Oregon Connections Academy

Love, love, love Connections Academy!!! I have tried public school with both my kids but they learned so much more when home schooled through connections! I love the materials, the online classroom set-up, the teacher lectures, flexibility, communication boards, field trips....I could go on and on! But the big reasons I choose ORCA is because the public school system failed my kids. They were bullied, overlooked, forgotten and allowed to pass year after year without learning what they should have been learning each year. My son was so sad everyday he went to public school. Now, with ORCA, he is soooooo very happy!! As a mom there is nothing better than seeing your child happy and smiling!! Public, brick and mortar school....never again!
--Submitted by a parent

If you want to be involved with you childs learning and actually know that they are learning this is " THE" best choice of online charter schooling you could ask for. I am so pleased to have chose to have my daughter enrolled with them. There courses tend to be a little hard but it depends on the class. If you get stumped a phone call or email to the teacher and they will explain to you how to teach it and when your child is on an IEP they will help you shorten the work for your child and make it easier for them to understand. I love Connection's and am so blessed that they have them as a choice for school. I wished they were around when I was in school,...
--Submitted by a parent

This is our first year with ORCA, and I almost withdrew my 3rd grade daughter within the first few months. It has been a struggle to get her to be responsible for her workload and time management. Now for the positives: great support from her teacher and other parents, challenging curriculum, and freedom to pursue other activities. When I was struggling to get my daughter to do her work, her teacher and other parents offered many different ideas. No criticism, just help. My daughter is finally challenged! Last year, at the local school, she did her week's homework on Monday's bus ride home. Now, we take her schoolwork with us, and she's able to move at her own pace. The last positive is the one I really like- flexibility to pursue other activities. She is able to take lessons at times other kids are unavailable, and often comes to school with me. My other two school-age children are in the local public schools, and are thriving. ORCA has been more work on my part than I had expected, but my daughter is thriving because of ORCA.
--Submitted by a parent

Having read the last review, I just wanted to comment that the curriculum is probably tougher than in a regular high school, which is why many people do choose Connections Academy. However it is clearly daunting to start with 80 overdue lessons. However, with the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks it should have been possible to catch up. It goes much easier if enrollment is started in July, which they recommend, and then you are ready to start on the first day. Making the decision to switch too late is not fair to the school admin or the student. We have had nothing but good experiences with ORCA and are in our 3rd year with 2 high schoolers. I agree the teachers are sometimes lacking, but the materials are excellent and there are plenty of supporting resources through online tutorials, encyclopeidas, and databases, as well as a virtual library with a lot of material available to the student. It is probably not a good choice if both parents work full time, however a grandparent or other adult can supervise the student and provide help if that is an option.
--Submitted by a parent

This is my daughter's third year with Connections; she is graduating this year. She loves the school, and has learned so much more than she ever learned in the traditional bricks and mortar school! She loves the teachers, and they're always quick to answer her questions. And, not only is more content covered in every class, she's also able to take classes that wouldn't be offered locally, like 3-D art, and German. She's able to work more efficiently in this setting, enabling her to have more time for outside activities than she ever had in the traditional system.
--Submitted by a parent

I am currently un-enrolling my kids from Connections. If we had started on time, I think the program would have been more successful, however, we started enrolling in Sept. and there is only one registration office for all 50 states. It took over 2 months to get my kids fully registered. My oldest, in HS, started off with 80 overdue assignments on his first day. It's completely unmanageable and very overwhelming for a student at any level to start of school with such a work load. The school is then very quick to place a child on "alarm" when there is very little support on managing so many assignments. It was suggested my son put in 8 hrs a day just to catch up on basic assignments, which didn't include the extra hours for labs, reading, etc, and with other obligations, he couldn't manage the workload. As one of the reviews suggests, it's the Learning Coach that does most of the schooling. I even hired a tutor, or rather a teacher that cannot find a job with all of the cutbacks. He was even overwhelmed with what was expected. This is probably a great program, but expect to be a full time teacher at home and this is not a program that works well with full-time working parents.
--Submitted by a parent

The curriculum is great. The online system they use is great. But the bottom line is that the teaching is truly done by the Learning coaches, not the ORCA teachers. Lets face it, a 30 minute live lesson once a week is not teaching-unless you consider grading the tests teaching-and those often take 8-10 days to get back I can tell these teachers have 80-100 students each and possibly more so I dont necessarily blame them. That said, I love the fact that this system of education is available because it allows me to interact and work with my son. But as far as great teaching, I'm not seeing it, and this is our 3rd year with ORCA
--Submitted by a parent

We too have had many positive experiences with ORCA. The local public school system failed my student and set him up for academic failure. Thankfully we registered him in ORCA early in his kindergarten year (2010). He just finished the second grade with high scores in science, math, language arts, social studies, and art. Our student has special needs and ORCA has met each need without hesitation and were strong advocates in providing local school district services for him. There are many social activities provided monthly. The teachers are top quality!!!
--Submitted by a parent

Oregon Connections Academy is literally THE best K-12 school I've ever seen, or in this case, not 'seen'. My daughter has become so much more independent, she has flourished in this school and it's well constructed learning environment, and she lives her life on her own schedule without the distractions and bad influences of the poor behavior of a other typical students. The principal is wonderful, the instructors are very highly qualified and very personable, the curriculum is top notch and as a whole, a great group of educators. My daughter sarted in 3rd grade, is now entering 8th & will continue on through 12th. Let us know when they have a college, because ORCA certainly prepares kids for it well.
--Submitted by a parent

We're in our 5th year with ORCA (3 students, grades 1, 4 & 8). This innovative new way of public education is awesome - provided you are willing to invest the time and energy to serve as a Learning Coach. The program is dynamic - incorporating feedback and improving each year. You can track your students progress down to the individual lesson, so no surprises at semester end. Great (highly-qualified) certified teachers, and the personalized flexibility to move at the student's own pace. Plus, it costs the state less per pupil. Virtual public schooling is here to stay!
--Submitted by a parent