Thumbnail of user nicoled169

Nicole D.

Contributor Level

Total Points
88

1 Review by Nicole

  • Connections Academy

9/20/18

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.

Nicole Has Earned 8 Votes

Nicole D.'s review of Connections Academy earned 8 Very Helpful votes

Nicole hasn’t received any thanks yous.

Nicole doesn’t have any fans yet.

Nicole is Following 1 User

Thumbnail of user brians532
Brian S.
1 Review
0 Votes

Empty.

Similar Reviewers on Sitejabber

Thumbnail of user ebonym210
3/19/24

I like the workload for my middle schooler, my freshman has a more extensive reading workload but...

Thumbnail of user sylvias526
3/19/24

They lock down lessons and mark your student absent for the 0's they give even if the student...