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Elizabeth
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| Posted: June 05 2006 at 11:28am | IP Logged
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A friend of mine is interviewing with K12.com and he's looking for insight into the company. Anybody have any experiences to share? Any thoughts on computer-based curriculum in general? Any comparison of K12 with its competitors?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Rebecca
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I have not used K12 but I have a very good friend who has. She used sonlight, loosely for many years and then decided that both she and her kids needed a bit more structure. We have a virtual academy (public school) here in Ohio that uses K12 as its curriculum, so all the materials, computers, etc. are free. Of course, this was attractive to her and she signed up.
She said that she and her boys never worked so hard at lessons and learning in their lives. SHe mentioned that it took several hours every day to do the work (her boys were 8 and 12) but that they loved the assignments.
I am fairly certain that she did not sign up again the following year because they did not feel that they could keep up the pace for another year.
I saw some of the books, which were well thought out and interesting. The work the boys did looked impressive.
OTH, I have an acquaintance who has eight children. They did not structured work, workbooks or much of any reading prior to signing up with the charter school that used K12. Needless to say, her children did not do well with the structure and only completed 13% of the work. (That was actually the child most diligent with the lessons.)They did not choose to sign up again, either.
I thought about it for my oldest this past fall but did not sign up. I am not sure why. I guess I am probably afraid we would not get it all done.
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MaryM
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I haven't used it either, but the people I know who have would echo Rebecca's message. They like it and it fits their style of learning/teaching. It is very time consuming. These folks NEVER go on any of our support groups outings because they can't afford to get behind in their work.
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Dawn
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Elizabeth, I don't have personal experience, but a few years ago I was friendly with a woman who was the MA rep. for K12 (our kids were in karate together). She had 4 children using it, all early strong readers, and as Rebecca mentions it seemed there was a lot of work. There were often one or two of her kids who were not allowed to participate in class, but had to complete their work in the waiting room with us.
I don't know much more than that, only that it did seem very organized and strongly academic. This mother was a very nice Christian woman and seemed pretty laid back, but definitely expected more from her kids than I did from mine. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just different (I'm probably lazier!  ).
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marihalojen
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I believe this is the program in Florida that one can join with a huge scholarship if you are coming from an IRL (physically attending) school. For example: Local homeschool family stopped homeschooling for 1 year and placed children in local charter Montessori school, then were able to pull them out and receive huge scholarship with all new laptops and musical instruments (tuba!) and internet paid for.
The time requirement was tremendous, much longer days than normal public school with absolutely no time for outside commitments (park days - gone, girl scouts - gone, soccer - kept, but only because girl was local *star*) This year the entire family is in public school, completely exhausted and burned out from K12. The mom was a teacher (who continued with sideline jobs with the school district and ran the Girl Scouts and the homeschool group) so they (the family) were well prepared, on grade level, etc...She gave a brief wrap-it-up talk at our homeschool meeting last year, said if you could maintain pace and liked literally doing school at home in front of computers, your child could easily go on to Ivy League Schools but if you had a child who's needs were not met in a distance learning format, then this is not the program to choose.
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abcmommy
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I have several friends who use K12 WITHOUT the virtual academy link. They are all pretty satisfied with it.
NONE are eclectic like me. All seem content not to search and buy and try. I think perhaps this is a condition of liking it- not looking too hard at other options and being swayed by what you see?
I was impressed with what I saw of the package. Its certainly complete and comprehensive and all that jazz. The virtual academy seems impossible to me.
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Jen L.
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I was recently helping my friend look into K12. Have you seen this Cathy Duffy review? It looks thorough and balanced.
Also, (and this has nothing to do with your question ) but I believe that you can sign up for just the number of classes that you want (at least when not doing it through a charter school).
Enough parentheses for you? 
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Mary G
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For those that have used it, or know someone who does, did the kids enjoy it? Did they learn?
I wouldn't like it just because I LIKE the freedom of shopping, choosing, shifting gears -- but it might work for the one or two of mine who like structure. But if it's just busy work -- and it sounds like there is LOTS of work -- I don't want to pursue it.
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krgammel
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I used K12 through a virtual academy my first year homeschooling. HUM...it was Kindergarten and we did a lot of work. There are many positives to the program.
Yes, all your materials are provided, from books to manipulatives. It is very structured and when done in through the virtual academy all progress is tracked online. You are given much more work for each lesson than necessary and it is up to you to decide what to use to meet the needs of your child. For me it was a good introduction to very structured and scheduled homeschooling. My son was ready for the intensity level that it offers, but in retrospect it really wasn't fun. It is a school at home and has very little opportunity for Real Learning. It was filling a bucket to the letter..... I don't know if it is the same in every state, we were in CO at the time and were required to participate in standardized testing. I think the big drawback is what has been mentioned in previous posts, it doesn't allow anytime for rabbit trails or further study. I have a friend who is in her 3rd year with it that really finds it frustrating when her children want to delve into some subjects deeper and she has to say no due to time constaints.
On the other hand, I know several K12 employees who absolutely love their jobs, and that seems to be what your friend is inquiring about.
+Kristen
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: K12.com
