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
My first grader with LD is enrolled in the Texas Virtual Charter School.
It is a new charter school that just started this year. Right now they are offering
curriculum for K-2. The curriculum comes from Bill Bennett’s corporation
which is called K12. The curriculum is excellent. Right now we are working
out all the computer kinks that come with this type of schooling. Your child
spends no time in front of the computer….but you do…getting and assessing
progress in different subject areas. If you are intested in this…check out the K12 website at www.k12.com and you can link to the Texas website as well.
have been using it as an alternative to homeschooling. It’s called distance learning where we are. There is one school district in the state that takes distance students. The students are enrolled in that school district, and can take advantage of special ed services, etc. through that district. (For students who are far away, they probably contract with a closer school district to provide the services.) The curriculum is individually tailored to each student, and communication is handled mostly via email. The curriculum specialist picks from a large number of “canned” programs to meet the student’s needs, and the school district tracks grades, etc. Credit is also given and tracked for outside activities — such as the Y, art classes, music lessons, etc. — that can be used for credit.
One family with an academically advanced child has loved this program. Another family I know who tried it out abandoned it pretty fast. I considered it for awhile, but can’t see any advantage in giving up the flexibility I have with homeschooling. My daughter learns best with one-on-one human contact. I don’t think she’d learn much with everything presented abstractly on a computer screen. She needs the human, emotional element somehow.
I think it’s worth investigating, but I don’t think it will ever take the place of either public schools or homeschooling. Like everything else, it works for some people, but not all (and probably not even most).
Mary