Here is where things might get sticky. Depending on why you are interested in this as an education option for your child, my little note today may send you spinning.
I will not use actual numbers or percentages as I do not have time to collect my own data and I do not tend to blindly trust data provided by others unless it includes the phrase 'double blind'... I will simply describe my personal observation.
Now that we have cleared that up... Let me say that this curriculum may not be as wonderful to you as it has been for me and my family. There are many things that go into a family decision. Since we are not all the same, those factors will multiply quickly.
Some families are wanting to get away from traditional schools for religious reasons. I have heard the phrases, "we do not want our children being taught evolution", or, "According to the Bible, we are to speak God's word in all things." If this sounds like you, be aware that this is a curriculum that was given the OK by the public school system. Yes, it is very different. Yes, there are many religious references in the materials, but make no mistake, this is not a religious based curriculum.. My suggestion: Write down what exactly is most important to you in question form. Ask those questions directly. Can you supplement the curriculum with your own religious texts or are you completely ambivilant about certain subjects being taught at all? You need to know before you have your expectation shattered.
Some families are looking at this as an option since it is so much more flexible. OK.. Stop the train just a moment. This does not mean that if your child completes a week's worth of schoolwork in one day that you have six days to play before you have to do any work again. Several home school moms have complained to me about this. I have been told, "We were always done with school work before lunch, so the kids could go outside and play for a couple of hours and I got some quiet time." Um.....What? Let's just say I do not understand your perspective and you will probably not understand mine.
Yes, it is more flexible in that one of my children has a better ability to focus on more challenging subjects in the middle of the day. I schedule her math and science for those times. She does her Composition, Literature, Vocabulary and Spelling early in the day as they are super easy for her. Then does either math or science and in the afternoons we do her History lessons. It works for us. Also, it is more flexible for us as we have frequent medical issues. Instead of feeling behind, or lost after missing an important teaching session, my children just pick up right where they left off.
It is not flexible if you are looking for zero accountability. You do have to log attendance, and the public school system has decided what they have determined is an acceptable amount of time in school. You may go over their number, but not below it. Ahhh.. but what if you have a child that is flying right through their lessons? Well, you do have a choice here. Discuss it with your child's teacher. We were given permission to count outside activities toward her attendance. If we go to the Science Museum, she gets attendance credit for Science that day. If she reads an outside book, she gets extra Literature credit.
For those who are looking into an alternative to traditional schools because you believe the government is trying to covertly control your child and your family... Ummm..... Okay, I will actually address this one.
On the surface, yes, it is provided by a government controlled public school. Yes this curriculum must meet or exceed the standards set by your state. However, the similarities seem to end there. (At least from my experience.)
My daughter attended public school for ONE year. That was all I could stand. Before this year, she attended a private Christian school. At the private school, she was given all subjects. Somehow, she was able to get Reading, Spelling, Math, Science, History, Vocabulary, PE AND Religion class. At the public school, history/geography was offered once per week. Science was offered once per month. PE was on a rotating, every third day type of schedule. This was our experience.
The virtual school is a bit different. PE is logged every day. They strongly recommend that you do English and Math subjects every day. I would say that it has worked best for us to do History two or three times per week and Science two or three times per week. There is flexibility in this and we are still finding what works for us. With virtual school, the schedule will immediately list the next lesson in each subject for you. You do not do the entire list every day. That would be a bit batty. You are given a % amount of work that should be completed by this day. It's easy to prioritize lessons with this % for now, and I can see that in the very near future, we will not be checking that as often as we seem to be very close to finding our own "groove".
To address the 'covert government control'... Yes, this is curriculum that is approved by the government. Yes, there are some slants in the history text. (If you take World History in Japan, for instance, you may find a very different version of the events of WWII....) I do not really know what specifically you are worried about with "covert government control", but I can tell you this is a much more well rounded and in depth curriculum than my child was offered in a supposedly great school district. I am very impressed with the way the curriculum seems to be interwoven also. For instance, one child is learning about the Renaissance in Art. Her history book also begins to explain the Renaissance and its effect on science, politics and other topics. Her science text covers the discoveries made during the Renaissance. It is building on itself in a way that offers much more reinforcement of concepts in all areas. I am impressed at the dedication it must have taken to incorporate these subjects so well.
If you are concerned about any and every sign of government control... Take a little gander at a little document called the "USA PATRIOT Act ". It's not just the schools...
That wasn't very nice, was it? Well, it's true. If you have land in this country, have utilities, drive a car, have medical insurance, ... or if you simply exist, you are within the reach of government control. No matter what your child is being taught at school, it is not only your right, but your responsibility to also teach your children in the best manner you can. Again, here we are back to the simple fact that we are not the same. We are different.
Yes, many of our forefathers were home schooled in this country. George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Edison to name a few. At that time our country was still being formed. I doubt the school system was very organized. Their families were probably doing the same things we are doing... trying to make the best choices for our children.
I guess my big point is that we are all different. We all have very different needs. I really would like to meet a group of people with a 9 year old child similar to mine and ask them dozens of questions about their methods of education as well as see that child write an essay or explain a subject. I dislike looking at information for students who could not be more different than my children.
I would guess that the parent of a child with learning disabilities would have a much different opinion than myself. Each family has very different needs. What works for one does not necessarily work as well for another. This virtual school offers such a variety of methods to learn the material. There are workbooks, textbooks, online games, online videos, step by step hands on projects. It seems they have really tried to help everyone have the best chance to not only learn, but to understand the material.
Let me tell you what motivates my questions. It's not simply about academics for me. I have a very short period of time to ensure that my children are prepared for an independent adult life. I want them to go out into the world confident, well educated and with choices. I have no hidden agenda. That is simply it. They need to have the best academics I can find for them. They need to get the moral lectures and stories from me. They need to be exposed to variety. Yes, my children learned about both creation and evolution in their private school. How else would they be able to accurately see both sides of the argument? It is much easier to be confident about what you are saying when you understand what you are saying. I do teach my children about other cultures, other countries and other social groups. Like I said, my motivation is simple. I want them to be exposed to as much as possible. If I simply tell them this is how we do it and move on, what have they really learned? How will they deal with that situation when they are away from me? I have to allow my children to exercise their minds now, while there is still a safety net.
If at all possible, you should really put your hands on this curriculum before you make judgements. This curriculum is very ambitious in my opinion. It incorporates textbooks, workbooks, notebooks and online activities very well. At the end of the week, after overlapping subject matter, I feel as though the children have a much clearer picture than they would if they had just learned mismatched subjects.
The math curriculum could use a bit of improvement. It not only did not incorporate the Renaissance theme this week, (Joking) but it does tend to jump around a bit. It would be nice if it could teach the calculation of area and perimeter directly after teaching the types of shapes and angles, rather than having a lesson on fractions in between. This may become more of a pet peeve for us if we come across a more challenging topic in math.
Perhaps I will post their "work samples" here when it is time to send those to the teacher. That should give you a better idea...
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