Nevada Virtual Academy

Edit to the original post:  I talked to some moms who homeschool using NVA, and they say that they are quite flexible, and they just have to have clear guidelines because "some parents will take a mile."  So, it's under consideration again.

Our state offers a scholarship that is only awarded to students who graduate from an accredited  public or private high school in our state.  Additionally they must attend accredited state high schools for two years.  There are additional requirements for credits earned and grade point average.

Every bit helps, so I decided to look into one of the online charter schools to find out how a state funded charter school for homeschooling might work for us.  The school I contacted is Nevada Virtual Academy.

Here are is a description of the program for middle school children:

All materials, curricula and tuition are provided and paid for by our state.  Middle school aged children may be issued a computer for home use if they need one, but it must be returned at the end of the year.  The total amount of time spent doing schoolwork is about 25 to 30 hours per school week.  About thirty percent of the work is performed online, connected to the school.  Out of that time spent online, three one-hour sessions are scheduled with a teacher.  These live sessions are called Class Connect.  The other 70% of time is spent working with workbooks, manipulatives and textbooks which are sent in the mail.

Students may access their schoolwork online 7 days per week, 24 hours per day, so there is some flexibility for scheduling online work.  They are required to at least log in each school day.  However, attendance at the three weekly scheduled live Class Connect sessions is required.  Occasionally if a child must miss a Class Connect session, they can arrange to view a recorded session, however live participation is preferred. 

In order to get the scholarship, graduation and attendance at an accredited Nevada school is most important for high school, so I asked about that.  It's the same except they require 5 live scheduled Class Connect sessions each week instead of three, and they issue laptops to the kids instead of computers, so they can log in anywhere that there is an internet connection.

It sounds like a great program.  The only disadvantages I can think of are:

1. Students are required to participate on the same schedule as 9-month students in other schools.  Apparently this is a legal issue.  This may not be an problem for some people, but for us one of the refreshing things about homeschooling is that we can decide when we want to take a vacation or some spontaneous down time, and we can also work through traditional school holidays if we prefer.  For example, typically during month of November the kids are out on holiday for Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, day after Thanksgiving and extra days they add for staff development.  It starts to feel like they are out of school more than in, and for what?  I prefer it when I can schedule my own staff development days, when I want to take them!

2.  We don't get to choose the curriculum.  If it bores him, if we prefer something else, it's too bad.  Choice is a wonderful thing, especially in the world of homeschool curriculum.

3.  Right now we love having total weekly scheduling freedom.  The three weekly scheduled live sessions would be tough to fit in, especially considering how busy I am with his brother.

When he is older and working more independently, this program might work for him.