Well, we have officially enrolled both Solomon and Malachi in Connections Academy. Several families in my home school co-op have tried this online charter school, with varying degrees of satisfaction. Complaints have been:
* Public school system being "all up your business".
* Rigid scheduling.
* The idea that your child has a teacher other than the parent. Said teacher calls the student regularly by phone, grades all his work and issues a report card. Parent is only the "learning coach".
* "Learning Coach" must teach the provided curriculum. God-centered curriculum obviously is not offered. Science textbooks will not give credit where credit's due with regards to the wonderful universe Father God created. I'm assuming intelligent design will not even be broached.
* No skipping assignments/sections at which the child is already proficient.
Why we decided to give it a go?
* Free! It's an extension of the public school system and thus tuition free.
* Lesson plans are all scheduled for you in a year-long virtual syllabus. If your kid is sick, or you want to school 6 days per week and finish the school year early, you just enter it in and the whole year's schedule will compensate. Every day's lessons are laid out for you on the schedule your child signs onto every morning.
* It's accredited.
* It's free!
* Lessons are sent with everything you need. If your Kindergarten studies for the day cover ladybugs, your kit for the day may include: A cute ladybug book, writing paper for writing a sentence about ladybugs, 6 pipe cleaners, 6 fleece dots, red construction paper, a tube of red glitter glue and a pair of googly eyes for making a ladybug craft. Also, the kid logs onto his schedule for the day and there's a link that downloads a short video lesson on ladybugs produced by the Discovery Chanel or Encarta.
* The electives are awesome. Solomon can take Spanish, Chess, Art, Sign Language, French and there's some others, as well. Chess includes real-time games with other Connections students across the U.S. who are matched up by skill level.
* Connections keeps you apprised of the field trips being scheduled by local public schools. If you're interested in going, you can meet the group at the location and participate.
* It's Free!
We'll keep you posted on how we like it... I guess we start at the end of the month.
No comments:
Post a Comment