We Chose Connections Academy!

Since virtual schooling is such a new option, especially in our state, I decided to start this blog to document our first year with Connections Academy.  Connections Academy is a virtual charter school.  It is considered public school and is state-funded.  So there is no cost to our family.  Much of the school work is completed online through lessons in the school's Learning Management System and LiveLesson Sessions with the teacher.  Our oldest son, Alexander, is attending this school for the first time this year in the 4th grade.

We actually had many reasons for taking our son out of his traditional brick and mortar school this year.  I must admit that in the beginning, my reasons were mostly selfish.  The last school year was especially difficult for me physically.  I have two toddlers only a year apart in age, and my husband has to travel a lot during the week.  On top of that, I have fibromyalgia, so it is especially hard for me to get going in the mornings.  When I had to get two toddlers dressed and out to the car in the snow while my whole body was aching, every day, to take my oldest son to school, I just wanted to die.  And it ruined me for the rest of the day.  My mother came to my rescue many times when I just couldn't get it together, but I couldn't ask her to do that forever at her age.  When I first saw the ad for Connections Academy, I saw it as a possible solution.  He could learn at home, for free, and I wouldn't have to put myself through so much agony every day.  The only hang-up I could think of was that my son wouldn't like the idea of learning at home away from his friends.

When I brought up the subject with Alex, his reaction surprised me.  He said, "I've been waiting for this my WHOLE life!"  I had had no idea that going to school was making him so miserable.  He then told me about how the kids at school were so mean to him, and the teachers couldn't really do much about it.  And he complained about how he was always just too tired in the morning to really understand much.  With the virtual school option, he'd have more flexibility on when he would actually do his work, so he could sleep a little later if necessary.

So what about socialization?  How will he get social experience?  These are always the first questions I get asked when I tell people about our decision.  My answer is that he will still have plenty of opportunities to socialize.  Besides school field trips and activities with other CA students, he will still participate in baseball, cub scouts, classes at the YMCA, church activities, and he will still play outside with his friends.  School is not necessarily a good place to build social skills.  You can't learn social skills from other kids that don't have social skills.  I frequently noticed that school was becoming less about what my son was learning and more about what other kids were saying about him, what other kids were wearing, and what other kids were DOING to him.  When you only have one adult supervising 25-30 kids, a lot of things get overlooked, and children get hurt.  They need to learn social skills from responsible adults and practice those skills in smaller groups of children with adult supervision and guidance.  And how many times do you remember hearing from your own teachers, "This is NOT social hour!"?  School is a place for gaining an education, not insulting your peers.

Since Alex was on board, we made the leap.  We were thrilled when his enrollment was approved!  After we confirmed that we intended to have him attend CA, the school sent his books and other supplies.  When the UPS man came, it was like Christmas!  It got us even more excited for the coming year, and it gave me a huge kick in the bum to get our office organized.

Today was our first day of school.  Stay tuned for the story of how it went!