Overall, I feel this school does a decent job of s...

Overall, I feel this school does a decent job of supplementing the public and private education system. Make sure it fits the educational needs of the student, as it's not for everyone.

To start off, the support staff generally do a good job of answering questions accurately and resolving issues. For example. Public school counselor told my child he was not able to take Algebra II in 8th grade until after completing geometry. FLVS told my child he was eligible, but could not open the course to him until his school counselor approved it. Florida Department of Education course guidelines confirmed FLVS was correct. No one at his school would take the time to read FLDOE guidelines. I had to plead my case to the school district superintendent's office, providing copy of state guidelines, to get the school to follow state department of education course guidelines and authorize the course. The public education system puts children into a track, and will not deviate from it to provide access to accelerated options, they seem to only deviate if a child is failing.

Overall, the courses have been considerably easier than those offer at school. Less homework. Opportunity to achieve higher test scores and higher course grades. In classes which have no relevance to real life, and only fulfill the need to meet state guidelines and keep teachers employed, FLVS is an excellent choice to get those classes easily out of the way. You will not get much one on one time with instructors, so the student really needs ability to pace themselves and figure out material themselves. My son has taken several courses through FLVS, and will take more in the future, as it suits his learning style. Even though my daughter is in same accelerated course track as my son with same 4.0 GPA, she has taken no FLVS courses, because she is not able to learn and process info same as him. Success or failure with FLVS depends on parent successfully determining if it fits their particular child.

The teachers have all been nice, but their availability and ability to explain or expand upon course material is limited. We've found some teachers will not provide time of day once you complete their review. We had incident where teacher needed to submit material to the state and did not do so. We contacted teacher after completing her review, she basically said "Too bad, take care of it yourself." Fortunately, FLVS support was very attentive to getting the issue resolved.

Overall, FLVS is a good supplement to public or private education in certain areas to fill specific needs. The courses at FLVS meet state guidelines requirements for progression and graduation. I would not recommend it to replace important courses offered at traditional schools, unless your goal is to get requirements for graduation out the way which cannot be achieved elsewhere, and where quality of education is a secondary factor.

FLVS fills need if used wisely.