My child has been diagnosed with Dyslexia and Receptive/Expressive Language disorder, through many privately funded assessments from various experts over the last three years. BUT our local special needs coordinator for the city’s public schools says that he is not “bad enough” (his scores are now low enough in specified areas) to receive any services – he qualifies only for accommodations (like having his tests given to him orally, as needed). Therefore, we have elected to have him in the local private school where there is a much smaller teacher/student ratio and he can get those same accomodations. Now, as he is getting into the upper grades (6th grade thie year), he is struggling more and more. What he needs is OG (Orton-Gillingham) training, help from an occupational therapist, or something. There is just this basic disconnect there that all the tutoring and accomodations in the world can’t really address. I can’t afford both private school and the private therapy/ OG training (our insurance won’t cover it); and yet public school says he’s not “bad enough” to be elligible for those services. So… I am considering having him attend GVA and using the money we’d normally pay for private school to fund a special needs teacher with experience with his disabilities to work with him a couple of hours a day on GVA assignments – and use the saved money and time to get him the additional private services he needs.
So for Doty and JulieB – and others – what do you think about this idea, please? What special needs services or accomodations might GVA offer? (I’ve asked them but have basically been told we have to enroll first to see what services he’s be elligible for, though I am just wanting some general info here)
Thank you!

Virtual schooling has also been a great option for our state. Florida has a very serious problem with over crowding in the classrooms. Our county found it to be a far cheaper option to use the virtual school versus building enough schools to ease the problem. We currently have schools designed for 700-800 students with current enrollment of 1200-1300 students. The children are being made to eat outside directly in the hot Florida sun uncovered because there is no room in the cafeteria.

As for this mom in the story I think the problem is she did not take the time to educate herself on this choice. Her expectations from a virtual school is a little bit unrealistic. If the Georgia version is like the Florida version the virtual school makes it crystal clear that you are the learning coach & the teacher is there more like an assistant to the learning coach. It was very clear that it was home schooling & very clear what is expected. I find it hard to believe that she did as much research as she claims she did & still didn’t know what the program entails. No matter what school your child goes to it is going to require some participation from the parent. If you are not willing to participate in your child’s school or would like to participate as little as possible then stop complaining.

I cannot imagine how any parent can start this program and not know it is a home study program, and dependent on parent involvement. I knew before I even applied for the lottery that I would be schooling my children with the help of a certified teacher. I knew I would be doing most of the daily teaching, with weekly eSessions online. I knew that there would be tons of opportunities for field trips and outings. I am at a complete loss as to how this mom wasn’t aware of the specifics of the program. GVA has always been up front.

Both of my children are in the Advanced Learners Program and will be starting Spanish lessons soon through GVA. My 2nd grader has already completed the first semester of math. My kids are flourishing with this program.

This program certainly isn’t for those who think they can sit their kid in front of a computer screen all day. If that is what you are looking for, you will be disappointed. This program is for parents who want to be involved in their child’s education.

I’m not sure how Cobb Mother could mis-interpret what GVA was. I asked all kinds of questions before we signed on. Yes, I had hoped that a teacher would actually show up at my door (or our computer) for the majority of the day, but how realistic is that on the very little money that is allocated here in GA to educate our children? If a local school district, that is drawing local property taxes in addition to state dollars, can’t give individual children individual teacher attention (in fact the AJC just reported this week that most are taking the state’s allowance to make their class sizes even larger), then how could GVA on only a fraction of what local schools receive, give our children individual access to a full-time teacher? It was never a question in my mind that I would be doing quite a bit of the heavy lifting in my daughter’s education.

We have sacrificed greatly for my daughter to be in GVA. We’ve become a single income family, are scraping by trying to pay college tuition on one while allowing me to stay home with this daughter. Being my daughter’s full-time learning coach is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had (never mind that I don’t get paid). But the honest truth is that given the conditions of our B&M schools and what they couldn’t/wouldn’t do for my daughter, it is truly the old adage “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” And with GVA’s awesome curriculum and teachers at our disposal, it’s like doing it ourselves…with major supports.

I, for one, hope K-12 is profiting on their venture in GA. GVA is one of their fastest growing virtual schools ever. If they don’t make a profit (that is why businesses operate), then they won’t stay. I know parents in other states who use their state’s virtual schools with K-12 curriculum. And, because of better funding, these schools do have art, music and foreign language as a part of their curriculum. In some states computers are issued for the children along side textbooks. And in KS, the amount of oversight and administrative hoops the learning coaches is very minimal according to a friend whose daughter is enrolled there. I find it a bit ironic that the states with more “hands-off” approaches to their virtual schools seem to also be states that rank higher in quality of public education and in test scores. What does that say about Georgia?

Cobb Mother, it seems that Matt Arkin is very quick to answer questions. He has a very impressive response time here. Maybe the next parent with an issue needs to say they are from the AJC.