First week of school the virtual way

Last week was our first week of school.  My kids don't have a traditional school day.  We don't technically home school,  but we also aren't in traditional public school.  We use a virtual school.
Our virtual school is technically a public charter school, so we are required to do state testing and keep track of attendance.
We started our virtual school experience 5 years after a horrific bullying experience with my oldest daughter. One day I'll be able to write about it. I still shake thinking how much of the personality of my outgoing cheerful daughter we lost due to that experience. It took over 5 years to see her really begin to come out of her shell again.

We began our journey with K12 Inc. It was great. Then more and more changes happened within our own charter school that made it not the best place for my kids to learn.  I still love the curriculum of K-12 Inc.  Their History program is AMAZING in the way it teaches many cultures and belief systems instead of whitewashing all mentions of any religion.  Countries were formed and kings crowned due to religions.

With 3 children in the K-12 program it was not easy for me as their learning coach to keep track of all their work.  I had to go to multiple places just to get the grades and work for one child. Checking their work due dates and grade books took over 45 minutes due to all the many pages I had to navigate to get to them.  I am a computer savvy person and I would get frustrated dealing with it. This is one place that Connections Academy is really excelling.

With Connections Academy everything is laid out for me easily on the front page of my parent profile.   I can see all assignments that are past due, tests I need to check and a reminder for attendance all on my To Do list.  Connections gave me the ability to run a Family Calendar so I don't have to set birthdays and other events multiple times over multiple schedules. Yet at the same time I can set up separate schedules for each child.      

Every charter school is different within each program. Every family has different challenges and needs.  I love having virtual school as an option for my family.  I have been able to be more active in my kids' schooling and watch them really excel. With the virtual model learning is done in many styles so that all students get a chance to catch on.  It really helped my oldest two with their very different learning styles.

My only regret is not making the change sooner.  You can still ask questions and even join at some school even if the school year has started.  Contact K-12 Inc or Connections Academy today to find what would fit your family's needs or is available in your area.

New School Year

We are now preparing for the school year to start.  This year 4 of our 5 kids will be in school.  We are still doing Virtual School as our local school district is still pretty horrible.  I like being able to be more involved in my kids' schooling.  I tried to be active when they were in brick and mortar school but got pushed further and further out. There was the time I was told I could only volunteer if it wasn't in my own child's classroom but in another teacher's class instead.  How is that supporting my child's teacher to do her job more easily?

I eventually did volunteer to help with sight word intervention for 4 days a week. Then they took away funding and canceled the program.  Many programs got cut that were supported mostly by volunteers and funding moved into more and more ELL classes. (English Language Learner)  I don't have a grudge against kids needing to learn our language, but don't take from the ones who do know the language but struggle to read. Reading Improvement Programs were cut and so many other like programs to make way for more ELL classes.  It made me feel like my children who were born here in this city were considered second class citizens because their funding was cut left and right.  I had one child who needed these reading programs and they were cut while she was in them.

This year we made a move from Nevada Virtual Academy after 4 years with them.  It had started out as a great choice for my family and through the years many changes sucked the life from the program.  The changes made took away all that was good in the beginning. Their high school program was not what we had signed up for. It had changed and evolved into something that did not work.  I was not raising circus dogs that were being made to jump through more and more hoops eventually flaming. The school's idea of intervention was making my child travel 30 minutes one way for intervention classes with 20 or more students in it. How is 20 other students in a class intervention?  What kind of one on one time is that? They did nothing throughout the year to intervene when my oldest was struggling with a class.
When we had trouble with a teacher we were lied to about be able to switch her class. The teacher was a bully. Yes, teachers can be bullies too. They are only human.  By the time we had finally been able to get her switched my oldest shut down and withdrew into herself.  It is how she reacted to school after being horribly bullied before.(circled on the playground by and kicked repeatedly while she was curled up on the ground.) When faced with bullies that she doesn't feel like she can fairly fight back she turtles up in her "shell" and stops interacting to her fullest.  Her schoolwork was suffering and the school said it was all on her just slacking off. They were adamant that a teacher can't be a bully and that my child was lazy.  I'm not the type of parent to say my kids can do no wrong, but teachers are not saints. Sometimes they hate a kid for no reason. Not all teachers are in it for the reward of teaching our future generations. Many should never be a teacher.  I know I couldn't teach kids other than my own.

Our new school Connections Academy is the one I debated joining after the first Virtual school was shut down for the principal defrauding the district. (Soap Opera) It has a great family scheduling section to keep everyone on the same page.  It has a awesome centralized page for me to easily check what each student needs to do and how they are progressing.  Compared to K12 it is like night and day.