Many of you may remember when I posted that I was enrolling my children in an online school due to some personal circumstances. Well, we just finished our first semester. I wanted to update you all on our experience. Keep in mind the pros and cons for about my family and not a commentary in general for online schools. Pros: Very organized. My son's teacher was a gem. My son completed an entire year's worth of work in just under one semester. My daughter thrives on organization so the format suited her. Cons: Focused on task completion and test scores rather than education. My son commented that he felt he didn't learn anything. He worked at a fast pace but said he did so out of being bored. My daughter said her textbooks and the online stuff didn't line up. Both my kids were bored with the material. No way to switch curriculum that was not working or advance to another level. Once you finished you were finished...so when my son completed spelling in a few months he had no more spelling the rest of the year. The junior high teachers were non-communicative and hard to get a hold of. They offered no real help or solutions to issues. We basically found the format and style are not for us. The kids were bored and preferred homeschooling instead. My daughter thought the curriculum was hollow. Now, the curriculum is solid...just boring. I also found that using the computer as a primary tool was not for us. It's okay in one subject or two...but not all of school. It made the studies seem distant. My kids were simply not engaged or felt as if they were being educated...they were being schooled. Now, online schooling is not bad. It was just not for us. It is a real option for a family who needs it. I am grateful for the experience and that it was an option I had for the time. If I needed to I would use it again...meaning I'd rather that then send my kids to public school. However, we have simply learned that homeschooling is for us. Yippy! In fact, my daughter got me a charm for mother's day that was an apple that said #1 Teacher on it! I think as much as I was a creative mess they learned to appreciate me. I also think this experience gave me the "break" and "time" I needed to get myself back together. The time was well spent in many ways....but the method is not for us. We will be homeschooling again! Now, my daughter does want to go to this performing arts school for high school....LOL. The school is rated VERY high and in the top 10 of schools in Ohio...so she may get her wish...we will see. But that's another post!!!! LOL
Ava, we enrolled Rachael in ECOT so she can take free college classes next year (her senior year) for free. She started in April and took health and French 1. She had just finished French for me, but I felt it would be good to have her finish up with them, so I knew she was at their level when she started French 2 next year. Yeah. I thought my homeschool kid might be "behind" what the on-line kids were doing! WHAT was I thinking!!! LOL! She found the French simple, and the health easy but a pain. They would give her a scenario, and she would have to come up with different possibilities, state pros and cons for each, and decide which choice was best. One had to do with being offered pot. She said her choices was to accept it, turn it down, or tell the kid she'd get back with him later. Well, she got a C, because the teacher wanted FIVE choices, not three (but didn't tell her that!) So she got to re-do it and add two more choices. One her AWANA friend came up with.... Spout off Bible verses at him until he thinks you're a real freak and leaves you alone! LOL!
I love the idea of free college classes! As I said...this is a real option if needed or if you can benefit from it. I would have liked it more if I could be more creative with it or if the junior high department wasn't so hard to pin down. My kids found the material VERY easy. However, my daughter did struggle with the math. Entering in mid way through the year devastated her. The curriculum was new, the method was new...yikes. As long as she did the virtual classes she was okay but the math she had to make up for she didn't do well in. I could easily see doing something like this for high school or nearing the end of high school...especially for free college classes. Off the subject! My family may be heading up your way to Grove City on Saturday for a graduation party. I won't be there...I have too much work to do. I have took on another section for Families.com and I cannot miss my deadline.
I'm glad the experience wasn't an all out mess for you guys. I agree it's a good option to be there, but for a homeschooler at heart I'm not sure I could ever be happy with doing it if it wasn't truely needed. I have bounced around on enrolling Garrett in a K12 program and see if it eases the strain between us, but I fear it would only make it worse since I couldn't suit things to fit him and would have to enforce another teachers rules. So, I have just chosen as many independant things as I can and will write him out a schedule every single day.
We'll be camping this weekend. We kept the camper at his ex-fil's place, on the back of his property. So with the rain, it took forever for Carl to bring it home. I wanted it about two weeks ago, because there's lots to get ready. So when we opened it up, mice had gotten into it. IT WAS A MESS!!! I had to remove all the curtains, take the covers off the cushions and run them through the washer. I had to empty out and scrub down the drawers/cabinets, the floor, the walls. Add on top of this all the frustration lots of frustration at church (I've resigned as Children's Ministry Director, but that's a WHOLE other story!!!)! What grade is your oldest finishing up? If you decide to stick with the on-line (or even if she attends the high school) you might ask about Post-Secondary Educational Opportunities (PSEO). Though I HATE the idea that I've taught her for 12 years, she takes a class or two with ECOT, and THEY get the credit for my brilliant daughter, lol!!! We knew she would have to take OGT's, but thought we could do it next year. Then, in the middle of Test Week, we learned that she had to have them NOW, because they had to be passed to attend Columbus State. (Ohio State didn't have that requirement, btw!). This was on Wednesday, and the counselor isn't in on Th or Fri. I called the school and asked for her email. She got back with me fairly quickly, telling me that they had make-up the next week and she could take them there. Three days near us, two about a half-hour away. When I took her the first day, the guy said she could double up if she wanted, and get it done in three days, which is what we did. Plus, she could leave when she was done. In "normal" settings, you have to stay the whole time, whether you were done or not. She passed with flying colors, in spite of not being prepared. Again, showing the difference between hs'ed and not hs'ed.
My daughter will be entering 8th grade. So glad your daughter passed and did well! I think homeschooled kids know how to adjust and apply knowledge better and are not as dependent on format. Sommer: I think K12 is only a good fit, curriculum wise, for your average auditory learner. I think if you are looking to customized K12, as you know, is not the way to go. It was a problem with my kids. I think stress can be relieved by a program like this...but sadly without the customization you may sacrifice too much or just trade one problem for another.
Thanks for the review. It sounds like our first year of school when we did Time4Learning. One boy zoomed through it and one did not like reading off the computer. We have a way to go but online school is one of the options we have considered for high school. After you have been homeschooling them and then you enroll them how do they determine what grade they will be in? That is one of the things I have wondered.
I do not know how all the online schools do it...but K12 just took my word for it. lol. They did a reading and math test...so I suppose if they bombed it they may have talked to me. But they pretty much asked me what grade they were in and that was that.
