K12: 3

I am not the type who gives up easily.  Sometimes that is a problem, but I think it is mostly a good attribute.  I won't know for another several months whether my perseverance was well placed or not, when it comes to my determination to make K12 work for us.  I had made a mental commitment to give it a real try; to use the program until Christmas Break.

Since we were on vacation until just before school began, I had only a few days to learn the "new" way.  K12 does its very best to explain things to us.  I watched all of the online videos, read introductions to books and tried to get an overall feel for this beast.  Yet, there were seven heavy boxes of curriculum and I only had a few days to learn it.  I had a bit of a feeling that I was going to be a train wreck.

The first day of school came.  The children were excited and willing to learn.  K12 is not just an online school, but they aren't all offline, either.  I thought I could assign blocks of time for each child on the computer, but it didn't work that way.  Each lesson presented itself with fifteen minutes online, then go offline and do this activity/worksheet for twenty minutes, then get back online to answer these questions.  Some lessons consisted of as long as one hour on the computer.  With three needing to use it, I began to think we would need at least one more computer.  And then there is the testing.

Having such a close relationship with my students, I knew whether they understood a concept.  I could tell if they were getting it or if we needed to work it out a few more times.  They have almost never taken a test.  I'm pretty sure that if they were given a bubble sheet to fill out and a number two pencil, they would have no idea what to do.  The oldest two had to take placement exams.  After twenty minutes at the computer, my daughter was groaning with, "How many more questions do I have to do?  This is taking forever!"  The boy didn't complain, but he was done with his test way too quickly.  On the math portion, he only used his scratch paper twice.

The first and fourth graders' work was not independent.  They needed me too much.  The first grader's work was entirely parent and child reliant.  The fourth grader, whom is quite bright and doesn't need me to read her science lesson to her, still had to have me enter my password before she could do one activity or another.  If I was ankle deep in a lesson with another child, I would have to break and go type in my password.  Silly. Not time efficient at all.  The sixth grader needed some one-on-one attention to get a jump start on a completely new math program.  Again, more time.  Now, in defense of K12, they are working with all different levels of home school experience.  I would say I am one of their more advanced learning coaches, having done this for seven years now.  But, having never done their program, I was trying to follow all of the rules.  School was lasting for about ten hours per day.  It was NOT working out for me.

One thing that did delight and surprise me was my children's academic level.  After several days of work and dabbling it each subject area, there wasn't one place where the pods were not at grade level or above.  Having always written my own curriculum, I was never sure of their placement.  Finding us mostly ahead of the curve was a huge relief.

One night, about seven school days in, exhausted and frustrated, I vented to my husband.  He listened patiently and then said, "You need to call Betsy."  Betsy is a dear and valued friend who had children about the same ages as ours and who introduced us to The Thomas Jefferson Education.  I knew she had dabbled in K12, though I didn't know how much, and I knew he was right.  She would be a great sounding board.