Nevada Virtual Academy

When I decided to pull my three children from the public school system and HOMESCHOOL them, I did my research and chose K12 as the curriculum that was the best. I found out that Nevada offers it for FREE through NVVA! Perfect! This is homeschooling with a teacher to access when questions arise and field trips for all grades, but you are teaching them and it is a full time job. Starting at the beginning of the school year is a must. Starting mid-year is extremely difficult and I don't reccommend it. The name of the school having the word "virtual" in it seems to have deceived some in that they expect the computer to do all the teaching. That is not the case. A lot of their subjects are online, but there is a lot of work offline that requires parental assistance. Choosing to pull them from a brick and mortar school requires you, the parent, to do the teaching, not a computer. If kids could teach themselves there wouldn't be any teachers needed. There are problems with all curriculums out there, but this one is by far the most complete!
--Submitted by a parent

My son is in 1st grade and just started Nevada Virtual Academy about 2 months ago. So far it has been great for him. He has loved to learn again after falling behind in public school. The only thing is since we started towards the end of the year we are trying to play catch-up so I think next year will be better. The cirriculum is awesome, he loves all the activities we do. The only thing I don't like is sometimes there is too much reading for a first grader, I think more interacting stuff on the computer would keep him more interested like with history. Sometimes there are 5-6 pages I have to read on the screen to him and he is just not interested. They did provide almost everything he needed and I love the flexibility of the program and how we know exactly what to do everyday and if we want to work ahead we can. This would not work for someone working, I am staying home to teach my son and it is a full time job, it takes about 5-6 hours a day but I like it.
--Submitted by a parent

NVVA is a good option for my son. It's not perfect but the regular schools here in Vegas are far worse. WARNING: there are not virtual lessons and if you join after the beginning of the school year you pick up your classes from the beginning again. WORK: there aren't virtual lessons, you're on your own SOCIAL: plan on doing your own field trips. There have not been ANY we have been able to get into yet w/ NVVA. and there is no way to communicate with other parents and students as much as they will tell you there is...there is not.Even on the recommended sites the other parents are saying just that. The boards are impossible to negotiate. NVVA may be for you IF you have the time and ability. It is NOT for you if you are looking for someone to "teach" your child via a computer while you work. You will have to be their teacher 5 hours a day and then some.
--Submitted by a parent

I placed both my boys in this academy . They are on track and doing excellent. EXCELLENT SCHOOL I have been with school 3 years
--Submitted by a parent

We have been with NVVA for a nearly 3 months now. When looking into this school, I put both my kids (11th grade & 6th grade) into the car & we went over to the main office to say hello and check it out. We showed up the day of a book fair, which was nice. Having attained the majority of my college education online I truly thought I was prepared to do this. The school sent many textbooks and the instructions are to the letter, but we almost gave up in the first two weeks. We choose to give it some time and in about a week my 11th grader was in sync & liked it. My 6th grader..well we are unsure what we will do. She is doing well academically but she needs the social factor..which has become more evident the last few months. Teachers are not baby sitters. Educating your child is not easy, and I don't think it should be easy. It takes a great deal of time and patience to do what is best for our kids. Yes this program is difficult, it is a bit complicated to learn, but overall your child's education depends on what your child & you make of it together. I would recommend NVVA for those who have much patience & a desire to teach..not just supervise...your child.
--Submitted by a parent

Our child is a middle school student at NVVA. We are a military family and the base is zoned for a terrible and unsafe middle school. We did not have a lot of options....either put our child in a dangerous school, shell out lots of money for a private school, or homeschool. K12 was our best option. It has served our purpose for this school year but we will not continue it next year. We are moving to a city with excellent public schools and our child is eager to go back to a brick and mortar school. K12 is a good choice for those that are not "traditional homeschoolers." We like the fact that this school is more structured. You will be held accountable for attendance, progress, and mandatory state testing. We feel very confident that our child will be successful in his/her new school because of the quality of the K12 curriculum.
--Submitted by a parent

I moved back home after attending boarding school for a year and tried out the best public school in Henderson - it was awful. In October of my senior year I switched to NVVA. It's so easy to learn on your own and the teachers are always there via AIM or phone. Being a teen, I'm always on my computer in general so any time I need teacher help - they're there! It's nice for me to learn this self-study at a younger age. I feel accomplished every day after NVVA. I have a lot of flexibility and free time with this form of education. Excellent!

This is not a virtual school, there are no interactive online lessons. They send you 30+ huge textbooks and teacher guides and tell you to spend all day every day reading, presenting lessons, having your kid(s) do horrific amounts of paperwork, and you lecture and grade assignments. If you want that, just keep the kid in traditional public school, there is no difference, only you are the constant teacher and are not being paid with your tax dollars to do it.
--Submitted by a parent

This is a scam. The company makes money from the government for every student who enrolls, but they do not offer any form of virtual lessons or actual teaching. They send you about 10 large boxes of poor quality, very tedious and unhelpful textbooks and lesson notes, and then you are completely on your own. A parent must spend 8+ hours a day doing all the work of a brick-and-mortar teacher. NVVA "teachers" (loose term - they do no teaching) never respond to phone or email msgs in a timely manner. The company just wants their money then for you to do it all on your own. You're better off buying some basic homeschooling books - the material is bound to be better than the copious dribble NVVA sends out.
--Submitted by a parent

This is my first year in a virtual academy i moved from California to Las Vegas and tried a high school nearby but it was a totally different vibe than Cali. So i decided to try NVVA. My first impression of it was great until i would e-mail my teachers and they wouldn't get back to me after a couple days when i needed help. Another downfall about NVVA is that there system is always updating making it difficult to login. And costumer service is the worse, they are rude and are never a help basically bad service. Probably my first and last year of a virtual academy.