Disappointed!

I'm pretty disappointed right now. I just found out we didn't get into ARVA (Arkansas Virtual Academy), the home-based public school we wanted our daughter to attend starting in fifth grade, next school year. Well, we're number 103 on the waiting list, so that's the same as not getting in.

I actually wanted to start her in sixth grade since her elementary school goes through fifth grade. But her dad wanted me to apply and go ahead and get her in for this school year.

I've been very interested in it since it started, which was the year this child went to kindergarten. It's public school, so it is free, and they give you everything you need, lessons, materials, even stuff for projects, and they reimburse you for an Internet connection. You have a certified teacher available if you need one, and you do conferences every two weeks. I like that it is public school, which I love, and free, which I love, and that you aren't left alone to figure out curriculum and how to do stuff. I know traditional homeschoolers like that, but I'm not all for traditional homeschooling here ... I need some backup! There are a certain number of hours you are supposed to spend each week on lessons and it works out to about 4-6 hours a day. You can customize lessons so that she can work on whatever level she's on and not just stick to grade level. I think it pulls the best of public school and the best of home school and puts it together, but of course I haven't tried it so I don't know for sure. Looks like it'll be another year before we can try.

I'm pretty nervous about scheduling since I work in the mornings; and also working with her one-on-one for extended periods of time. I get very impatient with her on her homework sometimes, especially math, because she doesn't want to understand, and I have trouble understanding it. But we can work all that out and put her dad on teaching math in the evenings.

Maybe we'll get in for sixth grade. If they have this much interest maybe the program can be expanded soon. They have a lottery system for choosing students; basically they put all the names "in a hat" and draw applicants until there are no more slots left. They don't have any information about grades or anything so it's totally fair to everyone.

http://www.k12.com/arva/ if anybody wants to read up on it.