Does your child use K12 to homeschool or does your child attend a school that uses it?

Question

How do you feel about their curriculum?

I heard they do not have a Christian curriculum (And I am a Christian ) but if I go with them , I will teach my kids about Christianity from different materials and the Bible of course.

Answer 1

Yes, we've used K12 for five years now as independent HS'ers (not part of a virtual school).

We love, love, love it!  It was our first curriculum and we've stuck with it, so that says a lot ;-).  The depth and breadth are *amazing*, and I love the online planning and progress tools.  I don't know what I'd ever do w/o them!!!

We are Christians and we haven't seen anything offensive and have done a variety of courses from K-8th.  There is some evolution info, but I choose to teach both sides.

We're really very happy with it!

*** EDITED to add:

My son is cognitively gifted also, so I wanted to add that K12 is *the best* fit for him, as he's able to work at various grade levels and at different speeds through each course.  Many curriculums won't allow that, or are not set up for it.

K12 has a LOT of information it, however, it's like a buffet - you take what you need/want and leave the rest.  It was never meant to do it *all*.  You do the lessons, or parts of lessons, that your child needs to master the objectives.  It's a mastery-based curriculum with spiral review.  Some kids need more work to achieve mastery, some need little to none.  For instance, my son wiped out his first unit of 5th grade Language Arts lessons in GUM (grammar, useage, mechanics) and Vocabulary this week because it was all review from 4th grade.

The best way to try out the curriculum is to attend an online "great start seminar" from K12.  You'll gain access to a week-long demonstration of the OLS (online school system) - the heart of K12.

Answer 2

My family did K12 through a virtual public school a couple of years ago. We really liked the curriculum and hated to give it back. We still have, and use, a lot of the materials.

K12 is based roughly on E.D. Hirsch's "Core Knowledge" and is a fairly classical curricula. It makes heavy use of Greak Books and classic children's literature.  

None of the science materials we saw would be offensive to Christians, but we didn't see much biology material. There were some really good hands-on lab experiements and the on-line material was really good. One unit on weather convinved my 8 year old daughter that she wants to be a meteorologist. If you are a pure homeschooler, you can ignore the biology portions of the curricula if you choose. And you may be able to do so even if you are using an on-line academy depending on the academy's policies.

The math materials were decent, but I like Math-U-See better. The manipulatives with K12 are pretty weak. The text book is colorful, but otherwise has little to recommend it over any other.

Answer 3

I have used K12 in the past to do "public school at home" with a first grader via a virtual school.  I liked parts of their curriculum, but I thought the history was a bit too detailed for a first grader.  However, despite my liking the majority of the curriculum, it wasn't a good match for my son.  It wasn't that he couldn't understand it, he was simply bored with the repetition at the 1st grade level.  (I have since found out that he is cognitively gifted but did not know this at that time.)

K12 is not a Christian curriculum, but I would say that are definitely not anti-Christian.  At the upper grade level, I believe they do teach evolution.

Also, their full curriculum is expensive if you purchase it as an independent homeschooler.  If K12 is a good fit for your children, I would suggest using it via a virtual school.  That way, you can get it for free.  However, if you obtain K12 through a virtual school, you will not technically be homeschooling--but rather doing "public school at home."  Therefore, you will be subject to the rules, regulations, deadlines, etc. of the public school system.  The link for finding virtual schools in your state is below:

http://www.k12.com/getk12/index.html

The link to K12 curriculum for independent homeschoolers is below:

http://v7.k12.com/independence.html

I hope this is helpful.

Answer 4

Well I'm a freshman and I use K12, its a really good program. I've learned more in a month then I ever did at public school. I actaully thought that they did offer some religious courses based on your religion, but I might be wrong. Its a really good program all in all.