Is anyone out there using a Cyber Charter School for 6th grade and up? They seem to be an exciting alternative, and will eventually challenge public schools, but some seem to be struggling at this point.
Any experience you can relate would be appreciated.
For those of you who don’t know about them, they are paid for fully by the state (via your school district), but that is strongly being challenged in court by many school districts.
Re: Cyber Charter Schools
Thanks for responding! I do have many questions but am working so can’t ask them all now.
You did say go at their own pace. Do they “go to school” from 8-3? Or can you work at your own schedule? I work and if I were to realistically consider this, school would have to be partially on weekends. I am considering fixing my schedule somehow to help this whole process.
And, may I ask if you are in Pennsylvania? That’s where we are, and there are a number of schools to pick from. The ones that started this year, however seem to be struggling and I would worry which one was right.
For the most part, everyone seems to be very pleased with Cyber Schools and it seems they will give the public schools a serious challenge.
Re: Cyber Charter Schools
Yes I am from PA. My children are in the Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. This is the original cyber school. The others are struggling because the school districts refuse to pay what they legally owe. This has hurt our school, but we had a head start since it is a year old. In some programs they have, children sit at a computer and “go” to class for a couple of hours at the same time every day. But most do not.
The current offerings of the WPACCS really look like souped up correspondence courses. The old “high-school by mail” concept. These institutions have only very recently added a grade 3 through 8 portion. In my view none of the programs really use the computer and internet to the full capability. The kids receive textbooks and study guides and most test are snail mailed. The kids can do their studies when they want. The cyber school really does not recommend both parents working full time and leaving the kids to study on their own. They have found that is a recipe for failure. You would have to really think through if this is what you want. Why are you looking into a cyber school?
Re: Cyber Charter Schools
I am sorry I didn’t respond sooner! In answer to your question about why I would want to Cyber School…school has been a struggle all my 11 year old’s life, and this year, 6th grade has been absolute hell, with a foggy future. My daughter hates school so much, that translates into hating learning and I can’t see pushing a snowball uphill for another 6 years. But I wouldn’t attempt to homeschool her until all my work ducks were in a row.
Re: Cyber Charter Schools
Cyber schools are good in that they provide a structured curriculum. But your child can spend as long as she needs to on each subject. It will still be hard for her, but at least there would not be the pressure of homework, test next week, looking bad in class, etc. The Missouri program in the WPACCS is pretty easy to complete. It consists of progress evaluations and some exams. What the child does is: read the text book and the study guide. Then take a progress evaluation over the internet, which is OPEN BOOK! My daughter, also ADD, just goes over the progress evaluation printed in the study guide and looks up the answers and circles them. I help her. Then she goes to the internet and takes the progress evaluation. She usually does pretty well. There may be two or three exams (midterms and final). The questions on the exams are mostly from the previous progress evaluations. A few questions are not, so going over the text will help. The exams are not open book, so the child needs to go over the previous progress evaluations. The exams are not cumulative, so the final only covers from the midterm on. The exams are not taken on the internet. YOu send for the exam and it comes. The child fills out a computer score card and it is mailed back.
All in all, the Missouri program that WPACCS utilizes if fairly low stress and easy to complete. Mind you, it is not a complete cake walk. If a child hates to read text books, etc, then she may have some difficulties, but they would be far fewer than in school.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
My two daughters are in their second year of cyber school. Last year they were fifth and seventh grades. This year they are sixth and eighth grades. I have previously homeschooled them. Cyber school is like homeschooling except that you don’t choose the curriculum or texts, they have what they offer and you pick from two or three choices. Cyber school is good if you don’t think you can homeschool on your own without some support. The kids can go at their own pace. If they need extra time during tests, since you are the test proctor (at least in our cyber school the parent proctors most test except state required acheivement testing) the child can have extra time. If you have any other questions feel free to ask me.