buy the next level for Zach next year. S/O also offers supplemental vocabulary activities on their website, and Zach likes that. The overall curriculum is very thorough, and as someone else said, I feel it's in some ways, more advanced than other curricula I've seen. They also use "Handwriting Without Tears", which is cool. Negatives: There is a LOT of repetition. For example, the word problems part of the 4th grade math...it just goes on and on and on. I can't imagine forcing a child to do ALL of those word problems, repeating the same thing for what looks like weeks on end. I imagine they do this to "guarantee" that here in GA, the kids are going to meet their 4.5 hours of school per day. I can't imagine that any child in public school does this much work per subject in a day. The workbooks are extremely plain. I imagine this is because when you enroll, a large part of it is done online and that's the colorful, fun-looking part. The workbooks are so boring to look at...just plain type on white paper, with very few illustrations. I'd have hated that as a kid. And then, for me anyway, a negative would be having to stick to the PS school calendar, having to sign in daily and check in with the teacher regularly, stick to their standard of what your kid should do in a day. Attendance at those group meetings is mandatory from what I understand, and I wouldn't like that, either. With K12 you give up a lot of the freedom that makes HS so wonderful for so many of us. BUT...I am still not ruling it out for middle and/or high school for my boys. I think it would make the whole transcription process easier, and something about teaching the higher grades makes me nervous. At least I still have some time to figure that out, though.
We did it our first year. Overall, I liked it. For us, the math was too easy and repetitive. The science was way above the boys' heads. It was too much too quickly. I LOVED their history and my kids still talk about what we did that year. The Language arts was good in that it covered everything and explained it well. However, we found it a bit dry. It is very good if you are unsure of your teaching skills in any topic. It tells you not only what to teach and when, but how to teach it. Unfortunately, there is ALOT of material making it hard to deviate from the lesson plans in order to add in more additional fun things. It is also very expensive. They do not let you out of the contract easily if you decide it is not the program for you. We freelanced this year as I needed tons of freedom due to having twins last summer. Next year, we are going back to something more structured and complete. As I need that to feel as if I am getting done what needs to be done. I will probably be purchasing the below packaged deals for my kiddies. I have to talk to the sales rep before I decide, but it is the lines I am thinking along. Supposedly, it does have scheduling suggestions on what to teach and when... I like that kind of help As you are only paying for the materials and not the comp program, it is much cheaper. http://www.accountwizard.com/client...&class=FULL+YEAR+PACKS&subclass=STANDARD+1-12
