Connections AcademyReviews 623

I have seen so many reviews and I am absolutely astounded. I see a lot of "Too much work"... considering the alternative of a regular school (going for 7-8 hours and then 2 hours of homework each night, connections is less time and work for sure). There is so much flexibility in schedule. Your child can work when they are more alert and ready. My son is more of an afternoon/evening person, so that is when he completes most of his work and can take as long as he needs to do the work. My son is in his junior year and second year with Connections. My son was failing in regular school and getting bullied everyday. He was unable to focus on his school work with all of the distractions. I am proud to say that he is now receiving a quality education. I have never had a teacher that was not willing and eager to help with any situation. They are wonderful and well qualified. To sum up: This is your child(ren)s education. They need to be working hard and spending a reasonable amount of time doing it. If you want your child to have a quality education with out outside distractions, Connections Academy is a perfect choice!

I cant believe all these negative reviews. My children are now in 3rd and 5th grade. We love it. The teachers are so dedicated to educating our children. Some have gone above and beyond to teach our kids. No, it isn't easy and takes time. We are talking about the education of our children. The state says 6 hours a day. Some think that is too much! Are you kidding me? All day every day should be about learning. There are NO shortcuts and they shouldn't be expected. My children are way ahead of their public school friends! I am very proud of that.

We pulled our 13 year old from middle school for several reasons:
Undesirable peer influence, indifferent/apathetic teachers, attendance requirements that did not fit our lifestyle as a family, and finally, a threat of violence called into the school that school officials did not take seriously enough.
Connections academy solved all of those problems and has been awesome. The work load has been totally reaaonable for my with grader- actually I think he has less work with CA than he did in public school.
He is expected to spend an average of 6 hours per day on school, but it is easy to do between assignments on the computer, reading, PE, and his art assignments, AND the schedule is pretty flexible for the most part.
They have provided us a computer, textbooks, art supplies, and science lab materials, as well as resources like tutoring, field trips, and counseling.
The teachers have been so helpful and kind, and even though my student is a challenge (as his parent I know this better than anyone!) They are never unkind, and are always willing to come up with out of the box solutions to motivate him.
I have loved our experience with CA so much that I enrolled my first grader for this upcoming semester. I recommend it to anyone who is frustrated with public school but doesn't want to go full blown home school.

Wow, I'm kinda blown away by the negative comments. I have nothing but positive things to say, from the registration up til the current point in the semester. We're in California, so maybe other states aren't as great but my daughters teachers are fantastic, e-mail quickly, and if I'm ever stuck or not sure about something, I'm sent helpful links. My girls are thriving, and I couldn't be happier. I've been a mom for 16 years now so I'd like to think my experience is somewhat credible. Their grades speak for themselves.

My daughter is in the first grade and the workload is insane. She sometimes had to sit in front of a computer for 5 hours a day just to finish. It is way above grade level and they expect way to much from a 6 year old child. Some teachers don't respond to emails or do what they are supposed to do. I ended up pulling her out and putting her back in our regular public school. I would not suggest this program to anyone. It has caused severe stress and anxiety for my child.

I am a senior at Connections and it is the best decision I have ever made. Brick and mortar school was so hard for me because of all the distractions and bratty kids. At connections you don't have to worry about other kids. My teachers always respond very quickly and set up private livelessons whenever I need them, which helps a lot. I start working at 9am and work until around 8 or 9pm with LOTS of long breaks in between. My favorite classes I'm taking are living music and photography, but next semester I get to do AP psychology and sociology too! The work is easy and manageable as long as you put effort into your classes every day. I went from C's and D's to 4 A+s and 2 As! I think kids going into online school expect it to be easier so they don't work as hard, that's why they don't do as well. It's a normal school (a great one at that!), it's just on your computer. I go to GLCA.

We have just withdrawned our son who was in 7th grade. This is our first time homeschooling our son. The lessons are insane. He spent 10-16 hours a day. 8 subjects, 6 classes per day. The writing and reading are beyond 7th grade. We have never behind the homework, but you have to sit and be with your kid the while time. The rubric is so hard. Each big project is given only 2 days to do. We started to hate it since first month. When he was in 1-6 grade, he hardly had any homeworks. I am not a big fan on homeworks... Do you like to bring report and office work to do at home every night? No... The test is crazy. Every single day, every subject. Some teachers are so unhelpful, some are very nice. I don't like the part that kid already had 6 classes per day and 3-4 LIVE online class that are mandatory and you tell me, how the kid can spend only 6 hours a day? It is impossible!

When we emailed and decided to withdraw our son, the principle said, "we are not a homeschool program, we are an accredited high school." So why you advertise as a free homeschool program then.

We hate this online school so much.

My daughter is in 7th grade and this is our first year with OCA. She has always had good grades and has an impeccable work ethic. The OCA curriculum is crazy. Tons of work that takes ell over the 5.5 hours to complete. Some days she has done 8-10 hours.
The quizzes and tests are horrible too. I have had to actually sit down with her to help read these questions and many times there could be more than one answer and you just have to be lucky enough to pick it. The questions that require you to click on multiple answers or fill in the blank on 4-5 items, miss one, miss the entire question. My honor role daughter has a 67% and an F in social studies and a D- in science. Mind you, science is usually her strongest subject. My happy daughter that left regular school due to physical bullying is actually more depressed now then she was when girls were putting their hands on her. I am lost what to do. It is so late in the semester we can't go anywhere else and we don't want to repeat 7th grade because of this school. So upset and frustrated. I teach College courses and my courses are way more organized and fair than this school.

My daughter has had multiple days where she works on school until bedtime. ALL DAY. She is a very good student & has always gotten good grades. We lost our house in a fire & had to move in with relatives. The local public school here is really bad, so I did Connections Academy as a alternative, figured it would just be while we got back on our feet.
We are all miserable. It takes up HOURS every day of our lives. All 3 of us (my spouse, me, our daughter) will work on things & it will still take HOURS to do.
But the real kicker came yesterday. I have been unable to find time to schedule a conference call with her homeroom teacher.
These calls, she has had 2 already this year, in like 3 months... have never been important in any way. The teacher has chatted about what my child had for dinner... forgive me for not thinking this call was vital...
Now, for 2 days I have been unable to access the website. Her teacher told my daughter, through email, that it was because I didn't schedule the call...
If I cant log in, I cant record my child's attendance, which means she falls behind on required public school attendance, AND I cant submit her school work, which is part of my job as her "learning coach".
So we did schedule a call, for this morning, and her teacher never called! So I STILL cant submit her hours or work. At this point my childs education & future is on hold because of a phone call.
I have emailed them 3 times & left a voicemail & never heard back.
DO NOT USE THIS SCHOOL!

On September 17 I made a review about how the admittance is terrible and how they wouldn't let me in because there's two which people in the school. Well they officially let me in the school and I love it so much. The teachers respond to me quickly they let me know what to do if I go on vacation or if I get sick till always answer me almost immediately if I need any help and I think it's just overall a great school. They even sent over a couple textbooks and a computer just in case you didn't have what you needed. The only thing that is bad is when you're rolling because it just takes a very long time but other than that it's a great school

My husband and I thought we did our research and attended parent sessions as well as a school event before making our decision into what we thought was going to be an amazing opportunity. Only 1 week in we called it quits... after myself and my children having been in tears and so totally overwhelmed. I honestly feel duped... how can 1 teacher have a class size of over 90 students? The Live Lesson rooms have a cap of 90 so students we getting bumped off to only have to watch the recording later. My kids were strapped to their desks for over 7 hours a day trying to complete the work, no breaks not even an adequate lunch break! They talk about kids having the opportunity to socialize? If you saw the "chat pod" that goes on in the live lesson rooms with 90 kids typing at once about their favorite subject, music, color... it is flying by at such a high speed there is no way to keep up never mind form a relationship. In what school do they offer a field trip for students to attend... only to learn that their full day of lessons will be waiting for them when they get home? This school right here. I feel like a failure that I put my kids through such a horrible experience to start the school year... when we pulled the plug and told my kids they were going back into their school district I never saw them so relieved and happy. Biggest regret!