Alternative LearningAre you a homeschooling mama? or maybe you unschool... or maybe you are interested in another alternative learning style? or maybe you don't have any idea what i am referring to?? this forum might just be for you! share your thoughts and ideas
Location: Is she smart, so well-read Are there books, are there novels by her bed? And is she the sort that you've always said Could satisfy your head?
Posts: 19,189
search my posts in this forum on k12 and our experience.
it was awful for our family. i felt the same way you did...so much so i nearly paid for it outright and then found out georgia would pay for it for me.
We use and have just enrolled for next (pending funding). I will gladly post more, but it is getting late and this mama is heading to bed. Look for more tomorrow.
__________________
Carey, Wife to Craig and Mom to Ross, Morgan and Abigail
Search in this forum for posts...there have been several recently. Generally, the experience seems to be that it's too much work, from what I have read.
__________________
Ann
mommy to Morgan Phillip 5/24/02
and Elisha Nicole 5/10/05
and Bethany Alyssa 1/5/08
hey girl, one other thing I did not get a chance to mention about LVS, is that the principal is very "home school " minded. His vision for it when it started was not just to be 'public school at home" but to really fit the homeschooling life. OS I have heard from quite a few people in this area that it is pretty user friendly, no hours etc to keep track of.
I did see they have some info meetings in May in Lawrence if you want to drive over together.
Great seeing you today!
__________________
wife to one, the love of my life
mama to 4, all incredibly gorgeous, smoochable and bright - taking my breath away everyday.
"Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing." - Mother Theresa
Are you looking at this as an independent user or as a virtual school enrollee?
We are using it as a virtual school. It is a superb program. There are multiple activites for each lesson, you do not complete them all--unless you choose to--but rather you pick and select the ones that will most benefit your child and his learning style. We do find that an average of 4 hours a day is necessary for this program. My son is ADHD (and now unmedicated) so I am sure we could "do school" more quickly if I could keep him consistently on track. Our decision to stop meds is what led to our homeschooling. He could not function in b&m school without them and we just hated the side effects in him.
History and art are linked, so you study the same era in both at the same time. Some literature units tie in that era as well. I like that history is chronological. I hated jumping around in time (this is why unit study tends to be a poor choice for us--I have to rearrange the units into order). Science does cover a broad spectrum of subjects during the year, but I think at my sons age, he would be burnt out after a few months of the same topic. Spelling is a proprietary program, along with the history, art, music, science and literature. Math utilizes Sadlier-Oxford textbooks, and language arts is a combination of the Exercises in English workbook and K12 material.
Here is a c&p of a pm to someone on the topic of K12:
There is a good deal of parent involvement in 3rd grade. Math: 5-10 online skills update problems as a refresher before the days assignment and the rest is parent taught, textbook for assignment and then a written assessment. Spelling, Lang Arts and Literature have no student online components in 3rd. Science has a good deal online in an informative slideshow that goes along with any books used for that unit and the project/experiment. History is almost all online, some geography workbook early in the year, written assignments. Art coincides with History and an artist/style will be shown online, followed by student project. Music is not my cup of tea, but many like it. Combo of online, cd/dvd and performance. There is a "standard" time for each lesson, ie: a lit lesson is 60 min by default, spelling is 20 min by default. The OLS tracks the lessons completed and you mark the time, by default or change to reflect actual. There is also handwriting to log in LA and independent reading to log in lit. Field trips can be logged for the subject involved, ie historical trip, science for marine center/zoo, etc. The attendance time is not a difficult rec to meet. Our hours are set by the state of FL, not K12. It is flexible so you can mark time off for vacations, just know you have to make up the work sometime. And if you have to take a test (like FCAT for us), you can not be gone when the local ps gives the test.
There is a lot of writing in K12. I do some of the assignments orally with DS as it would take him 10x as long, minimum. I try to limit his work to 3 large writing assignments a day. I am not sure what they do if the standard test results are not where they want.
It is a bunch to take in, but the program is tops. I created another log in with dif. email addy to register as an independent user and there is no way we could afford K12 on our own. Esp. once DD starts next year.
__________________
infact a neighbor is using the program and her son and Evan would botrh be doing 4th grade next yr. She told me that she doesn't do the history journaling and that they just do the weekly comkposition and that she feelis this is enough. it seems like it would be a lot if you did it all - but you do not have too. they will be done on the 19th this month and are 83%finished and were told next yrs supplies will be ordered for them
i am very very tempted! (how does it work for the ADD child?)
We are carrying over history, art and music as we are not even close to completion on those subjects. I have to admit that I despise their music program, but have heard from others with musical abilities that it is a great teaching program.
Ross is taking his lit. assessment as I type. We are on track to complete spelling, lang arts, math and sci. by the 28th of May (our virtual districts last day). I will likely work on the history, art & (gag) music over the summer months. We will not receive the 4th grade materials for those subjects until 3rd coursework is completed. We are 42? hours above what is required of us. That I am attributing to a combination of field trips (sci center, marine center, co-ops, etc) and the fact that sometimes my boy just spaces and daydreams on assignments. When he does, the work takes longer to complete. Some days I can just tell he is not going to pull out of it and we change course for the day. Other times I can tell it is more of an attitude issue and then I do push a little harder for him to complete his work (maybe switching some activities in a lesson, maybe a combo of written and verbal work....) I have learned to mix things up a little to keep my ADHD boy involved. On my not-so-fine days, I have resorted to telling him this is just the way it is, do the work or he can start third grade all over again next year. The VA is like a shield I can pull out: blame them, not me, this is the work we have to get done. Again, not my finest day when I pull that card.
I feel very mixed on it. I have used it through a virtual school for two years. I recommended it to friends, but now I am not so sure that it is a great fit for everyone. I am feeling a bit controlled right now and I am thinking of taking a year off.
__________________
Christine, Veggie Mom to homelearners Abigail, 10/95 Emma, 5/99 and Ingrid 11/01
Married to Rich since 9/92
We tried it and didn't care for it - I think my opinions can be found by searching this forum. We found the coursework to be very dry and the record-keeping very labor-intensive.
Just reading what people had to say... but had to say hi! I haven't seen you in forever, Michele!
__________________
Heather
Birthday boy eating birthday pancakes. Happy 7th to Erik! My blog
We tried it and didn't care for it - I think my opinions can be found by searching this forum. We found the coursework to be very dry and the record-keeping very labor-intensive.
through a virtual school there are no records though, correct, for me to keep. and what, if any are the motivators to keep kiddos on track?
My DS enjoys most of his course work. Somedays are more writing intensive than he would like, but we do find the lessons interesting. The only dry subject IMO is music (can you tell I just do not like the music, LOL).
DS enjoys sharing his work with daddy at the end of the day and with anyone else who will listen. History has quite a bit of journaling work, so I can see how that might dissuade someone who doesn't care for that. Science is a mixture of reading and hands on projects.
Ashley, if there is anything you'd like to see, there are sample lessons online and they will set up a sample OLS account if you register as a possible independent user. I can email you a copy of something if you are interested in a specific course or lesson. Have you seen the scope and sequence online? Their site has so much info, it is easy to get lost navigating it.
PS. I've got to find my stamps or get to the PO. I have the stickers for your girly. Sorry for the delay!
wife to toby 
Linear Mode
