I would give the experience a 8 out of 10
The curriculum is outstanding, the amount of work there is reassuring, you will never run out of things to do or be bored. it is a College Prep in a box.
We enrolled well before the first day of school, if the introduction could have occurred before that, it would have been better. Also a LOT of stress would have been relieved if the demonstration would have clearly stated that someone, teacher, computer program, would have done the planning for me, so that I was not overwhelmed with one 1 inch and two 4 inch thick match books and no idea how we were going to get through them, just a little sticker that said: your 'teacher' will create a lesson plan, I would have had a less stress approach. a stick on the box of books, a 8x11 sheet in the box, somewhere that tells me as new parent, I AM going to have HELP would have been well received.
Where I am feeling the most displeased is the pace is very difficult, we are exhausted on a daily basis trying to keep up with just the bare bare minimum of each assessment, we very very rarely have time to try anything outside of the assessments. It takes 6 hours a day just to work through the assessments. We had to completely omit activities and just teach to the test, which was one of the main reason we left public school in order to struggle to keep up. when there is 3% a week goal and a intelligent but struggling student, we are not able to master every objective and enjoy learning at the same time. We are completing the objectives, be we sure are not having any fun doing it.
The staff are supportive, however, any time I express that I am overwhelmed, that my child is struggling, that this is much harder than I expected, the response is always one of care, concern and 'let me know if I can help', but that is it. no suggestions, no ideas, tricks, nothing. a referral to the message board with all the other parents muddling through this process. I went I read, I didn't feel encouraged.
Months ago, I expressed that my child was reading delayed, and asked for a process to start for testing, here it is the middle of November and there has been no follow up on that. I provided the documentation from the school of his reading delays and test results, he completed the three day reading evaluation in study island and it confirmed the delay, but still nothing has been done, no additional services, no additional recommendations, no change in his curriculum. I feel like I am all alone without any resources other than what I can come up with all by myself alone. I could have done that with a library card instead of the stress of attendance and assessments of K12.
I have had all my illusions of making learning fun and exciting completely destroyed. All I can say is that we struggle through each day, hoping to get through one more lesson. I used to feel that I was an intelligent person, I went to college and got three degrees, including a Bachelor of Science and yet, it is so utterly painful to get through the assessments. I am disillusioned that just to get from point A to point B, I am strictly teaching to the test and there is no time or energy for exploration and development. I am forcing my child to push and he ends up crying and in tears 4 out of 5 days a week. He is miserable and I feel like a failure for putting him through this. No matter how little he was learning at school, he was coming home in a pleasant mood and he didn't pretend to be exhausted and asleep to keep from having to do one more lesson.
After crying and cajoling, fighting and fussing, the grades / assessments are as follows:
Friday Goal: 34% - A<- completely unachievable.
our goal:
A (95) - 31% Core Lessons Complete
B (85) - 29-30% Core Lessons Complete
C (75) - 27-28% Core Lessons Complete
D (65) - 25-26% Core Lessons Complete
F (60) - Less than 24% Core Lessons Complete
Today achievement:
Math: 27% - C
Spelling: 31% - A
Literature: 26% - D
Language Skills: 27% - C
Social Studies: 29% - B
Texas Science: 34% - A
Art: 22% - F
Music: 21% - F
P.E.: 31% - A
Health: 25% - D
