Resource Description
The K¹² International Academy is an accredited, private online school that offers the world-renowned curriculum from K¹², the market leader in online curriculum programs for grades K-12. K¹² also offers a virtual public school; be sure you understand the difference as the virtual public school is under the umbrella of a local school district.
Website: K¹² (may contain affiliate links)
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(59 Reviews)
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Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: Way too much work, Very Annoying
Grades Used: 7th
I was a student myself and was highly excited to try out homeschool, until it became overwhelming and the more work I did the more popped up. Even though I had good grades I still failed, my parents scolded me because they thought it was my fault I didn't pass and this ruined me
Cons: Software problems, general annoyance, bad methods, ineffective and redundant, no continuity
Grades Used: 10th
I currently attend online school, and honestly I haven't been impressed. Geometry has taken me through a billion things that aren't even really classified as geometry, history (honors) doesn't stick to a timeline whatsoever (we keep jumping around and its confusing as hell), Spanish II is way more advanced than I was expecting (and I did take spanish I trust me), about the only classes I understand and can follow are fine arts, english, and biology
Also, the computer they sent is mediocre, and the geometry tools are literal garbage (the compass barely works)
I attended a charter school before this, and during the pandemic we had our own online system that I worked with really well, so I figured going through this year online wouldn't be so bad. I was very wrong, its nothing like my old school's online program and i can safely say my grades are the worst they've ever been
Not only that, but a lot of the time the software for assignments wont show me what i did wrong, so i have no clue what i need to work on. this is specifically aimed at the math quizzes.
I should also have the option to drop out of classes and take different ones I think, but no dice. Also, the fact that the parent/"learning coach" can just pick your classes and sign you up for them without asking the student first ticks me off majorly (my dad did this, if you were wondering) and I could go on and on about the technical problems that this school has, for hours probably.
TL;DR please DO NOT send your child to this school unless you actually want them to fail! Its awful and they'll put a lot of unnecessary information into the lessons.
Cons: Completely unrealistic expectations for 1st grader
Grades Used: First
Completely overwhelming with amount of work expected from 1st grader. Literally 6 hours logged everyday. For example 2 hrs 45min of ELA work alone. The content is great but way too much of it. And crazily enough, if we complete the days assignments (nearly never happens) and log the estimated time need to complete each course, it falls hours short of the 6 hours required. Where do we invent those 2 plus hours somedays?!?
And from the mouths of truancy people at NCVA, the only excused absence is for extended hospital stays. So if you, the student or learning coach is sick, or has appts for anyone in the family that would normally be excused for hours attending an actual school, those hours need to be made up. Not just the work, I get that. The hours. Miss 2 days. That's 12 hours to spread out over a week. Not realistic.
Cons: political lessons, extrememly hard work, time consuming, terrible teachers, and terrible system
Grades Used: 7
we were very excited at first about the flexibility but the school ended up being the worst year of my daughter's life. she was always a smart girl but this year they have literally set her up to fail. all the teachers are terrible and don't deserve their jobs. needless to say, she will never be going again.
Cons: None
Grades Used: 2nd, 4th
So many of these reviews are about various k12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS and NOT about the International Academy. The public schools may be horrible or great based on your state.
The k12 International Academy is a PRIVATE school. There is tuition. The courses are not the same! The teachers and admin are not the same. The degree of flexibility is not the same. K12 International Academy is wonderful especially for ELA and History. It is mastery based, great depth, and provides multiple opportunities for acceleration. Truly a great program. I hope readers will understand the dofference as they comb through these reviews. I hope the administrator of this site will delete some of these public school reviews as they are misleading about the International Academy (renamed K12 private academy).
Cons: Limited teacher availability
Grades Used: 3rd
Not going to lie, at the beginning of the pandemic, the K12 curriculum was very difficult for my daughter. Having been in a public school that never left her homework, she was overwhelmed. The courses were very advanced and some of them referred to the 2nd grade curriculum. I had to teach without having the curriculum, but we got through it okay. In our second semester, we finally found our groove. I am lucky enough to be able to be her full time teacher and I’m by her side 90% of the day. Some days we finish by noon, other days we’re still going at it until 6PM. It is not easy to teach and I respect every single teacher out there who do this with children who aren’t theirs. Can it be stressful? Absolutely! Is it fun? Absolutely! I love everything she’s learning and every challenge that comes with it. I make school fun for her and she gets to pick which class she’s ready to learn. Her prior school didn’t have honor roll, so it was an amazing shock to see she made honor roll with distinction! She definitely feels a lot more confident about her education. I understand that the pandemic has put a lot of pressure on parents and I can see why this school isn’t for children of parents who can’t be by their kiddo’s side. It’s also not for closed minded people who are offended by history or parents who don’t find education fun. This has been the best year for my kiddo and puts us in a bind going forward. We only intended this to be while the pandemic happened, but with reports of children falling behind in public schools, this may be our new norm. My 5th grade nephew was kept in regular school and was put in a blended classroom with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Comparing that education to K12, my nephew is completely unprepared for middle school.
Cons: Way too much work/Lack of teaching
Grades Used: 10
My son used K12 through a virtual academy with his regular school as a result of the pandemic. My son is on the spectrum but does well in his regular school. His K12 course workload was insane as compared to anything he's done at his brick and mortar school. History required at least one five-paragraph essay every week. Other than his geometry class, none of his classes were taught live or gave appropriate interaction between the teacher and students. Thankfully I work from home so I could help him during the day, but he spent almost every weekend of the semester (and every school break) catching up on assignments just so he could finish by the K12 permanent zero deadlines. This experience with K12 was the most stressful semester I've had with my kids in school and I'm glad we aren't doing it any longer.
Cons: No communication with parents; Extremely difficult to navigate (Parent #1 = IT Professional and Parent #2 Post Grad Student intimately familiar with Black Board and Focus); Not sending emails to parents just to child. Sterile, flat curriculum = reading only. No Differentiation w/ Learning Styles; Not for 2e kids or G/T kids.
Grades Used: 8th grade Math and Art
Deeply conflicted if we will use again. (1) It is regular public school curriculum (secular homeschooler here) using regular school text books with no verbal/power point presentation or video instruction. THIS IS INTESELY, MIND NUMBINGLY BORING. I assumed the videos they mentioned in catalog would at least be more than just a few math videos from text producer - not full lectures. This has killed the love of learning my child once to display. (2) Parent Portal (old and new) is useless. Extremely difficult to navigate and know where to look to see what/how your child is doing- especially if you are a part time student. My husband is an IT professional and I have used Blackboard and Focus throughout my academic career = not our first time at the rodeo. It is easier to log in as child and read curriculum, see grades, read communications from teacher (if there are any) and add supplementation from there (which you will need to do) = might as well go back to homeschooling completely myself, which was less work even while working full time and going to grad school. (3) The only reason we might continue is for "credits" for maths and sciences -BUT- you must attend as FULL TIME high school student for TRANSFERABLE CREDIT. TTU K-12 will only "keep and report" (read transfer) grades if you are "full time" - not "part time" students (they send you an unofficial report and do not keep your grades). Unless you officially "transfer" credits to a public high school (and many private) or take extra courses at TTU already enrolled in your ISD= they will not accept as a credit at our ISD nor any other ISD I have spoken with (We live in Houston = there are many). This means if my child decides to go back to public school (or even private) they would be started in HS Algebra opposed to whatever math they had already advanced too. I just don't think he can put up with all the vapid busy work = why we left traditional schooling in the first place. Sad, public/private education continues to cling to old ideas of education and squander decades of research not to advance online learning for all. You would think a University would be leading, not trailing behind.
My daughter is a senior in high school. Before the pandemic she was an honor student. She's actually already taking online college classes while still in high school and doing well. Our school chose K12 for us during the pandemic as a provider for virtual school. This has been the most anxiety producing experience of my daughter's school career. Numerous times her online math teacher has been missing or has changed in one semester. We wait 6 to 8 weeks for work to be graded and entered by K12 teachers. She has no idea for months what her grades are. She doesn't know if she is prepared for the final exam because she doesn't know what errors she made during earlier tests. It has jeopardized her grade point average and chance for scholarships and jeopardized her graduation. This is a student who was on track to graduate with honors.
Cons: False gods everywhere, even starting at grade 1
Grades Used: 1
I am very upset with this curriculum. "History" lessons for 1st graders have pushed an agenda which is NOT necessary knowledge about false egyptian gods and illegally presented information as though they were facts about these false gods. The students are asked to "identify the sun-god" and other examples like this, which is not only against our beliefs but is against the law to teach false religion information as though they are facts.
Now during this 1st grade mid-semester Language Arts assessment, we are presented with more false gods in the "Legend of the Hummingbird" and our students are asked questions with right or wrong answers about how these false gods were spoken about in the story as though they were fact.
I read the story to my child but omitted the HIGHLY UNNECESSARY sentences about false gods, so my child got a couple questions about this story in the assessment wrong because I refuse to teach her false doctrine.
Please STOP including information about false gods as though they were fact in your curriculum as this is against the law.
Cons: Too much work, too hard. Maybe its for xhildren that are geniuses, I dont know.
Grades Used: 1st and 4rth
I have two children enrolled in the k12 program in WAm The K12 curriculum and workload is horrendous. It is dry and repetitive. There are glitches in pretty much every first grade phonics lesson. First week of 1st grade they expected my kid to write all numberst from1-100 in one sitting, learn to count by 2, 5 and 10 all in one week. The first week ELA storie made him cry- about a native american orphan that has to throw the only doll he has in the fire to appease the spirits and stop the draught. And about a chicken that has only one leg and one eye that gets punished by getting cooked(!) My little guy was in tears. There is constant testing and you have to get 80%. If you get under 80% you fail.They are using a phonics course that has a 50 minute test once a week. And you can not fall under 80%. Ever. Do you know of any first grader that will sit through a 50 minute quiz? Weekly? I dont.
It taks 4 to 7 hours for my fourth grader to get through the day. 7 hours!!!! 5 hours for my first grader IF we do all the required material.
Cons: not enough teacher help, not flexible, too much work
Grades Used: 3 and 6
I have a child in third grade and one in sixth grade in K12, CAVA Los Angeles. I am seriously disappointed in the school. The third grade teacher does virtually no teaching. We have one 45 minute Language arts class per week and one 45 minute math class. They are both TERRIBLE. She clearly has no idea how to talk to children or teach them. Once a week is a science "class" in which she shows a few youtube videos. We actually prefer that one to the ones in which she attempts to teach herself. Needless to say, I am my child's teacher. It is very time consuming, especially since the workload is INSANE. At first, I thought the curriculum would be great. They sent us a lot of good materials and it seemed really well thought out. However, as we progress I realize this is not the case. The math moves way too fast, and there is not nearly enough repetition to make anything stick. After a few days of multiplication they moved onto unknown variables, then quickly onto to two operand problems (5 x n = 35 and 5 x 3 - n = 10). They did not even bother to give the kids time to really study multiplication. My older son went to "real" school for third grade, and they spent a long time practicing multiplication before moving on to more complex problems. Not k12- they just push on! And, if your kid needs more time, Too bad! And, the school is very inflexible. This not a homeschool. Do not think it is. It is a public school that you have to teach yourself. There is compulsary attendance and tons of assignments and tests. It is really easy to fall behind. I hate this school. I won't do it again next year.
My 6th grader is mostly on his own because I can't teach 3rd grade and 6th grade at the same time. Luckily his teacher does seem to do a good job with math and language arts. However, he does not teach history at all. The kids must teach it to themselves by reading a dry history text (usually 10-12 pages a week!) and taking tests. It is very hard. The teacher said the school makes them teach so many hours of math and LA and there is no time left for history.
Cons: They will lie
Grades Used: 4
They told me my daughter failed when I have Screenshot proofs of him getting really good grades. Its also very hard to get a hold of someone for help. They are constantly having issues with their system.
Cons: Illegal teachings about religion
Grades Used: 1
My daughter is in 1st Grade and is 6 years old.
The law states that public schools teaching religion is unconstitutional. Several of the sections in History 1 Summit Unit 2: Lesson 5: gods of ancient egypt are pushing beliefs that very strongly conflict with our religious beliefs.
"Teaching religion" amounts to religious indoctrination or practice and is clearly prohibited in public schools. A public school curriculum may not be devotional or doctrinal.3 Nor may it have the effect of promoting or inhibiting religion. A teacher must not promote or denigrate any particular religion, religion in general, or lack of religious belief.4 A teacher must not interject personal views or advocate those of certain students. Teachers must be extremely sensitive to respect, and not interfere with, a student's religious beliefs and practices. Students must not be encouraged to accept or conform to specific religious beliefs or practices. A program intended to teach religion, disguised as teaching about religion, will be found unconstitutional." (https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/religion-in-public-schools/curriculum)
I have looked through History 1 Summit Unit 2: Lesson 5: gods of ancient egypt and can find several instances where the information about false gods are being represented as fact. Even the lesson guide says that 2 of the objectives for this lesson is for the student to "Identify Amun-Ra as the sun god" and "Identify Osiris as the god of the Nile".
I contacted our daughter's teacher and k12 directly about this matter and I hope some changes are made swiftly.
Cons: online teachers can't discipline or motivate students, near zero social interaction
Grades Used: 5
My child is coming from one of the best school districts in our state, yet he still complains that K12 is more work than he had previously. Really, it varies greatly. Some days, he's done after only 2-3 hours of work. Other days, he'll spend up to 8 hours on it and complain a lot. For the light days, it's been important to have other things for him to do. Library books, Scratch, and Prodigy Math have been great.
The system has been great. We were able to get him into 6th grade math, so he's navigating the elementary and middle school systems. I like the middle school system better, as teachers are focused on their subject. We're both new to both systems, and it's gone OK. For several weeks, I had to spend extra time in evenings checking on everything as it was easy to miss something. The K12 system offers many ways to monitor progress and has been surprisingly reliable and quick. It was down maybe once so far and that was brief. Impressive given that several of his classes have 100+ kids in them!
There are some big issues to virtual learning in general. It's nearly impossible for teachers to discipline kids. So, they have to keep chat and microphone off nearly all the time as someone will disrupt otherwise. A big issue is that all the classes are huge. So, there's little opportunity for the kids to interact with each other or the teacher. Overall, it's worked for us only because he's fairly self driven and is able to figure things out on his own. At this point, I'm spending less than an hour a day with him -- and that's generally only to check his progress at night to make sure he didn't miss something.
A downside is that the huge classes and privacy issues prevent him from interacting with other students. Since he has other friends in the neighborhood that are also virtual, he's been fine. We had virtual lunch today with a friend of his. We also get together with some of his friends for exercise (biking or roller blading) at least once a week. It's too bad that K12's system doesn't have better support for this. At least a gym class would be nice (where kids have their web cams on and do exercises). They need more an outlet for their social needs. The large classes have to keep chat and microphones off. K12 needs to supplement with teacher monitored small classes and group projects. Let the kids teach the other kids in small groups with a teacher monitoring while they do grading or prepare materials.
I'm also disappointed that it hasn't taken more advantage of this setting to offer varied learning experiences. With the wealth of online material, it should be possible to let kids diverge more and pursue things they're interested in at the time. Since motivating them is the hardest part, I really think it needs to enable greater diversification in its courses. 5th grade should have a (Scratch) programming class that is taught by a team of people who focuses only on that and build materials for all students in the country. They need smaller, staff-monitored groups. But, the monitoring staff does not need to be an expert on the topic. Let that go to a team of professionals building a specialized course available to all K12 schools in the country.
Also, I'd love to have more supplementary (after school) virtual courses for my child. Some days, my child has a lot of extra time.
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: 8 5 K
There is way too much work for these kids. Every assignment has book work plus computer work. There aren't any teachers teaching the kids. The parents have to be the teacher. It doesn't make sense that there are teachers but they don't do anything and are not of any help. The way I look at it, either have the kids do book work or computer work. And probably have the teachers actively teach the students rather the parents.
Cons: 150/1 student to teacher ratio, poor curriculum, deceptive marketing
Grades Used: 7
Enrolled my son in the Arizona K12 program for about a month. I was assured that he would be able to work at his own level because the classes were customizable. This is an absolute lie. My son was breezing through assignments 2 years behind in curriculum. It was a joke. 7th grade doing add and subtract number lines? 5 weeks into the program? No. I cannot tell if this is being done to appeal to the lowest common denominator to guarantee higher average grades and high pass rates or if their curriculum really is that far behind in the basics.
Then, their system problems are rampant! Their website is constantly down, you can't log in, their own teachers can't log in, completed assignments aren't being recorded as completed correctly, attendance entries aren't being counted correctly, or some other technical difficulty is going on every week. I am not exaggerating. I could see that in the first week or two as they ramp up but we are half way through the first quarter?
Cons: Hard to keep up with extensive lists of work, not for disabled people
Grades Used: A-F
It's not easy. The 7th, 9th, and 11th grade curriculum is extensive, and is designed for students who can move a a relatively fast pace. It's not for dyslexics or learning disabilities. It might work for kids with emotional problems without academic delays. Having said that, the curriculum is MUCH more rigorous than traditional school. When they get done with the school year, they will definitely have some time management skills. I would not recommend this curriculum for kids who don't have a learning coach immediately available the whole time they're working on school stuff.
Cons: too many to count
Grades Used: 4
My grandson was in rolled in Indiana digital gateway Academy and it was a joke. I was told he would be online with a teacher and being taught when in reality I was the one teaching him. Is teacher was online with him 3 times A-day for approximately 20 minutes each time. Know going into this that you will be the teacher!
Cons: poorly constructed program
Grades Used: 1st
Just started K12 for my first grader, I lasted 2 days and quit, the program is a joke, counterintuitive website, basic errors in the assignments. Don't waste your time!
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: Three
My son has autism, my story is the same as all the negative statements listed above. I am a full time college student and it very inportantant to me to graduate as I too am a single mother. People want to say that is an excuse to make it easier on our selves but by the time I am done with work I have completed a 4 man job in one body. K-12 do not have enough information to help with any thing and will put you off and dismiss and transfer you until you are completely bleeding out.If you want to make it with k-12 do not expect them to help you futher with special education. I have spoken to 65 people at k-12 and Hallsvill 3 others .and been transferred countless time's a d made 120 phone calls. Do yourself a favor find another way.After I have take the proper steps to correct this hopefully we will see a better k-12. If not maybe the next person will be more effective.
Cons: not free even if you qualify for free computer, they lie nothing like what they said it was.
Grades Used: 1st, 3rd, 11th
went though the whole process to get my children everything they needed to do school online even upgrade my internet so it would be faster . I was told that we where approved for two free computers an that we would get a email upon shipment not to worry I even told them my back up computer wouldn't run all programs required an i can't afford to buy two $600 computer k12 lied said dont worry all will be shipped to you including books an computers . Here i am on week two of school no computer when I called to find out whats going on they told me I was denied because of lack of income papers (not true ) nothing on my parent portals I have 2 said anything about being denied everything was accepted. Called admin to see whats i could get done about this since school was starting after talking to computer tech line they where nice an said just get on the list an we can ship your computers out normally in two days ok great right. WRONG called admin to fix problem an get on list they out of computers an have no care about you or your children who where lied to .my paper work was in they failed to tell people there was a limited supply of computers. An tried to make it look like it was me not submitting proper paper when I have emails proving thats false. The school tells you its k12 but thats who represents them . Then you ask about why the school always down for maintenance while I'm trying to catch three children up An its k12 . Terrible lying people who have no heart for low-income families its not free . Its not easy . The teacher not one on one . Its all a lie . I have a few teachers who actually good teachers the rest have no idea what there doing . I have about 2hr of reading lesson instructions before I can even have children do school not at all like they tell you when your enrolling.
Cons: Autism/disability!
After it took me over a week to get everything from my child's school!! I turned in EVERYTHING!! AN THEN I GET OFF WORK AN check my emails, an they denied my childs application!!! So I just got off the phone with them, found out because her test scores was too low!!! REALLY??? SHE HAS AUTISM!!! Her scores will be low!! Iam so upset right now!! But more angry 😠 then anything- how dar they denie my child!!! This will not end here!! So I ask them so because She has a disability, she is denied!! They said o um well its cause of her score!!! Bullcrap! ITS BECAUSE THEY ARE discriminating on disabled children!!! Pathetic!! So I went ahead and Drew my other children out of their K12 program as well!! Forget them..
Cons: Too much work, not flexible and way to overwhelming
Grades Used: kindergarden
The materials they sent was overwhelming. Way to much work for a kindergardener and as a single mom with two jobs this was unrealistic. I thought this would be a more "work at your owen pace" and it wasnt After a couple days we were overwhelmed and we both wanted to quit. We spent less tiem reading and actually doing hands on and more time on the stupid computer. My son is autistic and we needed something that conformed more to his way of learning. Definently dont recoomend.
Cons: Attitude, unorganized, no help & kids missed 2 months because they don't send the withdrawal slips.
Grades Used: 2nd, 4th ,8th & 9th
It's been 2 months and I've been trying to get withdrawal slips & I've gotten hunged up on just because I expressed how frustrating the situation is! One specific African American lady says "I can't hear you" Then hangs up & continues to do that everytime I called just because I said it's ridiculous that Its going on 2 months to get withdrawal slips and I asked for a supervisor or a corporate number and she didn't like that. I get forward all the time to a machine! It's ridiculous & they said there's no one to file the complain. It's crazy! I would appreciate if this gets addressed and the withdrawal department gets addressed as well! My kids missed 2 months of school because of this! I haven't even complained to them about how they said my daughter needed to be re-enrolled and when I tried to do so they said there's no space, then they call me a month later saying I need to update her attendance, I explained that I enrolled her in another school. Then I get a bunch of stuff shipped to my house for my daughter who isn't in the school and emails and calls of different teachers saying they we're my daughters teacher! They had my daughter in 1st and 2nd grade at the same time! I keep getting emails about her missing work and i told them a bunch of times she was not in the school and it doesn't end. Thank you