The kids that go to these schools have minimum hours per week to meet, as well as a minimum percentage of work per week to complete. If they do not, they get a truancy notice. After too many truancy notices, I believe it is three, they are kicked out of the program and sent back to 'regular' school. Parents are sent weekly updates by the head teacher, as well as by each individual teacher. Not to mention many phone conferences, and email corespondence. This program is not for "lazy" parents or students. It requires a high level of dedication on both parts. Students in this program do not get a GED, they achieve a high school diploma.

Listen, I wasn't saying it was the school's fault they ditched, I'm saying I wasn't notified that they weren't there! Why didn't they call and Say where is your child today? It would be unexcused and I didn't even find out about it! They dropped the ball and because of it my child and some others were off partying without my knowledge! Public School? BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!

That's not the schools fault your kid did that. It's your child's fault. Don't blame the school for everything.

Well I just have to say that I have done it all, homeschooled, public and private. My last child is doing online school now. By far the biggest mistake I ever made was to put them in Public School!! My first 2 were homeschooled then put in private school to finish. They were straight A students and one even graduated valedictorian!! Then my last was in private then public school because he wanted to try it out. It was the worst thing I ever did! They got involved in drugs, alcohol, and skipping school!! I never got a call from the school telling me they weren't there, nor did I have a clue they were involved in it until it they fessed up and needed counseling!! We pulled them out and now they do online school. It is working out excellent!!! Until you've tried it, you shouldn't judge. My child is not lazy and they are in touch with other students all the time. They also have activities they can attend as a class and school. I think you should check out exactly how they work before you make an opinion!!

On line high school? No way. Yet another reason for kids not to get off their a@%^$ and go to school. What kind of lifestyle is it that would keep kids out of school enough to require online classes? Lazy parents? Spoiled kids who are used to getting their way? Online college classes are fine, because by the time you get to college you are an adult who has made it through high school, and can make decisions for yourself about budgeting time and resources. Most high school aged kids are not capable of making sound decisions that will affect them more than 5 or 10 minutes into the future. Online classes should be limited and not the majority. I support the cap, and would support further reduction of the number proposed.

Do people realize that home schooled children are up to four years on average ahead of their public school counterparts? That a parent knows their child better than any "teacher" could ever hope to know that child? How about that home schooled children are some of the first accepted to Ivy League schools because of their superiority on education among other things? Public schooling was created for the children who did not have anyone to teach them. The poor, the orphans etc. It was never intended to be, nor has it become the best education option out there. It very well may be the worst.

Well...you didn't read my post very clearly. No there are no rules on accountability for homeschooling just as there are NOT for public schools. The ONLY records I need to keep are attendance, because the law for ALL students in this state is compulsory attendance NOT compulsory education. Now of course I am teaching my children and they are very much ahead of their public school peers. No you don't get a GED. You get a diploma from your homeschool. GED's are for those who drop out of school. Many prestigious colleges are very actively recruiting homeschoolers and give them special preference. And before anyone jumps on the are they socialized bandwagon, we need to cut their socialization sometimes to have time for school and family time with all the homeschool group fieldtrips, co-op classes, playdates with other homeschoolers, church activities, 4-H activities, soccer practice, art classes, homeschool gym class, library programs.....
Obviously I do not know if the family you mention is schooling their child or not. There are people who abuse the system (whatever system) in every walk of life of course. But you do not need a high school diploma to homeschool. Elementary school is pretty common sense. After that, there are all kinds of tools parents can use to teach their children the materials they need to without being an expert in it themselves. The only reason for state testing is that is is tied to funding. If your school fails, it is at risk of losing federal funds. That is really the bottom line. Since that has nothing to do with homeschools, it does not affect us.

MaryFan: I don't really have an opinion on this, but you can probably answer my questions because you are one who "home schools" her children. Are there any requirements to prove accountability when one home schools? Are the children required to take state tests? Is the GED what is eventually earned as a diploma? How do you know that your children are studying what they will need for future education or careers? I know of a family that is "home schooling" a daughter but neither parent finished high school themselves ... how do we know this is not a case of neglect?

Everyone is so worried that someone not attending a traditional school will not receive a proper education. Do you realize that the only thing required by law is "compulsory attendance" not "compulsory education"! You only need to show up and they don't really need to try to teach you anything. That is the farce of our public school system. Only very recently have they started to tie test scores to funding, but that does not mean that all students in attendance get educated, just enough to have enough students pass the tests. This is why I choose to educate my children myself. If I did not feel confident enough to do it, I would probably turn to a virtual school for guidance as some do. I would never ever ever place my children in a public school!

andre_linoge your turn, Mikki got ya fire away.

A lot of the ones that I know aren't so much geeky as they are lazy, ones that do not want to go to school, cannot handle authority and want to sleep and what not..

I think people do this to take the easy way out, and should not be able to do this unless they become so much more ahead in school classes that this would be a good option for them.

I hope we can play them in football. We might be able to beat their geeky butts!!

Until there is better accountability and consistency with virtual/online schools, I think the limits should stay in place. We (citizens and government) need time to get a better understanding and to develop accountability criteria to ensure that students are getting quality education and to prevent erosion of public school funding. We all saw what happened to Milwaukee charter "schools" when funding was opened up. I don't want to see hard earned tax dollars benefiting the greedy. I know there are lots of great alternative schools, but there are lots of questionable ones, too. And before the same argument arises for the public school system, let me just say that at least there are standards in place and required reporting.

Well, if you're bragging about how smart you are, your degree and your GPA, you may want to get a refund. Your spelling and grammar mistakes are consistant. They aren't typos. "i", "tradishional" "concider" "benifit".

andre_linoge - was that there one o them double barreled potshots ? cool beans

lol i love it! just because i've made and will make spelling mistakes it makes my degree and GPA of 3.7 meaningless. You are too FUNNY! Please be a little more productive than that.

Tee hee. Andre, I was thinking the same thing :)

I never said i never have been in a tradishional college setting. The fact is i have been in two tradishional college settings. One of which i did recieve my degree from, the other i realized the epic failure of and then transfered to where i am now. I am a smart person who does know what she is talking about. In some cases you are right that you can't avoid being in a tradishional classroom setting. Like in health professions. However, colleges are starting to realize that they are saving money by offering some of their classes online in addition to their tradishional classes to their students who concider themselves tradishional students not virtual students. Also there is something called distance classrooms where a single instructor is teaching several classrooms of students at once from another location. In those classes if a student wants to ask a question they either have to email or fax the instructor and hopefully get an anwser the next class. That is something i don't see the benifit of.

Smiles: How can you know what goes on in a traditional college classroom if you've never been in one? In our twenty-first century economy where more and more jobs are in the service sector (including health), it makes no sense to have an entirely online degree. There is a lot to be gained from learning to interact face-to-face.

I go to college online and if i was given the option to school online while still in high school i would have done it! I think that people who think tradishional schools are better don't seem to understand virtual schools. As a college student i get to interact with people from all over the country with all differnt backgrounds and beliefs. If you were to sit in on a tradishional college class you would find that debates are ussally one sided and generally everyone agrees. Which imo is not very productive or well rounding which is the purpose of socialization. High school classes are often the same way.

Next thing you know people will be complaining this is the reason why more kids are getting fat!

Remember, that bullying & unsafe feelings in the hallways are actually beneficial--the teachers' unions like to call that "socialization".

i don't think they should put a cap on it though, 5,250 is a lot of students

depending on the lifestyle i think this works well for some families and some families it would not work, i think you need to be very self disciplined to be able to do something like this

Kids should have a choice of how they take their classes. Not all kids respond well to a public school environment and not all families can afford private schools.

I wish a virtual school existed when I was in school. I probably would have had better grades and not missed school to avoid bullying and boredom.

Kids should go to a school and interact with other students. Not sit at home and do classes online.