K12 International Academy - personal experiences

We used to home schol DS with another US online school from the time he was about 7 to 11 years old. Being used to a British curriiculum we found it too US orientated especially in history and social studies and got insufficient feedback and support from his assigned teachers. We switched to a UK school where he is now age 16 and doing well, they have live real time classroom and interaction with other students, it is also accreddited. I would say if you want the US curriculum K12 is probably the best.

Dear all, My daughter in grade 11 is in need of a break from conventional schools and we think homeschooling could be good for her. Anyone have similar kids in the same age group 15-16 whom she can interact with or if a parent can provide me a recent feedback would be appreciated. Please email me at [email protected] ASAP

I am doing k12 with both my girls, ages 5 and 9. I really like the program. It is an extremely structured curriculum. IMO, if you are home schooling for philosophical reasons related to your belief about how kids learn, don't bother with k12 because its pretty much like school at home. Its at the opposite end of the spectrum from unschooling. It is secular. K12 is annoying in that it takes a full school day - usually from 8-2pm to finish everything for both my girls. From what I understand, many homeschooling routines are a good 2 hours shorter than this. It is also much more expensive than other HS curriculum. You need to report attendance, send in work samples, and meet with a "home room" teacher 2 times per month if you choose a teacher supported curriculum that will result in an american HS diploma. If you choose direct to consumer it is cheaper and you don't interact with teachers. It is heavily test and assessment based. My child has 4 teachers: a home room teacher, a french teacher, an arabic teacher, and a social studies teacher. On the plus side, you don't have to worry that your kids aren't keeping up. I am convinced that my kids are learning more and faster than children in conventional schools (well, in Canada) due to the 1-1 attention I can give them. We can work at our own pace, though progress is monitored by k12. We can skip through concepts that are grasped easily and spend more time on ideas that aren't understood at first. We travel frequently, which was the impetus for us to home school in the first place, and k12 is mobile enough that we can complete some lessons while travelling and catch up on the rest of the work later. I love the material. Some of the things they learn are not topics that I thought my child capable of understanding... such as "writers and philosophers of the late middle ages". But they present the material in an age appropriate and interesting way. I find the classes much more interesting than the dry stuff we learned back in Canada in those grades, which was hours and hours on fur trappers and colonization and the war of 1812. Ugh. My 4 year old (now 5) went from barely singing the alphabet correctly to reading "The cat in the hat" in about 10ish weeks. I'm overall VERY impressed with the program and I intend to continue with it. While I adore their general curriculum, I do not recommend going with their Arabic program at this time. I find that the courses don't teach anything, are poorly designed, and they don't have good follow up. My 4 (at the time) year old was expected to complete the same work as my 9 year old and was in the same beginner arabic class. k12 fed me the excuse that they had to go by KHDA specs and couldn't really alter the course, but I don't believe this at all. I think more parents with kids in conventional schools would be having a fit it their non-reading child was expected to learn the entire arabic alphabet, plus the letter variations, plus vocabulary at the same rate as a literate child. When I expressed my disappointment with the arabic bit, I was told my youngest did not have to do all the questions... but then I was never told which questions she should complete. Poor follow up. If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask. millions of danielles @ gmail dot com. Thank you so much for your comprehensive response, I will definitely get in touch. I apologize for my late reply, actually my husband was a bit skeptical to the idea of homeschooling (favors the conventional system still) and so we opted admission for our children in a Private nursery. My experience has been very troubling and frustrating. I am writing down the details here. My son is a late talker, he turned 5 on 13th May. As per the Ministry regulations he must be in KG-2 by now. By "Must" I mean, none of the big schools will take him because of the language issue and the nurseries can't continue with him because the Ministry will pose a fine on them (because of the age restrictions). The nursery licenses are bound by the age standards set by the ministry. I talked to the manager to apply for an extension from KHDA as my son needs time, she replied if we do that they will impose a fine on us for not making you pay for a shadow teacher. I was very disappointed but accepted their statement. I applied for admission in Philadelphia private school which is American curriculum school. As all other schools they charged us for the initial assessment and told us that the total fee for assistance services "if" they take my son will be around 42-45000 AED which is insane in my opinion. Its been nearly 2 weeks now and we have not even received a call for the result of the assessment. I was so upset that I didn't even bother calling them myself because in either case I am not paying AED 45000 for sub standard education. I say this because a dear friend of mine opted the shadow teaching option and paid heavy sum of money for the same but after one year the school simply said that even with the shadow teaching we can't accommodate your son anymore. Sadly, no improvement came in her son's learning from the shadow teaching service, but who is to make KHDA understand this. Now after exhausting all options to satisfy my husband I was very upset, depressed honestly. After a week in this unfortunate condition, I have now decided to go back to my own stance and talked to my husband about K12. Now with no other option in hand he isn't saying no to it ;) which is good for me. Also we have done some research on the subject. We are expecting a call from the K12 academy enrollment officer on Monday insha Allah. Hopefully things should work out as I find their behavior very polite and accommodating. From my experience, the nursery and school system has a very harsh criteria for labeling a child inadequate and the teachers are not careful of saying these things openly in front of the children. Ministry standards are not God's standards but sadly they are followed quite religiously with little room for children who dare to differ a bit from conventional kids. As for the K12 academy they told me that the minimum age for Kindergarten is 5 so my son is neither over age nor inadequate. You can't imagine the relief and joy that I experienced upon hearing this. I was much hurt and upset from my earlier experiences with the nursery and school. My younger daughter who started talking 6 months back is now able to make short sentences and sing poems but the schools were not taking her either because of "unrefined" language as they call it. K12 however, told me she is under age for Kindergarten right now and should be admitted next year when she turns 5. I was satisfied when I heard this because it shows their understanding ways and how they are not just running a commercial-mindset organization to make money. I want to thank you all for your comprehensive responses. These are very helpful for me and will play an important part in making the homeschooling decision. Allah bless you all. Thank you very much edited by humairanaz on 23/05/2014 <em>edited by humairanaz on 23/05/2014</em>

Hi 49M&m did you think that they K-12 wouldn't work out for her or did you think sending her back was a better option if you don't mind me asking. We are considering the same now for our daughter. how is your daugher doing?

Appreciate the feedback on K12 - I have enrolled my daughter for her Senior year. I will keep you all posted on her progress. If there is anyone with High School experience with K12, I would really like to hear your experiences! 49M&Ms how is your daughter doing. I would be very interested in talking to you as i am in the same boat as you with my daughter. thanks

49M&Ms, how is it going for your DD at K12? Hope she is doing well x

K12 is recognised by the MOE.

It is hard work not an easy option, my son did it but being a boy had to keep on at him to do work which can build up very easy if you do not keep on top of it! Also found out after he had finish not recognised by MOE here unless things have changed

I am doing k12 with both my girls, ages 5 and 9. I really like the program. It is an extremely structured curriculum. IMO, if you are home schooling for philosophical reasons related to your belief about how kids learn, don't bother with k12 because its pretty much like school at home. Its at the opposite end of the spectrum from unschooling. It is secular. K12 is annoying in that it takes a full school day - usually from 8-2pm to finish everything for both my girls. From what I understand, many homeschooling routines are a good 2 hours shorter than this. It is also much more expensive than other HS curriculum. You need to report attendance, send in work samples, and meet with a "home room" teacher 2 times per month if you choose a teacher supported curriculum that will result in an american HS diploma. If you choose direct to consumer it is cheaper and you don't interact with teachers. It is heavily test and assessment based. My child has 4 teachers: a home room teacher, a french teacher, an arabic teacher, and a social studies teacher. On the plus side, you don't have to worry that your kids aren't keeping up. I am convinced that my kids are learning more and faster than children in conventional schools (well, in Canada) due to the 1-1 attention I can give them. We can work at our own pace, though progress is monitored by k12. We can skip through concepts that are grasped easily and spend more time on ideas that aren't understood at first. We travel frequently, which was the impetus for us to home school in the first place, and k12 is mobile enough that we can complete some lessons while travelling and catch up on the rest of the work later. I love the material. Some of the things they learn are not topics that I thought my child capable of understanding... such as "writers and philosophers of the late middle ages". But they present the material in an age appropriate and interesting way. I find the classes much more interesting than the dry stuff we learned back in Canada in those grades, which was hours and hours on fur trappers and colonization and the war of 1812. Ugh. My 4 year old (now 5) went from barely singing the alphabet correctly to reading "The cat in the hat" in about 10ish weeks. I'm overall VERY impressed with the program and I intend to continue with it. While I adore their general curriculum, I do not recommend going with their Arabic program at this time. I find that the courses don't teach anything, are poorly designed, and they don't have good follow up. My 4 (at the time) year old was expected to complete the same work as my 9 year old and was in the same beginner arabic class. k12 fed me the excuse that they had to go by KHDA specs and couldn't really alter the course, but I don't believe this at all. I think more parents with kids in conventional schools would be having a fit it their non-reading child was expected to learn the entire arabic alphabet, plus the letter variations, plus vocabulary at the same rate as a literate child. When I expressed my disappointment with the arabic bit, I was told my youngest did not have to do all the questions... but then I was never told which questions she should complete. Poor follow up. If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask. millions of danielles @ gmail dot com.

We are considering K12 International for my daughter next year, her Senior year of high school, for numerous reasons. I would really appreciate input from anyone with experience with this school, and other "online" schools with an American Curriculum. How is this diploma viewed/accepted by US colleges, issues your child(ren) had during the courses, etc. Thank you in advance for your feedback!! Hi 49- Our daughter just graduated with K12 International academy & did fantastic after having been with them for a year & a half, and never having known anything but public schools back in the States- in fact, she graduated a little earlier than she would have back home. The only downside for her, at that age, out here in Dubai was missing the social interaction- so please make sure your DD has plenty to do outside of her online schooling. Our daughter & her K12 high school diploma were accepted back in Florida, no problem! :)

We are also going the homeschool or "distant learning" route for ours. Looked at k12 and spoke with them. They sound great but we have used and will use again a Canadian school. Very good teacher support. Email your teacher during afternoon or morning school and wake up to an answer. Always great response time. You can also chat with other kids in the class and the teachers can see how long you spend on the Internet and if you're going on tumblr or Facebook.

Hi Humaira, I am also considering K12 for my child next year. From my understanding home schooling in general is not recognized in the UAE. However K12 is. you are given the curriculum and access to the online system. i think you can go through some sample classes for different grade levels to get a taste of what its like. If at the end of the school year you want to take your children out of K12 and transfer them to a traditional school, you will be given a transfer certificate. Which is recognized by the MOE. What grades are your kids in? What type of schooling are they in currently? Alternatively, you could just get the materials for a curriculum of your choosing and just do it yourself. i guess it depends on where you are going from here. I too want information on the same subject. All the blogs I find regarding UAE homeschooling tell us how wonderful it is and what curriculum we can follow. I dont want an online school for kids, I want to do their homeschooling myself. Already my kids are addicted to TV and I want screen exposure minimal. Instead I want them to go to parks and sports and learn there along with the academic subjects. Please tell me how homeschooling works in UAE? Is it necessary to register with K12 which is also expensive and ONLINE i.e. around 18000 AED a year I think? If I dont register with K12 and have full curriculum covered then how do my kids pass their tests and get promoted to next grades? If I take tests myself, do the transcripts hold credibility? Once my kids reach grade 10 or 12 and they want to go for SATs etc what exams can they give and which universities will take them? The exam part and University entrance part is my major concern otherwise I am all set for homeschooling them.

I too want information on the same subject. All the blogs I find regarding UAE homeschooling tell us how wonderful it is and what curriculum we can follow. I dont want an online school for kids, I want to do their homeschooling myself. Already my kids are addicted to TV and I want screen exposure minimal. Instead I want them to go to parks and sports and learn there along with the academic subjects. Please tell me how homeschooling works in UAE? Is it necessary to register with K12 which is also expensive and ONLINE i.e. around 18000 AED a year I think? If I dont register with K12 and have full curriculum covered then how do my kids pass their tests and get promoted to next grades? If I take tests myself, do the transcripts hold credibility? Once my kids reach grade 10 or 12 and they want to go for SATs etc what exams can they give and which universities will take them? The exam part and University entrance part is my major concern otherwise I am all set for homeschooling them.