Homeschooling with K12... Saving Money through Public Charter Schools

I've written about K12 before, but it's been awhile, so why not share again? I know there are a lot of people who would never consider enrolling their children in a public school's charter program, and I do understand the concerns and arguments. However... I do want to share that we did give K12 a try and can I just tell you I had absolutely no problems with the school district whatsoever? It was a positive experience all around for both myself and my children.

I never felt the school was overly intrusive, controlling, or nosy. In fact, the teachers aid I was assigned was patient, thoughtful, and kind. When we were just learning of my son's disability, she provided a lot of support... even when we decided we had to stop short mid-year and take a different path. If my son hadn't had any struggles with autism, we'd still be going the K12 route. If you're considering homeschooling a special needs child, even one on the spectrum like my little guy, don't rule it out just because we had to let it go for awhile. We were facing some struggles at home that really had nothing to do with how we were homeschooling as it did with the fact that we were homeschooling. My son needed structure and peer modeling and he wasn't cooperating with me. He has a very hard time doing anything for his mom and dad when asked and while this is probably a discipline problem (shoot! lol) we really don't know how to get the respect he shows his teachers at school. My shameful admission!

Getting back to K12... I loved the lessons, although they are secular, you can add a Bible study and count that as reading time. All in all the lessons are awesome, well thought out, tracked for you and the school along with your progress... it's really cool to log on each day and watch your progress grow. You can do multiple lessons a day, setting your own hours and days of the week for which you choose to work and your child is placed exactly where he or should be, based on assessment tests. So, they will never grow bored or go unchallenged. Typically speaking kids in K12 are working at a full grade level above their peers in a brick and mortar school!

As a student of a public school system, working from home, they will be required to take state assessment tests at the school along with other students, but your school district will usually prepare them for that test-taking experience.

I have heard that some districts are more controlling than others, but in the state of Kansas I can totally recommend schooling through K12 via a public school. We were enrolled with Lawrence Virtual School and it was a great experience. I've already promised my kids that when we resume our lessons at home, we will go back to K12.

One of the bonuses to K12... we were lent a laptop for school use and given all the teaching materials including books, workbooks, worksheets (I didn't have to print much of anything), manipulatives for math and science, a science kit, music kit, and an art kit. My daughter was given the coolest reading program.... with magnetic letters, a dry erase board, markers, flash cards and early readers. I have no clue what the monetary value of these supplies was, but can definitely tell you that the $100 we spent to enroll each of our children was our only expense, and well worth it!