Typical homeschooling day.
My son attends a virtual charter school. I have had many people ask me what his day is like. This is the best way I can describe it:
math – computer for skills update (kind of a quick review of what they’ve been learning. Some families just skip this, it isn’t required but my kids like to do it). Check computer for lesson. They then go to their math textbook to do their lesson. They also have printed worksheets and assessments (quizzes) that go along with their lessons. Quite a few people don’t like the current math program – K12 is aware of that and next year students up to 5th grade will be getting a new program. I believe it is more online learning as opposed to textbook learning.
language arts – they check the computer to see what their lessons are for the day. It will send them to various text books and work books to see what they need to do. Starting in 3rd grade they get to choose 4 novels to read each year. K12 chooses the rest of the literature that they read.
history – up until 5th grade the majority of history is done online. K12 is well-known for their great, engaging history lessons. your child will sit at the computer and flip through screens to be taught. There are also other books to go along with some of the lessons. again, There are workbooks with pages for them to do. They also encourage you to keep a history journal and make an entry for each day of what you’ve learned. 5th and 6th grade history is the series History of US by Joy Hakim. They do some learning online, but mostly from the books. There are also reviews online at the end of each unit.
science – very similar to history. Lots of the lesson are done online. Expect a science experiment with probably 70% of the lessons. Most kids really enjoy science and the experiments. They send most (but not all) of the materials you need for the experiments, so it’s basically just taking the time to do them.
art – ties in to the same time period they are studying in history. Also similar to history in that a lot of the learning is done online. they do send prints for the kids to look at, books that have art in them, and art supplies for the kids to use.
music – I’m online as the teacher to teach the lesson. however, my kids haven’t been online for music. I just sit at my desk and instruct them. They are up moving around and interacting during music.
K12 is based on the core knowledge series. They have your children reading lots of classic literature. They also do require writing – lots of parents really don’t like the composition program either. In fact, most parents complain that the entire program is too much writing. However, you don’t have to do it all. If your child prefers to answer orally, then you can do that.
How much time your child is online really depends on their age and grade level, but they definitely do not spend their entire day sitting in front of the computer. Quite a few subjects can be taken with you if you are on the go.