First off, let me say as with everything….there is always good and bad. I have yet to find anything in life that was all sunshine and roses 100% of the time.
We have used 2 different charter schools so far. One was a virtual charter academy and the other is a laboratory school. There is a big difference between the 2. And both have good and bad.
First though, I want to post some pics of the different grade levels and what we received from the schools. It will help anyone to see the actual books that you do receive. It is not all on the computer.
Kindergarten-Virtual Charter Academy included art and music
1st Grade-Virtual Charter Academy included art and music (receive 1/2 through kindergarten year b/c completed k in 4 months, but did not get to 80% of 1st grade which meant when k12 completely redid their language arts for 1st….that you guessed it….he had to start 1st at the beginning again
1st grade-VCA with new language arts…
Now for 2nd grade, I took pics of each subject so it is really easy to see what he got up close…
2nd grade Science-Lab School
2nd grade Math-Lab School
2nd Grade ELA-Lab School
2nd Grade History-Lab School
The Lab School does not provide art, music, or any electives.
4th grade-Virtual Charter Academy includes music and art
5th grade-Virtual Charter Academy includes music and art
6th grade-Virtual Charter Academy includes music and art
6th grade-Lab School
I will stop for a second and compare the 2. Our VCA automatically changed the 6th grade default history and science that k12 provides to the scope and sequence of our state. So my dd took World History A in 6th grade and Physical Science 8 in 6th grade. ds has taken American History and Earth Science not following our state’s scope and sequence. The down side of this is that in April he will test the state test and it will be on Physical Science and World History!
7th grade-Virtual Charter Academy
Do you notice something similar about 7th grade history and 6th grade history? Well, again the VCA automatically adjusted the history to fit our state’s scope and sequence. Now, right after receiving all of these materials…we actually got switched to the 5th grade k12 history b/c it was the American History that our state typically covers in 7th grade.
8th grade-Lab School
Ok, we received World History B which my dd loved as she loved World History A, but after about 2 1/2 months of World History B they realize that we are supposed to cover state history this year and instead of letting those who which continue with World History B….they remove it and we are instantly 3 months behind in state history. Normally the Lab School has 8th graders take the k12 standard Physical Science 8 which dd took in 6th grade. So she will be the only student at the Lab School who took Earth Science which is what the state tests on in April.
So as you can see, we receive a lot of material for the year. It is not all on the pc. The VCA automatically adjusts the courses to reflect our state’s preferred scope and sequence which happens to be tested on each spring by the state. The Lab School only changed out our state history.
The Lab School does not provide a pc for a family. The VCA provided us a pc and printer.
We also had art….
and music….which was nice in middle school using Music Ace 1 and 2.
Both VCA and Lab School provide science lab kits. These are great.
Ok, so that is what k12 looks like out of the box. Both of these charters are in the same state so you can see that even in the same state the k12 schools can be very different.
Next post, k12 in action…
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