Texas is one of several states to offer a virtual academy – a sort of pseudo-homeschool experience where a great homeschool curriculum is given, along with a computer, printer and internet stipend, free of charge for the school year along with “teacher oversight” via email and/or phone. The downside is that this is state intervention into education which most homeschoolers consider to be extremely risky. We don’t want our education funded or overseen by the government because with that comes some loss of freedom. For instance, virtual academy students must take the state educational testing. They must log a certain number of hours. It pretty much is school at home. They really do lose some freedoms.

But there are upsides. When I mentioned the virtual academy to Teegan his ears perked up. I sort of expected they might. He is an easy learner, he loves of a challenge and he is very bright. He loved the idea of a great science and art curriculum and a free computer. He thought about it for a few weeks and decided to give it a whirl. We can back out at any time and go back to our regular way of doing things. We’re calling it an educational experiment. Although I do consider the negatives to be greater than the positives when it comes to virtual academies, I also have always said I’d follow my kids’ desires when it came to education and if they want to give it a go, I’ll support that. I have my own preconceived vision of how things will go but am keeping an open mind.

So far I’m less than impressed.

The enrollment process involved four steps:

1) fill out online application

2) placement testing

3) fax in supporting documents

4) conference call with teacher

Step one was pretty basic stuff. No big deal.

But the placement tests….omg! They took for freakin EVER to finish. The stuff was so totally stupid and random, especially the grammar stuff. I could care less if my kid ever learns 90% of the stuff on that placement test (which is surely what’s on the state standardized testing). Ugh. But I’m sure he did well although I have absolutely no idea but more on that in a minute.

The faxing in of supporting documents was not easy. One of the documents was the proof of vaccination and I know Texas is an exemption state (a state allowing all 3 exemptions – religious, medical and philosophical) for vaccines and we fall under the philosophical exemption status. In Michigan this was never a big deal – we just filled out the form that all schools/daycares kept on file and that was that. In Texas, though, you have to fill out an online request for a special letter and then wait for it to be mailed to you. Then take it to get it notarized. So we had to wait about a month until we could finish the enrollment process. The whole time I was thinking “Is this worth it?”.

Right before the letter came I got a random email from the VA (virtual academy) saying that they had exceeded enrollment but we could be waitlisted if we would just hurry and submit all our paperwork. WHat this REALLY meant is “We can get more state funds if we can prove we have waiting students so we need your student to finish enrollment so we can earn our money”. The fact that NEVER at any time did we have a HINT that enrollment had already been exceeding – not during the billion hours of placement testing or during the filling out of paperwork or online forms – pissed me off. 

Finally I got everything faxed over and thought we were all good. A few MORE weeks later I got another random email basically saying “your son still is not on the wait list becuase your paperwork was incomplete”. I emailed back right away asking what the issue was and waited and waited a few MORE weeks for a response. Finally they said we needed a more current proof of residency which I faxed right over. More waiting. We heard nothing. Finally I was about to go out of town so I emailed them AGAIN to ask if there was ANYTHING else I needed to do to get him on the waitlist. They emailed back to say that he was on the wait list, we were all good.

Except right in the middle of my vacation, again totally randomly, I got an email saying he was still needing complete paperwork and was not on the waitlist. UGH!!!! I sent two scathing emails and heard nothing. Finally I wisened up and just called which involved several phone numbers and being passed around before getting someone on the phone who said “oh yeah that? That was a computer glitch. Sorry! Your son is on the wait list”. Swell. Argh.

So then the next day FINALLY we got the email that he was accepted (read: they got their funding and expanded availability). ANd that they would call me sometime, presumably for that final step 4 above. Ha. hahaha. First day of “school” is August 25 so I’m not sure when or how that will work out since I am not home. At this point it would be a minor miracle if all the curriculum arrives BEFORE August 25.

Already I feel like the effort and burden is WAY too much for the convenience factor and the financial savings. I’m keeping an open mind and we’ll see, though.