by Rachon Ward

Created on: January 21, 2010

Georgia Cyber Academy Online School For Homeschoolers

Have you ever considered homeschooling, but wanted your child to remain a part of the public school system, have an organized curriculum and have a trained teacher to advise you when needed. Then look no more Georgia Cyber Academy (GCA here out), formerly known as Georgia Virtual Academy, is the place for you and your child.

GCA is part of the K12 program which allows your child to be part of the public school system, while you teach your child at home. The program is online based and your materials are sent to your home. This allows you more time to teach and less time gathering materials and preparing lessons.

When considering GCA some people worry about curriculum control, scheduling and free time, let me tackle a few of the myths and put your mind at ease.

First:  Some people believe as a parent you have no curriculum control. Not so, if you disagree with a class or subject being taught all you have to do is contact your homeroom teacher and a new subject will be assigned. The GCA curriculum is tailored to your child’s learning. If for example your child is in second grade, but language arts is on first grade level and math is on third grade level your child’s assignments will be geared to these levels.

Second: Homeschooling hours are inflexible and schedules are written in stone.  With GCA schedules are just a guide, tools to make you a better teacher. You may want to teach math and English in the morning when your child is fresh or teach history and science later in the day. This is perfectly acceptable. You may want to teach all at one time or break your schedule in half, that’s okay too. There is no right or wrong schedule. As far as meeting with your teacher or attending online classes, these can be tailored to your schedule. If you miss a class, watch the recording and in most cases your child is given credit for attending. I cannot stress this enough, the key to success with GCA is open communication with your homeroom teacher. There is not a problem that cannot be solved together. Unlike with traditional public school, here you are not alone, there is support around every corner. You just have to ask.

Third: There is very little free time. This depends on you and your schedule or if you add to the rich curriculum offered by GCA. In our house sometimes we get so involve with science or history that by the time we look at the clock and hour and a half has gone by before we know it. The curriculum is so well put together that my son doesn’t realize he’s even done Language Arts and English his two most hated subjects. Some days he’ll ask “Mom can we get English out of the way?” And I’ll reply,” But we already did.”  It was such a good feeling as a parent to know that his liking the curriculum was half the battle for him learning.

Last: GCA’S main goal is in helping you to educate your child and allowing them to reach their full potential. They use every means possible. I can attest to the fact that they have the best group of teachers that exist. When my child was having learning difficulties, I received advice and suggestions from teachers who were not even assigned to my child. That is the difference and what sets GCA above other schools they don’t have just teachers, they have dedicated educators, where their main goal is your child.

Learn more about this author, Rachon Ward.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.