Connections Academy

Too many different platforms to do assignments they tell you live lesson is mandatory but you get an alarm for not going overall it's just ok

I have had a child in ca in Pennsylvania and another in ca in tn. The tn branch is a complete joke. Nobody takes responsibility or helps IF and that is a huge IF, they even bother responding to you. My child was confirmed for gifted since the end of last school year. Here I am contacting EVERY person in the webmail for an answer. The assistant principal NEVER responds and the teachers apparently do not have the 'authority' to fix the problem or fi d out what's wrong. Terrible lazy workers. Par the course for TN workers!

There is WAY too much email spam. Things are sent through email that really doesn't need to be. Important and needed information gets lost easily because there is just so much. It's hard enough for an adult to search through the emails, let alone a child trying to learn.

Otherwise, good alternative to in person.

I enrolled both of my youngest children into Ohio Connections Academy due to covid19. Overall it is a pretty good school... the teachers are present and active with my kids and the classes all all great with the exception of math. My daughters 7th grade math class uses Mathia for all assignments except for tests. The mathia program is absolutely useless! The teacher expects the students to complete two mathia workspaces a day and one workspace usually takes my daughter over an hour to complete. The wording they use on the program is confusing at best and doesn't teach the kids steps to complete the problems that they will find on the test thier teachers give at the end of the week. My daughter is about 20 assignments behind in math because of this mathia program and always struggles with the unit tests because nothing on the test is what she is seeing on mathia... she is not being taught how to do this math using mathia program so i am having to find alternative lessons for her so she will pass her unit tests. Because of Connections Academys use of mathia in their cirriculum, I do not recomend this school if your child struggles in any way with math because they will just end up more confused than they were when they started.

This system of schooling is not for everyone, if you child is committed to school a self-learner and just love learning and is not a social butterfly, this is great but if not you will need your traditional school my middle schooler loves it and never complains about how much work he has he is in sports and it does give him flexibility if you stay on track finish lessons, most LL have a schedule so my review fall under good for my child the software I give it 2 starts..

I don't think she will gradate this year because of 1 or 2 teachers

*Sigh* Where do I begin? This school is certainly great when it comes to the quality of the courses. The material is really well done. I am done with the school so this is my little final review after being in the school for like 7 years and now finished high school. If you have sleeping issues or have issues getting up early then this school is for you. But here are the main issues of the school. The workload is huge like pretty huge. I know someone who went to a good college and she saw the workload and was shocked. I mean we are young people, we like to get out and enjoy our lives you know? And not sit at home all day doing school work. When I was in public school it was much different. Second, the math courses are not a good fit for the online school. It is very lousy on how they teach it. It is very vague which you have to result in watching YouTube videos or research the type of math or possibly having a tutor... Teachers can be very rude at times. When I was in this school I have had these panic attacks or just get anxiety when it is time for CBA's. The teachers get a bit rude when you get a single question wrong but if you get others right you still get credit and pass. Now the worst part about this school is that you can be ACCUSED of cheating when you didn't First of all, literally 99% of the students in this school or online ones in general cheat anyway. And the teachers know it. They are just in it for the money. If a student is asking a question on a website that is on the test and gets the answer from that person on that website and gets away with it, then if you actually answer the question correctly and legitly, and the teachers find that internet question, they will give you a zero for the test. That is absolutely absurd so if one actually cheated then the other gets in trouble. But of course, there is nothing you can do about it. If you have a good argument it doesn't matter. Online school sounds great in the mind, but in the end is it truly better than public?

The curriculum is fine and meets public school standards by state. I think our real issue is just with public school. We have unenrolled after 2 weeks to try full on homeschooling for our 1st and 4th graders.
Here are the positives of the program:
Obviously, you can set your on schedule. This is a bonus for families who have children who are heavily involved in sports or the arts. Also, if your child has difficulty getting out the door in the morning, it's nice to have the option to do school at home. The teachers were very nice and helpful. My 4th grader really enjoyed the live lessons and interacting with the other kids. She loved the teacher. The live lessons for my 1st grader were not as engaging to her because too many kids were talking or typing in the chat box, but she still thought it was a cool concept. We did like the little characters used in the learning videos and they compliment the books and work books well. They were engaging and relevant, although sometimes very repetitive. For the most part, the interface was easy to use and follow.
Here are the negatives:
TOO much time spent on a computer. We are not heavy technology users, so our kids get excited each time they get to use a computer or play a game online. However, they were both DONE being on the computer for so many hours each day. For our 1st grader, it was about 3-5 hours a day (depending on the course load that day) of computer time. Granted, some of that time was reading a story or working in the workbook, but it was all related to the lesson on the computer so we had to keep going back. Many lessons have an assessment as the last "step" and of course all assessments were online. After the first week,
Our youngest would ask if she had to be on the computer again and then cry when we told her it was another school day. We understand there was a lot to review as it was the start of a new year, but much of the course work was quite repetitive. Like the same lessons or videos with one small difference day after day. She was so bored and frustrated by this. Our 4th grader was doing lessons 5-8 hours a day, depending on the day. There was just SO much work to do that it was not possible for her to complete it all. And she is an advanced student. Again, a lot of it was review but it was daunting to figure out what she actually needed to do for the lesson versus what was just repetitive for kids who might have been struggling. In her frustration, she would end up missing important information because she was trying to rush through it. Many times, her friends from the local elementary school would get home and she'd still be stuck on her computer finishing an assignment or assessment. It was nice to have flexibility but still, there was so much work it required being on point many hours a day.
One of our main desires in trying school at home was to take away some of the stress and anxiety our kids experienced at their local public school last year. If you're looking into online public school for this reason, understand it will help with flexibility as to WHEN you do your work. It will NOT help with workload anxiety and it will NOT help kids who learn best in a nontraditional school. Also, we were hoping that this would allow us to augment their lessons and delve further into subjects they're interested in or are naturally inclined towards. There was absolutely NO time for this. We were all just too overwhelmed with trying to finish the enormous amount of material in each lesson.
A lot of reviews talk about the kids needing help. Obviously, I knew this going in and understood that my husband and I would essentially be teaching our daughters. I was okay with this aspect and expected as much. It is definitely true that this is not for "hands off parents." They will need a lot of assistance.
Overall, I would say if you're content with the public school curriculum, workload and style of teaching, this will be a great program for you. I hold no ill feelings toward Connections Academy or our state's CA program (we are in Washington state). It is a great program for public school enthusiasts and definitely helps take off some of the pressure some kids experience in a public school setting. It was just not for us. We are taking the big leap into full on homeschool now with a better understanding of why public school (at home or at
A campus) just does not work for our kids or our family.

Connections Academy schools are not homeschool programs. They are all public schools that require state law attendance and the upper grades curriculum is college prep. It requires every bit as much work as a traditional school. The only difference is that work is being done at home. Teachers are all state certified, but in this setting they are facilitators. The parent is essentially the teacher and it is a full time job. Unless the student is highly motivated, and usually older, the parent can not be off at work all day hoping the child is actually doing school work. It requires a whole lot of time and energy on the parent's part. Parent and student must have a fair amount of computer and technical savvy. If not you will be frustrated, fall behind and be miserable. The same is true of your internet service. It must be high speed and reliable. If not the school will not work for you. The commercials on these schools are very misleading in the sense that there is nothing easy about these schools. Your interaction with teachers will be quite limited unless you happen to attend a field trip. Understand this is corporate run for profit education. The company is not promoting the schools out of the goodness of their hearts or out of a love of education. The schools generate huge profits and enrolling as many students as possible is the vehicle to do so. You'll have to decide if this offends your moral sensibilities or not. Bottom line is do your homework before you decide to join a Connections school. It can be a good experience or a very bad one depending on your child and family situation. Go in with eyes wide open.