4 years ago
My family started with VLACS part-time in 6th grad...
My family started with VLACS part-time in 6th grade, and transitioned to full-time in 8th grade. Prior to this, we homeschooled. VLACS has been an excellent fit for our family. Students are able to work through the material at their own pace, so slowing down or working at an accelerated pace is possible, as long as you communicate your intentions with your teachers and submit work on a regular basis. VLACS is designed to facilitate independent learning, and won't be a good fit for students who are unable to work on their own. Contact with teachers is minimal at the middle and high school levels -- you don't have a live teacher teaching the classes. Instead, teachers are there more to guide their students through the work, and help them if they get stuck. Students meet with them once every unit or so for discussion-based assessments, though they have office hours and you can meet with them more frequently. My children met with their math and foreign language teachers often for extra help. For us, VLACS offers much of the same freedom we had with homeschooling with the benefit of oversight and free curriculum. We are able to schedule the work around our lives, but we don't have to worry about missing some graduation requirement. They offer a much larger variety of elective classes than most high schools are able to offer, so students have real opportunities to explore different career fields and interests. How many high schools offer Forensic Science, or Cybersecurity? They award credit for internships, and allow students to build their own courses. My kids weren't interested in their P.E. offerings, and were able to work with a teacher to build their own P.E. course around martial arts. One of the greatest benefits of VLACS at the high school level is the ability for students to earn dual credits. They partnered with the NH community college system's eStart program, which allows high school students to take online college courses for $150 each, and earn both high school and college credit for doing so. My children, now high school juniors, have taken several of these classes, and will likely have their first year of college completed before they graduate high school. VLACS prepared them well for college-level work. In fact, they are taking some classes at our local community college in addition to the eStart classes, and have found themselves better prepared than many of their fellow classmates who attended traditional schools. They are used to working independently without a lot of hand-holding, which is required at the college level. While it's not for everyone, VLACS has been perfect for our family. Our kids are confident, independent learners, and have already proven themselves capable of college-level work.