Connections AcademyReviews 623

Connections Academy schools are not homeschool programs. They are all public schools that require state law attendance and the upper grades curriculum is college prep. It requires every bit as much work as a traditional school. The only difference is that work is being done at home. Teachers are all state certified, but in this setting they are facilitators. The parent is essentially the teacher and it is a full time job. Unless the student is highly motivated, and usually older, the parent can not be off at work all day hoping the child is actually doing school work. It requires a whole lot of time and energy on the parent's part. Parent and student must have a fair amount of computer and technical savvy. If not you will be frustrated, fall behind and be miserable. The same is true of your internet service. It must be high speed and reliable. If not the school will not work for you. The commercials on these schools are very misleading in the sense that there is nothing easy about these schools. Your interaction with teachers will be quite limited unless you happen to attend a field trip. Understand this is corporate run for profit education. The company is not promoting the schools out of the goodness of their hearts or out of a love of education. The schools generate huge profits and enrolling as many students as possible is the vehicle to do so. You'll have to decide if this offends your moral sensibilities or not. Bottom line is do your homework before you decide to join a Connections school. It can be a good experience or a very bad one depending on your child and family situation. Go in with eyes wide open.

I am a learning coach for two students at Connections Academy in California. It is our 2nd year, and we are very pleased with the teachers, and courses. This year has been much better than last year. It TRULY IS HARD WORK! I believe hard work pays off in the end. I don't think it is good to be stressed, and believe me some days I feel like pulling my hair out. Lol. That's when we put it on pause, go for Ice cream, maybe a fieldtrip, or do something else. We come back, and research, take notes, A LOT OF NOTES! Do the very best! The kids 4th and 5th grades now tell me, that they prefer this school over the regular brick and mortar school, because they are no longer bullied, and they have one on one time with me, and their wonderful teachers. I am learning right along with them. I'm very grateful for this school. The only problem for me is the fact that if they get stuck on one assigment, that they cannot do other assigments, and then go back to the one they were stuck on. The assigments do accumulate, and then, you have a bunch of overdue lessons. Sometimes communicating with teacher's can be very helpful! For example, there was a Science Portfolio that was overdue. We could not complete it, due to us needing potting soil, and the stores did not have any, due to it being out of season, never knew soil went out of season! Anyway, informed the teacher of our little problem, and she skipped the Portfolio! We were so grateful, and relieved, because the stress of having all these assigments pile up is not fun! I really hope that the school fixes this problem overall. Kids cannot grow and learn in a stressed out environment. I feel for all of the student's who are a bit older, and have not had a good learning experience. I will see how we do the rest of the year, but so far so good!

I notice most of the reviews on this site are from students, so beware to take those for what they are. This school has top notch curriculum and an average of 20 lessons a week. It is not for children who are not motivated or think that independent study is easy. I have two children enrolled; one in 4th grade and one in 6th grade. The work is not unmanageable, but it does require time to complete it. Compared to the local brick and mortar curriculum, my children are learning more. The teachers have all been excellent and there are Live Lessons, clubs, and field trips for social interaction. The curriculum does include portfolios which take longer to complete as they are basically project-based learning assignments that allow the student to use the knowleadge they have gained in the unit by applying it to real world applications or projects. Overall, I highly recommend this school for its top-notch curriculum and as an alternative for those that the traditional brick and mortar is not working for. Both of my children like this school and the extras that come with it.

Ruby D. Is right! I have been a student here for 4 years and it is exhausting. It drains your energy, you have no time for anything so you end up trying to take a break and they end up piling lessons on so you are behind. It leaves you feeling worthless because you can not possibly teach yourself all of this rigorous material in the little time they give you. Specifically, the AP Biology teacher. She gives absolutely no reviews for her college level class. Extremely long reading guides and she grades poorly. She does not give you anything to work with. I have learned absolutely nothing from her class and I was excited for this class. She is unfair and has a condescending tone so it makes you not even want to go to her Live Lessons or talk to her at all. She needs to be replaced. Avoid this class like the plague unless you want your GPA to be ruined. This class is treacherous and a waste of tax payers' money. She is impossible to please. Every answer has something wrong with it (to her.) She questions where you get information from when it comes straight from her power points. She does not give you points and tells you to call her to discuss... for what? Thank God this is my final year. I hope they see this and take the time to make some necessary changes that benefit the students that come after me. Poor things.

Oh my god. I'm finally out of this hell. I've been quietly suffering for 3 years because I didn't want to go back to my public school here. This school isn't "work at your own pace" because they just load these lessons one after another on your head until you're left with no option but to cheat your way out. All these reviews on here aren't fake because this is the reality of this $#*!ty school. I fell into depression and completely isolated myself from the outside world because I was busy at home completing these lessons! Guys please just sue this school already. I would not be surprised if a student ends up taking their life by stress because of this school. CONNECTIONS ACADEMY Y'ALL BETTER READ THIS. YOU GUYS SUCK! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! IT ISN'T WORK AT YOUR OWN PACE YOU LIARS! NOW I HAVE 100 LESSONS OVERDUE WITH ONLY FEW WEEKS TO COMPLETE THEM. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A LIFE ANYMORE THANKS TO YOU SNAKES.

My daughter has attended CA for 8th and into the ninth grade. She was doing okay with the Junior High class but going into high school she has really taken a turn for the worst. I am not a parent that thinks my kid can do no wrong, but in this case this school just plan sucks! My daughter was a strait A student going into this school and she is now leaving this school as an F student! This school will harass you regularly while they are up for their government funding but as soon as that all in they disappear... No joke they won't return phone calls the administrative will LIE to you and promise they will do their JOB but won't do s***! This is the worst experience I have EVER had with any educational institution! They harassed me daily to wright them a review the first month of school so I wrote them a very nice one and thats the ONLY possible way ANYONE would write them a nice review! THEY SHOULD LOSS ALL FUNDING AND BE SHUT DOWN! Nothing but a BS scam! This is a review for the Utah CA, I do not know if they are better in other states.

My daughter is new to Connections Academy this fall. It took until the beginning of DECEMBER for her to get her books in the mail! The teachers are supposed to be available for students to ask questions, but they never are. Only one of her 6 teachers will even respond to emails, and sometimes it can take 3-4 days for a reply. We had to sign up for IXL.com so my daughter could learn the math lessons, since Connections does NOT TEACH her anything. The math teacher simply replies with "I cannot help you". How is that TEACHING?! We have notified the school that she will be dropping out of this terrible place at the end of December. I'll homeschool her. I would give Connections a ZERO if I could. IXL.com does a great job teaching math, I'll stick with that.

This is the 3rd year that my daughter has attended CA. Her brick and mortar school only had a gifted class for her once a week and the rest of the week, she was completely bored. The teachers would have her tutor other students instead of challenging her. We had no other option but to grade skip and that would have put my tiny 9 year old in a middle school which I did not want. That wouldn't have been good socially for her. Now, she can work in gifted courses that challenge her and keep her interest. This was the perfect solution for her. She has never been this happy in school and says that she will never go back to brick and mortar public schools. It works for us and I don't understand all these negative reviews. My daughter works 5 hours a day on schoolwork and seems to keep up and get it all finished. However, she is a self motivated student and will just sit down and do the work that is required so that she may have the rest of the day for herself. If she has something to go to or plans with a friend, she will work ahead on schoolwork so that she can take a day off to spend with friends. So happy to have this for her and I wish they'd have had this when I was younger.

I have two children currently at NC Connections Academy. I have expressed concern with the overload of schoolwork and/or communications that seems to be new this year. My honors student is struggling to keep pace and the stress from the volume of information has me exploring other curriculum paths. I intend to keep my son in for the time being since he has some modifications due to special education and he needs to get a curriculum from another source (not me; otherwise we just argue about why he has to do it)... but for my 8th grade daughter I am ready to quit. The teachers assign so much work. They make up for not having a textbook in science by webmailing excessive information (her teacher LITERALLY sent 37 pages in multiple document attachments today in ONE webmail). I have emailed the principal three times but have heard nothing back. I dont know why the changes have taken place. My kids loved Connections last year. This year the stress level in our home to keep up with the work means we have one foot out the door.

Last year this school was a mess. This year the teachers are amazing. Mrs. Weber, Mrs. Shaw, Mrs. Welch, Mr. Nickels are my daughter's sixth-grade teachers. They are accommodating. They always return calls, are respectful, thorough when grading papers in such a way that they explain why you got something wrong and how to fix it. I've even had moments when I've had personal issues with my daughter, and a couple of the teachers have taken the time to listen. I do wish they had more textbooks as most of them are online, but the curriculum overall is excellent.

My family has been with Ca since my oldest was in first grade. It was a great program and I happily recommended it to everyone I talked to. I cannot recommend it for Elementary students any longer. While the teachers are fantastic, the curriculum is not! They have changed the curriculum in Math and ELA so drastically. It no longer is helpful to the students! Math focuses on one concept for two units, teaching a multitude of methods for simple adding and subtracting. The quizzes and tests are designed to confuse a student rather than test their actual knowledge. If one method works for a student, then why should he or she learn 10 ways to do it that will just confuse him or her in the long run. The ELA focuses on videos and online practices. There is no longer an LC guide to allow the Learning Coach to teach their students. The school wants these videos and online practices to teach the student. They no longer encourage writing practice and reading comprehension skills. Stories are supposed to be listened to... I strongly suggest choosing a different program or straight homeschooling. I am not sure my family will be back next year.

Recently, after a complaint I made about the new curriculum, I felt as if I was told this is how it was going to be now and either get on board or leave... We'll definitely be leaving next school year and checking out other options for my children. This is not the only option available to us and CA needs to realize this.

Also, the lack of communication from the school and teachers this year has been astonishing. The teachers used to be very good at communicating, but not anymore.

I'm a Senior in high school and I've been using Connections since 9th grade and it is simply the worst. They do not let you go at your own pace and when you ask them about that policy, they say that there's a due date on the assignments. Correct me if I'm wrong but that doesn't sound like 'at your own pace' to me. I understand that things have to be turned in to receive a grade, but you mean to tell me that I have a project, a unit test with essay questions, and several regular lessons with long book readings due by tomorrow? What logic is that? It seems that the go at your own pace policy only applies to those that are ahead. Also, even if they notice that you're falling behind, they won't give you any help, or the only "help" they give you is reminding you that you're behind. The many portfolio projects can be long and can even cost you money. I am honestly disappointed with my entire high school experience with Connections.

My child will not return next year! These teachers accused my child of cheating but they have no proof or facts to back up their claims. When my child is working I am in the room with her monitoring what she is doing to make sure she doesn't cheat. The teachers ignore my emails, especially Mr. Harrison. I've observed the live lessons and they are a waste if time. There really is much learning going on. If you look at Google reviews for Arkansas Connections Academy they deleted 5 reviews made by students and parents and replaced them with reviews by the staff and faculty. Their originally score was 2.8/5 now it is a 4.8/5. This school is very shady and I am overall getting a bad vibe from this school. My daughter is in the 10th grade. She participates in class, went on a couple of field trips (which were a waste if time and only put her behind in class), and she helped organize study groups. Yet! The teacher are ignoring her and accusing her of academic dishonesty. Overall a bad school and it has only made my daughter's anxiety worse. They wrote had referral letters to this school she was interested in. What is the point of writing a referral letter if it is going to be bad. I feel like the teacher don't care enough. The only good teachers are Mark Reider and Melissa Curiel, everyone else acts weird and kinda hostile towards me and my daughter.

I have a fifth grader enrolled in MI Connections Academy. I am glad to see that others have issues with this establishment. Well, not glad, but relieved that I am not alone. Live lessons are pretty much pointless! I am basically doing the work a regular classroom teacher would do. I am explaining information, helping with problems and keeping her on task. The teacher involvement is next to none. I could have just as easily bought some textbooks and went through it all with her.
If you were a parent that has difficulty with math, then the child would suffer. This is due to the lack of information and new math techniques used today. Many of us were taught math differently than what is expected today.
They state that parents should spend about 6 hours with their child, which we regularly do. The problem is that 4 to 5 classes may be covered in that time frame. Throw in two useless live lessons and you just spent 8 hours doing school. I might as well have had my child back in public school. Very frustrated with this establishment. I will definitely not be re-enrolling my child next year!