K12 Skool???

Question

People have u been homeskooled????

Have u done anything from K12.com???

Answer 1

My son is going on his 5th year of homeschooling.  We've never used K12, as it doesn't really fit his learning style, but I've heard it's a good curriculum.

Answer 2

"Oh Please" doesn't have all the facts straight about K12.

I've used K12 for over 5 years.  We've completed 5-8 years of various courses within the curriculum.  We've *always* used K12 as INDEPENDENT homeschoolers - never as part of a virtual *public* school.  I did work for two K12 virtual schools, however, so I know a lot about them.

*IF* you use K12 through a virtual public school, there are various requirements for hours per day, percentage completed in each course, testing, inability to change to a different curriculum, etc. - all problems with a PUBLIC school - NOT the *CURRICULUM*.  K12 is a curriculum and supplies curriculum to virtual schools (and sometimes management services).  If you use it as a *homeschool curriculum*, you have COMPLETE and total freedom over all lessons - you can do the "busywork" or not - you just need to master the lesson & unit objectives - or ignore them completely.

K12's depth and breadth are amazing.  There is no comparison in the HS'ing market to their art & history, IMO.  Language Arts & Science are hard to find equals also.  Music teaches the Kodaly & Solfege methods.  It's not for learning an instrument - it's for how to hear & understand music, and music history.

K12's K-5 math is getting an overhaul that will be available in Fall 2009, so they will no longer use another publisher's (Sadlier-Oxford) textbook.  Their middle school math is completely different than K-5.  So is high school.

BTW, it's "home sCHooled" not "sKooled" and "you" not "u".

EDITED FOR OH PLEASE:

You don't allow emails, so this is a shot in the dark.  There was no "issue" with Susan Wise Bauer and K12.  She helped develop History 1 & 2 before deciding she was too busy and needed to focus on finishing her *own* Story of the World series.  SOTW and K12 History from 1st-4th are very similar because of the scope & sequence they laid down.  K12 started with the upper courses and moved down when developing the S&S so that they could make sure every grade from Kdg had the appropriate building blocks for the "big ideas" of K12 and what children needed to know after graduation.  So it's a bit of SOTW, lots of Core Knowledge Foundation, and a ton of K12's own research into the methods kids learn the best and the things that trip them up the most.

Answer 3

I like k12, my son was behind using other curriculum and with k12 he is almost caught up in less than a year.

Answer 4

I have heard both good and bad things about K12.  We have used some of their products, but that is all.

It is supposed to be a very solid and thorough program.  Their  science and art are usually the two areas that most people seem to like the best.  Personally, I'm not fond of their math textbook.  I don't think it is as good as others that are out there.  

The program is pretty intensive and does take a long time to complete each day.  I have heard complaints of a lot of "busy work" throughout the program, and that it tries to be too much like "regular school."  

There are also complaints from homeschoolers who homeschool more than one child.  The children aren't learning the same things, so you miss so many family learning opportunities that other curriculum provide.  

Another issue for some is that most people use the curriculum through a charter school.  Technically, for a lot of people that is not homeschooling.  They would consider that child to still be in school since their education is still controlled by the public school system.  There are many articles out that that discuss the issues of homeschoolers being in charter schools.  Some homeschooling groups also will not accept members who are working through charters.  This is a very heated topic among some homeschoolers, so just be aware of that when making your decision.  

The program does not provide as much flexibility as most other programs, but then again it is a very educationally sound system.  It is also secular which is both a pro and con depending upon what you are looking for.

It isn't something that would be a good fit for my family at all, but it is something that works perfectly well for others.

ETA:  In response to the person below who chose to correct me, please reread what I said.  I said that MOST people, not ALL people use it through a charter school.  There were also issues originally when their were problems between Susan Wise Bauer who began to write the history portion, thus the similarities between the grade 1 history and Story of the World.  That left a lot of people with some ill will towards the program.  If you do a Google, there were a lot of articles written by some of the "heavy hitter" homeschoolers, who raised a lot of issues around the K12 program and who it was targeting and the possible consequences for the movement as a whole.  However, if it is a good fit for someone's family then they should use it!  Every curriculum is going to have people who love it and people who don't.  That is why when people ask these types of questions, all input she be taken for what it is, one person's opinion.

I have to say, I am a bit alarmed at reading the HS section here.  It seems that so many homeschoolers are ultra sensitive.  If anyone questions homeschooling, they receive tons of "thumbs down."  If anyone doesn't like a curriculum that someone else uses, they receive "thumbs down."  This is really ridiculous.  I have been a homeschooler going on 9 years now, and I have NEVER seen the negativity that I have from other HOMESCHOOLERS as I have seen here.  Homeschooling isn't for everyone.  There are good and bad homeschoolers just like their are good and bad schools.  Yes, I get that some people are just being trolls, that I get.  But, some people raise legitimate concerns or questions, and everyone gangs up against them.  

To those who are new to homeschooling, I almost feel sorry for you if this is the site where you first ask questions.

Just as an FYI, I'm the one who gave the "thumb's up" to the review a couple notes down. Although she differed from me, I thought her review was excellent from her experience.  To me, that is what this place should be about.  Offering our own perspective.

Answer 5

This will be our 16th year of homeschooling with four children (two of which have graduated). We used K12 with one of our four children from 4th to 7th grade. Though he is not using it currently. He is now going in to 9th grade and involved in our online course co-operative where home school parents are teaching classes online using Moodle course management software for the 24/7 access material and an online web conferencing software called Elluminate for live daily classes. We will be using K12 this coming year with our second grader though.

You didn't yet mention what grade you will be needing and our 4th to 7thgrade experience may not be directly applicable to the grade you will need. You also didn't mention if you were planning to use the K12 as an independent home schooler or if you planned on using a virtual,  but here are my thoughts on what we have used so far ...

Curriculum:

I loved the language arts program. It has been one of the best we have used do far. IEW being about the only other that gives it some competition. There is a good bit of content delivered via interactives in the OLS (online school). I found that this was very effective because you would have a an example passage and as the different components of literature were being taught they were highlighted in the example one after another. Very helpful and fun. The texts read were classics providing not only good reading material but also provided for the building of cultural knowledge.

Math. I wasn't very fond of the math text. It isn't produced by K12. The text publisher supplies to public schools. My son did enjoy the K12 created computer supplement material though. It was very interactive and did a great job of providing cummulative review, virtual manipulatives to explain concepts, and made it all feel very-game like. I think if they ditched the text and made it all themselves it would be better.

Science: At least at the levels we have used, science content is delivered fully online. It was quite interesting and the animations and simulations brought a lot of life to the topics. The labs at the lower levels were absolutely outstanding. The middle school level in the first edition run did have a series disappointing labs that just wouldn't seem to work and many parents complained. They went in and reworked the middle school levels paying particular attention to labs and the second edition run labs were greatly improved.

History and art: K12 integrates these two subjects together. I liked that because it really helped the art to be both studio and also appreciation oriented at the same time. The art had connections to time and place. The history was interestingly done. The lower grade levels history was delivered entirely onlline while the early middle school level had both online and text (History of Us). At upper middle school/high school the content was also both text and online. That text was K12 produced. My son enjoyed the history.

Music - K12s music does a great job in the early grades of training the voice, but it is abysmal if you are interested in learning an instrument. Instruments, at least at the level we used, were introduced only. None were focused on long enough to learn to play them more than a few notes. We did really enjoy the level that used Music Ace software. My kids spent hours on end playing it and learned a lot. We also enjoyed the composer CDs provided at that level.

The curriculum provides many activities to chose from within each lesson. I think what many parents fail to realize is that you don't have to do everything in every lesson, hence some feeling like it was too much to do. What I learned to do is focus on the objectives (provided), have my son do the content delivery activity, and then based on his understanding and need to practice to lock down concepts we selected the activities that would best meet that need. Sometimes we even completely substitued our own activities if we felt we had a better idea, a great piece of software that tied in, or if he fully understood it we would just have him immediately take the test and move on.

If you use K12 in a virtual, you will have the advantage of getting it free at state tax payer expense. You will have some paperwork to slog through and you will definitely be held accountable to get the work done. You will not get away with not getting the work done  ;0). To some, that accountability is a loss of freedom and indeed it can be if you truly need to go at a slower pace. To others, the accountability is a blessing because it counteracts the temptation to be a slacker. I found the accountability to fine. The pace and my son matched quite well and we even had plenty of time to go chase some rabbit trails without feeling pushed to a deadline. I am curious if it will be the same with my second grader. He is way ahead on math but behind on reading and writing. I am starting to hone in now on his learning style and he is making much progress, but I am interested to see how his pace and the accountability  to pace will mesh this year. It will be a good test of flex and use of common sense between family and virtual. I hope to report that even with a studnt that struggles, the virtual will be a good fit.

We used the state virtual in the past and will go with them again this year for our second grader. Experientially, on a day to day basis, there is very little difference between independent and virtual pre-high-school. The parent is still just as much the teaching parent as independent. This changes at the high school level. At that point, certified teachers take over the teaching. That is largely why we have not pursued the high school level with the virtual. I really enjoy being teacher. It is a blast. I love to learn right along with the kids and the learning be a whole family experience instead of feeling like I am not in the loop and getting the fun of learning too. LOL. That is why we swung to working with an online course co-op for high school. It still brings in the use of computers which we all love while at the same time we have a very interactive online community and family involvement feel.

Answer 6

While researching this curriculum, I ran across an article by Cathy Duffy that greatly concerned me about this curriculum:

http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/umbrell...

She reviewed it from a "Christian perspective" which might not pertain to the original questioner, but she also brought into light how K12 is marketed.  Part of what she said,

"K12, Inc. was formed with an initial $10 million investment. To recoup that investment, K12, Inc. seems to have pinned its financial hopes on tapping into government funding through charter schools and vouchers. (Goldsborough, Margaret W., “A New Enterprise Joins Growing Community of Online Schools,” New York Times on the Web, January 24, 2001 <>).http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/24/techno... It's much easier to sell families on K12 if the state pays all the cost and families pay nothing. So K12 has already begun to tap into the charter school funding stream with contracts in Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, and Alaska. Charter schools offering K12 curriculum typically offer additional teacher supervision and computer equipment. However, the cost to the state is about five times higher (around $5000) than the cost for a parent enrolling a child outside a charter school. Obviously, there’s much more money to be made by marketing through charter schools rather than directly to individual homeschooling families. ....

As mentioned previously, K12 is entirely supportive of the standards/testing movement. A Business Week article relates that Mr. Bennett “believes the Bush Administration's focus on annual testing and accountability can only benefit his online enterprise. ‘That's because, at the end of the day, people will say, “O.K., we're for standards, we're for outcomes,"’ Bennett predicts. ‘And then they will ask: “Now how do we get there?"’ Bennett, of course, hopes K12 will be part of the answer.” (Starr, Alexandra, “Bill Bennett: The Education of an E-School Skeptic,” Business Week, February 14, 2001.)

If you think the national standards and testing agenda a good idea, then you might want to enroll your children in K12. If not, you will do yourself and the private home education world a favor by avoiding K12 and similar programs offered through government funded schools."

Yes the program can be done individually, but at a very high price tag.  The vast majority of people use it through Charters.  I was considering using it through a charter, otherwise it was very expensive.  Anyway, after reading the Duffy review and similar response from my homeschooling group's leaders, I have decided to not pursue this one.

Answer 7

homeskooled?  You must be a product of the public school system.