Nevada Virtual Academy

We are using this like a canned homeschooling opportunity. It has been great for my daughter and she is thriving 2 years running! My husband does most of the teaching and is making it successful. I cover a few areas when I get home from work. This is for parents ready to be actively engaged in their child's education every day especially at the earlier grade levels.
—Submitted by a parent

The thought of a tailored education plan excited us. After my 4th grade son placed at a 7th grade level in his placement test I thought he would be challenged accordingly. This was not the case, he was asked to do rounding and estimating along with place value as the rest of the kids... He proved he understands algebra at middle school level but they did nothing to enhance his gift of math. Then they tell you that you can just test and skip, but if you skip then you cannot push a grade forward because you did not do 100% of the work. So even if he does test out, he won't have a math course until the rest of the subjects are 100%. We liked the thought of creating our own schedule, that is not possible, I actually had a teacher ask me NOT to log attendance if we study on a weekend and not to log attendance if we attend the 2-3 hours of virtual classes offered... So if my kid is attending a class being given by an actual teacher then the attendance does not count? I could only figure this is because they want us to lie about hours spent learning, just to make the school look better. If they can't get it done in time then something is broken, fix it, don't ask the parents to lie.
—Submitted by a parent

I have two children enrolled at this school. One in elementary and one in high school. When people ask us about this school, we tell them they should try another distance education school.
—Submitted by a parent

This school was a perfect fit for our family. We enrolled my gifted son halfway thru the school year in his 2nd grade. They were able to cater his work load to fit his needs and we eliminated the boredom in the classroom. We were blown away by the classroom materials we received. All textbooks, workbooks, math manipulatives, science aids, etc were included in the program - even a computer and printer! We have been able to adjust his schedule and that gives us flexibility. If he wants to keep working on a subject, we can alter the schedule to work for us, however, if we wanted to go by the classroom plan provided by k12, that works also. Everyone that we've met has been wonderful to work with and eager to help us out if needed. We are enrolling our younger son in the k12 kindergarten program this fall. My measure of success is hearing my son thank me over and over again for enrolling him in home school. This program is a huge success for our family and we can't wait until next school year!
—Submitted by a parent

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.

EXCELLENT PROGRAM! My 5th grade daughter is doing great at NVVA! Her teacher is amazing and ALWAYS gets back to us right away with e-mails and phone calls. I attend an online school as well, as I am working toward my bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies K-8. If you are a parent... You must realize that you will be spending 4-6 hours per day teaching your children if your child is in elementary school. You are supplied with all of the materials to "teach" your child... Even word for word direction if needed. If you are a single parent and/or work full-time, this school probably isn't for you. If you want to be 100% active in your child's learning and have the time for NVVA... It is an AMAZING school! My daughter's education is number one...And as far as I'm concerned... Having only one working parent in our household and making less money is well worth making sure my daughter gets the best education possible. WE LOVE NVVA:)

I have found that a lot of parents are not taking the time and working with the child, I have some in my family, this is something that you as the parent need to give 6 hours to like the regular class room experience. People put thier child in front of the computer and walk away, a child needs a desk and somewhere to store their information to go back to the next day just like real school, they need to go to the outing's just like you do dogs at the park they need to be socialized learn to play with other kids. Yes its a mistake if you think you can enroll them and say its 8:00 AM get on the computer, you need to sit and listen pop in and out making sure the work is being done and at the end ask questions making sure they are understanding what was presented for that day.. I would say think before you leap, your only hurting the child and if they were havng a hard time in school its gonna be harder in the real world.

I read all of these reviews and was very hesitant to put my kid in NVVA, but I did. I put my 2nd grade in NVVA because he was struggling in public school, if your put in the time and don't work with your kid. Don t put your child in this program. But if you have the time and want your kid to advance in his skills, NVVA is a great school! Very good staff and all around very helpful.
—Submitted by a parent

After many failed attempts to work with our local school to get my gifted son the education he deserved , we enrolled him in NVVA, with great results. He is now able to work at his own accelerated pace, not waiting on everyone else to move. He is engaged daily in different learning styles, and we have the support of the school and teachers in his academic career. I only wish we had found the school sooner.
—Submitted by a parent

This school was amazing. The only reason my youngest child is no longer with them is the socialization she needed. Yes when your child is below 5th grade you must be a little more active in the role as a educational coach but I had two kids in this schoo,l one 17 and one 9. The high schooler I had a very minimal role in her schooling as the teachers did all of it! If the school system here fails my daughter again we WILL be back :).
—Submitted by a parent

This school is not interested in teaching students. The only thing they are interested in is making sure that the students take the state tests so the school can continue to get funded. Staff are very difficult to get in contact with and rude.
—Submitted by a parent