Local students plug in to online academy

Students throughout the Tri-Valley are crossing school district lines in a new approach to learning.

A handful of local families have enrolled their K-12 students California Connections Academy, a public online charter school based in Ripon, located in San Joaquin County.

An alternative to homeschooling, California Connections Academy boasts a rigorous course load that combines live video lessons, online assignment and telephone conferences into a completely virtual school experience.

“I was looking for something that was just more exciting or entertaining for my kids. When I was homeschooling it was just me the kids and a textbook,” said San Ramon resident Dawn Craig, whose three children just completed kindergarten, third and fifth grades.

“It’s night and day, it’s completely different. Before it was all on me, figuring out how much of each subject they would do each day and basically planning what they were doing. Now I have none of that responsibility, it’s all set up.”

The Craig family has been exclusively homeschooled and enrolled in California Connections Academy this fall.

The school was first available to San Ramon Valley Unified School District-area students this year.

More than 300 students in contiguous counties to San Joaquin have joined California Connections Academy and Principal Don Ogden expects twice that in the academy’s second year. Ogden said the school’s sophisticated curriculum management system, Connexus, and personally tailored curriculum are drawing students with a variety of needs – from those who are learning at advanced levels to those who need additional help.

California Connections Academy’s programs are adjusted to each student based on a detailed questionnaire. Using information collected during the review process, counselors and staff help families select the courses most appropriate to the student’s individual academic abilities and progress is monitored though the Connexus system and regular communication.

The Craig children regularly call their teachers with questions and attend weekly “live lessons” through a video chat.

“I like this a lot better than homeschooling because it’s more organized and its easier to do things,” said Sterling Craig, who will attend sixth grade in the fall. “I like how in math they give those videos where they show how to do things. Every single lesson, they always have a video for you so you get to understand things better.”

Students all take math, social studies and language arts courses as well as a class in computer technology. The academy also offers elective options such as foreign language or chess club.

California Connections Academy students can look ahead in their studies using the Connexus tool and also have the option to be placed at an advanced level.

“Each has such a flexible schedule or I can cater their strengths and their needs to whatever is necessary,” said fifth and sixth grade teacher Susan Christensen.

“In a classroom setting, it would be a lot harder for me to go out and find an eighth-grade course and eighth-grade teacher to help support my fifth-grader in math. With Connections Academy I’m able to place that student into an algebra course, and he can be working with our algebra teacher one on one.”

The Ripon-based Connections Academy has four full-time teachers serving kindergarten through seventh grades and five full-time teachers for eighth through 12th graders.

California Connections Academy also has one special education teacher, two full-time counselors, two administrators and three part-time “adjunct” teachers, including an advisory teacher and physical education coach who Ogden said works with several Olympic-caliber athletes.

Although Christensen lives in San Ramon and occasionally runs into her students at local events, Ogden said one of the perks of enrolling in online school is getting access to great educators across county and school district lines.

“There’s no need to put up with a school or teacher who doesn’t fit your student’s learning style,” he said.

Sterling noted how nice teachers are, adding that California Connections Academy and Christensen have helped her enjoy social studies classes more. Craig said she was surprised that each child’s teacher was friendly and invested, adding that her children are very attached to their teachers.

“I’ve seen changes in leaps and bounds, not that they weren’t as smart or academically gifted … but the stuff that I didn’t really know how to teach or do so well – book reports, writing papers – I didn’t teach,” Craig said.

“Now they write papers, they do projects, experiments. I’m given an outline of everything they need to know.”

Craig’s kindergarten-age son Ryker is also enrolled in Connections Academy and Craig said she was impressed by the school’s enrichment activities and conversation, which include simple activities from hopscotch to learning letters using soft pretzels.

“They’re things I’d like to think I do as a parent in general but wouldn’t necessarily have included in our learning. Now I have someone to guide me,” she said.

Jodi Cohen, another San Ramon resident with three children in California Connections Academy, said she wanted to be more involved with her family’s education but wasn’t ready for homeschooling. With one child in each branch of K-12, Cohen said her kids have taken to online learning very well; they were previously enrolled in SRVUSD.

“All three wanted to come home to do school and I don’t think I could drag them back to a regular brick and mortar school,” she said. “I am learning right along with them, and we have had so many educational conversations.”

Cohen said California Connections Academy has been particularly effective for her 13-year-old, who will start high school through the academy in the fall.

While her daughter was introverted and lacked confidence at the beginning of the school year, “I just see her realizing how good she can do and see her excel from even the first semester to second semester.”

Cohen’s son Christopher was in his public school speech program for several years because he had difficulty pronouncing his Rs. While Cohen was content with him being “at 90 percent,” she was pleased that his California Connections Academy teacher took it upon herself to further develop his diction. Her son now says his Rs perfectly.

“It’s a more personable environment. The boys have one live lesson a week and also talk to their teachers once a week for 30-60 minutes about what they’re learning, The teachers make sure they’re learning what they need to after they talk to me for about 10 minutes,” Cohen added.

California Connections Academy children are also given opportunities to socialize through weekly field trips with other classmates, families and teachers. These meetings, along with regular phone calls and live lessons, have dispelled the myth that all home-schooled children are anti-social.

“Before I started homeschooling, I thought the same thing, I thought homeschoolers were religious fanatics. But every type of person under the sun is a homeschooler, it’s as diverse as regular school,” Craig said, adding that her children are in Scouts and play soccer. “The only socialization that they’re missing is recess and lunch.”

Jodi Cohen said socialization wasn’t on her radar, adding that the school’s weekly field trips a great for socializing and her children also play team sports. Since her children typically finish their schoolwork around 2 p.m., they have plenty of time to play with friends.

“My friends say we’re lucky because we get to get up at whatever time we want and do our homework and still finish at a good time. And how we have awesome teachers,” Sterling Craig said.

California Connections Academy has two other hubs in San Juan Capistrano – which serves Los Angeles, San Diego Riverside and Orange counties – and another in Visalia that serves the Central Valley. With a curriculum development team based in Baltimore, Ogden said California Connections Academy students have a competitive advantage when it comes to implementing new Common Core standards.

“Connections Academy is in 23 to 25 other states. Because all these states are developing Common Core, we’re putting more resources toward developing curriculum we all can share instead of doing curriculum different from all 50 states,” he said.

Cohen said she believes her children have learned more as a result.

“All three have gotten good grades throughout their school life,” she said. “Before in school I wouldn’t have been able to have conversations with them.”

Craig said her family is very happy with California Connections Academy and while her youngest received a scholarship to attend the Athenian School for sixth grade, she will keep her younger children plugged in at California Connections Academy.

“We’re just so happy. It was just the perfect time for me, I felt so burnt out and felt like I wasn’t doing a good job as a homeschool parent,” Craig added.

“My kids get the one-on-one attention, they aren’t distracted with the negative things that are involved with public school. And it really is just the best of the best.”

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