I am a convert.

I am in my 5th year homeschooling my boys. As my children’s teacher I have enjoyed the independence, the flexibility, and the ability to select curricula that fits my children’s individual needs. As their mom I cherish the time with my kids, and the excitement of helping them learn new concepts and accomplish things that they didn’t think they could do. Over the years I have heard friends and other homeschoolers talk about various virtual academies that target homeschoolers and parents who are unhappy with public schools, but nervous about taking the leap into homeschooling. Most of the programs were far too restrictive in their curriculum choices, expectations, and requirements for my needs.

About a year ago I heard of one program that made my ears perk up- Columbia Virtual Academy (CVA). The thing that initially caught my attention was purely cash related…for each child enrolled in the program they offered a nice chunk of money to be used for books, art supplies, lessons, classes, field trips, and anything else related to the child’s individual learning plan. While my interest was piqued…I was still skeptical. I did NOT want to do school at home- and I wanted to be able continue to enjoy all the freedoms that I had since the beginning of this educational journey. After further investigation, I realized that CVA could be the best of both worlds. If we enrolled part-time we would be eligible for nearly $3,000.00- and really the only thing that I/we would have to do differently is check in with a teacher on a weekly basis (the kids) and update progress reports on a monthly basis (me). I still could determine classes/curriculum/goals/objectives/use of time/field trips etc. and with CVA’s support I could offer a richer education with so many more opportunities- things that I would have loved to have done all along but couldn’t justify due to expenses.

We joined the program in August, and I am thrilled with CVA. I have recommended the program to several friends, and I will continue to sing the program’s praises to homeschoolers who feel limited in what they can offer their children due to a limited budget. At this point I have not found any negatives stemming from our involvement in CVA, and if there comes a time when I do feel that the negatives out-weigh the positives, we will simply go back to homeschooling on a frugal budget without the backing of a virtual academy. For now the trade-off has been more than worth it…and I am officially a convert.