Utah Virtual Academy - to Homeschool, Public School or Some Variation Thereof

Hi everyone,

I have had my children in public school for several years and prior to that, I homeschooled my oldest four children through preschool through the 3rd grade, and some of the older grades depending upon the needs of my children.

This year, my son Tristan and I decided to try the K12 program, which is available through the Utah Virtual Academy. It is offered through the public school system, so you get public school credit. You also get all of your books and materials provided to you, and some students qualify for a computer, printer and other items if they need one (on loan from the school system for the school year).

My son has struggled in public school, and found homeschooling boring and lonely, but he is LOVING the UTVA online program. There are social gatherings, clubs and field trips for kids to become socially involved with other UTVA students and their families. Because I work, it is challenging for me to participate in many social interactions during the daytime hours, but I have scheduled in the field trips and look forward to the school year.

The biggest change I have experienced with my son is he is taking responsibility for his school work. I don't have to chase him down. I do have to supervise and keep him focused on work, because the distractions of home (and of the gaming opportunities on the computer and internet) are so appealing, but he is doing very well. He likes that a lot of his school work is ON the computer, which is where he wants to be. He doesn't want to be sitting at a desk working out of work books. Also, we are going to start morning walks and hopefully move them into jogs as part of his physical fitness. I love having a buddy to walk with.

When we homeschooled, the financial obligation was high. We always looked for inexpensive ways to obtain materials, through the library, through creative exploration such as nature journals, etc, but the UTVA program is FREE. I was wary at first because I was concerned that the books would be awful, but so far I really like what I see.

We are only finishing our second week. It's been a little overwhelming adjusting, but frankly, it is a lot easier than what I have done in the past. The UTVA program sets up your schedule for you, breaks up the lessons and materials for each lesson and charts your course. I was really resistant to that part of the program. I like my autonomy and setting up my own schedule, etc., but I must say that this has become the most appealing aspect of the program. You can do your lessons any time of the day you want, and if you skip a lesson, it moves back to the next day that particular class is scheduled (such as science is only scheduled for two days each week). You can make it up anytime you want, though it is not recommended to allow too many lessons to fall behind.

My son says that he loves the UTVA, and it is 100 x's better than homeschool BECAUSE of the structure. We had structure before, but he particularly likes the structure provided to him by having his schedule on the computer, where he is accountable to me and a third party (his teacher). He signs on to his own account (I have a separate account), and reviews his daily schedule, and every time he completes a lesson, it is marked complete. He has regular assessments, all on the computer, and an occasional hand-written assignment he needs to submit by scanning and faxing to his teacher, and those assignments will be saved in a portfolio for the end of the year. I mark his attendance at the completion of his lessons.

He has a really cool Spanish language program, too, which is entirely online and somewhat interactive, plus he does "Study Island", which is a series of tests that are intended to be math review quizzes for regular practice and speed.

I highly recommend UTVA. I will send another review of the program later in the school year. So far, Tristan and I both give two thumbs up and I really wish I'd done this program with my older boys who struggled all through their middle school and high school years, and for whom we paid a lot of $ to put into a correspondence course for high school curriculum and a diploma.

I just wanted to share my experience with the other parents, and would love to hear from others about these same things, positive or negative.