Don't Give Up So Quickly On K12

by Cynthia
(Dallas, Texas)

Visitor K12 Review: Trust me, I know the frustration of starting this program and keeping up with the work. Last year was tough! Many tears were shed trying to figure everything out.

Even when we thought about giving up, we kept trying different approaches to managing our time, and everything worked out fine in the end. Our son is in 8th grade, and switched to K12 from public schools in 7th, to get away from social pressures, bad teachers, and a corrupt administration. We live in a beautiful section of Dallas, Texas, where our school district is rated Exemplary. Lies! my son would say. The incredible bullying from parents, mostly, then students, then administration, is truly unbelievable.

There is literally no support from the school district regarding any issue you may have-regardless of what it is. Top-rated teachers have attitude problems and play favorites to the phony-balony, "fake" kids, because it's all a popularity game. Don't even get me started on the PTA parents who want you to suck up to them for approval!

We come from a long line of very successful, well-educated family members, and we're very impressed with the K12 curriculum. Sure, it's challenging. But ask a kid in our neighborhood about school, and they'll tell you that on top of their 8 hour day, they come home to a minimum of 2-4 hours of homework every night. They experience frustrations more often than we do!

Last year, there was a meeting at the middle school by the parents who were protesting the huge amounts of homework the kids were bringing home every night. Apparently, not much work was getting done during school hours and the students were working on average, 4-5 hours at night!

Once you learn the system of K12, it works like a well-oiled machine. We choose to take subjects in blocks. The daily and weekly schedule has courses lined up in a certain order; but our son works better in subject clusters. He'll read several chapters in his History book then knock out 3-4 lessons; then 3-4 Math lessons, and so on.

His time is focused and the work gets done faster. His retention of the subjects is better as well. As much as I, the mom, wanted to be the "organic homeschool mom", my husband, the scientist, stressed the importance of an accredited program with indisputable grades that would transfer anywhere.

No system is perfect. Hard work ALWAYS pays off! Never ever give up:)