# FL Virtual School?



## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Does anyone have any experience with FL Virtual School? We are looking at this option for our DD for middle school. A little history: we have loved her elementary school, until this year when her principal retired. Now, no rules enforced, just going downhill. The only good thing is, she is in the immersion gifted class and has an angel for a teacher! We do not like the middle school we are zoned for (it is in the city, we are not, and there is a great middle school right here by us, but the zoning is stupid), so i called today to get a voucher to go to the good, close to the house school. They say they can't do it. I know people who lived in the city and got vouchers for suburb schools, so I was really surprised by this. DH has said all along he wanted her home schooled for middle school, but it would be me doing it, and it terrifies me! He has a genius IQ, I have a genius IQ and so does DD, so everyone else says we can do it. I worried very much about socialization, but the virtual school claims to have a lot of that and the same standard curriculum as regular school, plus will use her gifted IEP to help place her and work with her. It seems to address most of the things I worried about. So, my question is: what are your experiences, good and bad, with virtual school?
Thanks for reading through all of that! It got long before I knew it!


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## kendall j (Mar 30, 2007)

I don't have any direct dealings with Florida Virtual, but I know they have a good reputation among virtual high schools. I teach for North Carolina Virtual Public School and we used to share some materials with one another on a limited basis for course development. The materials in their courses will cover the curriculum to meet the requirements of the state. How you feel about that, I can't say, nor will I try to guess, but if you are fine with public school education, they should meet your needs well. I will say that in my experience as a virtual teacher, a student basically gets out of it what they put into it. Of course, the same can be said for face to face instruction. The student who puts good effort into the work will reap more than the student who just does enough to get by. Overall, I think virtual schools have a great opportunity to be innovative with curriculum and to address many different learning styles. Some do a better job than others. Florida Virtual seems to do a pretty good job with things. The main thing is that your child learns well in a virtual setting. Some students excel, others fail. Many of my students who are not good students in a face to face setting do well online. Some of the students who do well face to face, struggle online, but many of those do well online too. Most of the students that I have that fail are the ones who still will not work even after repeated attempts to contact them and their parents. Not surprisingly, they are often the same students who do nothing in their face to face schools and have been enrolled in a virtual school as a last resort.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Thank you for that response, kendall j! We are okay with the public education, but we do discuss with her the things we don't agree with so she sees 2 sides of things, and we supplement her education outside of the curriculum. Actually, she supplements it herself, as well! Last month she was working on a presentation on how tornadoes form, and I didn't remember that being assigned, so asked her when it was due, and she said "Oh, it's not, I just wanted to do it.", and had been working on it during free time at school. Our worry is,in addition to the school board being unhelpful and making us use a school in an area we are not comfortable with, is we have seen middle school girls in action, and know how rough they are, even at the good school. And the schools here are so worried about infringing on bullies rights that, they have no repercussions for the bad behavior. Over half of her class time for the last few years has been spent listening to a small group of boys get disrupt the class and have to get "talked to", which is a waste of everyone else's time. She has been with the same 13 kids for 3 years, and it never changes. And while she faces consequences here if an assignment is not done on time, the schools just give the late kids extra time or cancel the project altogether. So, I guess what we are not fine with is the life lessons, or lack thereof, that they are teaching. And there is almost no science taught, for some reason. When I questioned that last year, I was told that they concentrate the science teachers on the fifth graders, but now she's in 5th grade and I'm not seeing it.
Oops, I am babbling again! I'm just rolling so many things in my head around to make this decision and make sure I am doing the right thing for my little girl! Thanks again for the "insider's" response, I appreciate it!


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## murkerson (Jan 27, 2013)

Florida Virtual rocks! My DD attends Georgia Cyber Academy through the k12 progam and we love it. My little brother and sister both attend Florida Virtual though and they have excelled so much! And technically....it is public school...just online


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks, murkerson! We are about 90% sure this is what we are going to do, but I love hearing as many opinions as I can! I think if I enroll her in 4H so she is around other kids some, she will do well with the virtual school. In addition to the core courses, they do offer a lot of additional courses that interest her, so she should enjoy it.


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

We use Florida virtual for our youngest (13) and love it. We have never had a problem and the the teachers are great if you call with a question.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Thank you, Huntinfamily! You echoed what we heard yesterday about the quality of the teachers. DD went to school and told her gifted teacher that she was probably going to do the virtual school next year, I cringed when she told me as this woman has a Masters in education and I figured she would be very pro regular school. But she told her that was fantastic and that she had friends who were teachers for FL Virtual, and they were great teachers and loved the program. In talking to DD's gifted teacher from last year, I realized that even the teachers are concerned about the middle school environment, as she has a daughter in the 6th grade this year and is not very pleased, even though she got her into the school of her choice. I am so glad I started investigating this (I used to see the website plastered all over a van at the school of all places, but never checked into it), and so happy to hear that everyone has been having positive experiences!


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

> I cringed when she told me as this woman has a Masters in education and I figured she would be very pro regular school


You might be surprised to find how _many_ certified teachers are pro homeschooling.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Which makes me feel even better about the choice!


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

I dont mean this to be taken wrong...but maybe since she has a genius IQ and both her parents do to...maybe she could design her own home school program with a bit of direction from her parents. Surely she could do better than the public schools.


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## cindy-e (Feb 14, 2008)

shannsmom said:


> Thank you, Huntinfamily! You echoed what we heard yesterday about the quality of the teachers. DD went to school and told her gifted teacher that she was probably going to do the virtual school next year, I cringed when she told me as this woman has a Masters in education and I figured she would be very pro regular school. But she told her that was fantastic and that she had friends who were teachers for FL Virtual, and they were great teachers and loved the program. In talking to DD's gifted teacher from last year, I realized that even the teachers are concerned about the middle school environment, as she has a daughter in the 6th grade this year and is not very pleased, even though she got her into the school of her choice. I am so glad I started investigating this (I used to see the website plastered all over a van at the school of all places, but never checked into it), and so happy to hear that everyone has been having positive experiences!


Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 friends of mine who are public school teachers who homeschool their own kids.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Not taken wrong at all, sisterpine, that was DH's idea as well, and we do supplement her education now, just to make sure she is getting a more well rounded view of the world. I am planning to investigate some homeschooling materials as well.We're still tossing ideas around, but will probably do the virtual school with added things thrown in, to keep her mind growing like it has been. She is an amazing little person that is so interested in almost everything she sees! 

cindy-e, I am seeing now that homeschooling is popular with teachers, which has been surprising to me. It seems that teachers are concerned about the same issues (safety, etc) that the rest of us parents are, but they probably can't say anything while employed by the school district. I am also seeing that homeschooling of any variety is more widely done than I ever imagined!


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## wottahuzzee (Jul 7, 2006)

Another thumbs up for FL virtual schools. I had my grandson in a couple of classes once when he stayed with me.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks, wottahuzzee! The only negative comment I have heard so far was from a teenage boy we know...he said it was too hard when he had to use virtual school to make up 2 classes he failed in high school! That just encouraged us more lol!


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

Shannsmom;

We use the k12 program for Az virtual academy for our 4th grader. I was concerned that the marks she was getting in her public school report card were "gifts" and she was being led too much by her teachers-- plus she wants to be a farm animal veterinarian and we thought she'd get more practical experience in that department being at the homestead for kidding season etc. 

My instincts were right-- her first writing sample assignment was to write a book report; something she had done twice before in school, but in a self study situation she didn't have the foggiest CLUE how to do it. That first paper I had to spend 7 hours extracting each word from her like a CSI investigator armed with only tweezers. She got a 70% on that paper, but it was REAL and it was HER WORK. 

The amazing thing about the virtual program is that during your intake testing they pinpoint exactly where the child is (and retest twice or more if they test high or on the cusp just to make sure!) and the work "spirals" up or down to their level. 

DD went from not being able to do squat without having her hand held, to following the program to be almost completely self teaching and self motivated. In actual "help" with the work she requires from me maybe 15 minutes a day to help clarify directions, or to explain what the work is asking her to do. 
I spend about a half an hour a day filling in her attendance, checking the in school mail system, and reviewing her lesson plans for the week. 
The rest of our day, is taking advantage of teachable experience at my elbow-- food science, animal science, horticulture, genetics, documentaries, historical TV shows, current events-- this is all stuff she takes in on top of her "lesson plan" (and counts for her class hours in logged attendance!) that she wouldn't get messing around in a classroom. Her maturity level has also gone up quite a bit now that she doesn't have to "dumb down" her personality for her classmates to relate to her. She has a couple of friends she enjoys spending time with outside of school (wish we had a 4H group or home school play group locally to give her more social "kid" time, but I lived through the semi-isolation with no ill effects, and I was an only child!)

The school is great about providing extra (optional) materials to help augment the lessons-- the box of materials and books they provide is probably worth a couple hundred dollars in stand alone textbooks if you were to buy them for a build your own home school curriculum. 

If your child needs a computer, they provide that-- as well as art supplies, chemistry supplies, and any other items needed to complete the classes and electives. 

When I was homeschooled, my mother was a very busy woman and had a hard time piecing together a curriculum for me. Mostly I was "unschooled" and because of that neglected and fell behind in math certainly. 

Based on that experience I decided K12 was a good plan to make sure I hit all of the state required milestones (and exceed them.) It's also a safe choice to avoid the scrutiny that often falls to homeschooling families and home school discouraging legislation. 

In my opinion the bottom line is that the program will give back what you put into it. 
It would be easy for someone to "cheat" the system and skip through a school year if for example a lazy child is left pretty much unattended, or a parent wants them to just "get through it" and clicks through the whole learning plan themselves--- but you have everything in your favor to take it to a whole different level of self driven learning experience if the child is motivated and the parent is involved. 

For social reasons, I am signing up all of my children for the lottery to get into the competitive charter school 15 miles down the road because they have high standards that kids need these days to stand apart from our crappiest of the crap state public schools. My middle child works best in a classroom and will stay in public elementary until she gets in-- but for my oldest, K12 is her standby. She plans on a long college career and needs to learn these self reliant study skills. Middle girl is kind of a free spirit that blows in the wind. 


Even if the grades I get back now are Bs instead of the Classroom As... I know they are a true reflection of her performance. I didn't have that confidence when she was in a conventional classroom.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks, Dusky Beauty! That was a great, comprehensive response! My main worries were scrutiny of homeschooling, and also keeping up with the state in case she chooses to go back to regular school later. In class now, about 1/2 of her day is wasted while the teachers have to rein in the couple of problem children, and I know she could get so much more out of every day if she didn't have to put up with that!
She does have a tendency to read too much into instructions and questions, so I expect to have to go over that with her every day. And I enjoyed reading how your child gets so much from extra areas (animal science, etc), our DD is ferociously interested in history, science of all kinds and our business. We own our own business and she is always curious as to how we make decisions, how we find places to purchase from, etc, and tries to offer ideas, so now she can see more of that process as well. She has had 1 teacher that taught "life lessons", and that year seemed so much more useful than any other time. 
We have become so excited about her learning opportunities (and the thought of losing the foolishness and danger of the public schools), that we are really counting down till the end of this school year! One of her classmates just got pulled out to homeschool, and when we were in the school office the other day (to see a documentary DD's class made), there was another child being "disenrolled", but we want her to finish this year out with her friends, before the group gets scattered all over. 
Forgive this muddled response, I am so tired this morning! But my point is, I appreciate your response and everyone sharing their experiences, and we are so looking forward to the virtual school now! I think this will catch on more and more, it eliminates so many of the problems of regular school, yet helps eliminate the concerns people have about homeschooling.


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## Lunar Rain (Apr 7, 2013)

My son used FL virtual school for a couple high school classes. The communication with the instructors were outstanding. It was more than I have ever had with some of his in classroom teachers. His class even sent a chemistry set for him to do class projects with. I wish you luck.


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## shannsmom (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks Lunar Rain! I was curious about projects and things, as she has been doing about 1 a month in regular school now. We had an online info Q&A session the other night and we were able to get all of our questions answered by a very nice and helpful person....10 minutes into it, DD said "I am SO doing this!" So we have fully decided on it now, and are looking forward to it! 5 more weeks of regular school, it feels exciting and a little sad, as we have loved the elementary school she is fixing to leave, but have no interest in the middle schools. The librarians at her middle school have asked her to come back to volunteer there next year, so she will be doing that and still get to see some of her favorite teachers and staff.


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