Connections Academy

Awesome school! Aswome teachers and staff. Teaches my daughter and son everything! Best school ever!

Our 6th grade son got stuck in online school due to Covid. He is doing well so far. Better than some.

My son will be getting a few Fs and a few other low grades because... his homeroom teacher, other teachers failed to ACTIVELY respond to his cries for help.

Positives were at the beginning of the year when some teachers had time to call and encourage him. Near the end of online high school, he got some automatic responses because teachers were busy part of the time with Istep or other projects.

He also likes the independence of homeschooling. We will be giving it one more try! And hopefully he can still graduate on time.

But... he struggled all semester to get his homework transmitted to Connections. Yes, the teacher was informed... but to no avail. People there are good at telling you to "call someone else". He will be getting an F in a class where he did the work... but it dropped out of the system.

The principal, assistant principal gave no ground. Too bad... So sad. Factually (and I am sparing much detail here) I estimate Connections as 80% responsible for the failures to heed my son's cries notably the last few weeks... and thus responsible for his 2 Fs and a couple other too-low grades. (And he was on the way to get possibly all or mostly As and Bs... before the last few assignments and exams!)

I have worked in customer service for a technical sales company and a major world bank. We NEVER treated cries for help from customers like Connections treated our son and us. Basically, no one was his advocate when he repeatedly said "I am having problems submitting stuff in all my classes".

So... if Connections works for you... fine. We liked part of it. But you need to dog their steps with emails and repeated calls IMMEDIATELY if something goes wrong. It took a week (about4-5 actual business days, with a couple of phone calls and SEVERAL emails) before an administrator called us back.

*Sigh* Where do I begin? This school is certainly great when it comes to the quality of the courses. The material is really well done. I am done with the school so this is my little final review after being in the school for like 7 years and now finished high school. If you have sleeping issues or have issues getting up early then this school is for you. But here are the main issues of the school. The workload is huge like pretty huge. I know someone who went to a good college and she saw the workload and was shocked. I mean we are young people, we like to get out and enjoy our lives you know? And not sit at home all day doing school work. When I was in public school it was much different. Second, the math courses are not a good fit for the online school. It is very lousy on how they teach it. It is very vague which you have to result in watching YouTube videos or research the type of math or possibly having a tutor... Teachers can be very rude at times. When I was in this school I have had these panic attacks or just get anxiety when it is time for CBA's. The teachers get a bit rude when you get a single question wrong but if you get others right you still get credit and pass. Now the worst part about this school is that you can be ACCUSED of cheating when you didn't First of all, literally 99% of the students in this school or online ones in general cheat anyway. And the teachers know it. They are just in it for the money. If a student is asking a question on a website that is on the test and gets the answer from that person on that website and gets away with it, then if you actually answer the question correctly and legitly, and the teachers find that internet question, they will give you a zero for the test. That is absolutely absurd so if one actually cheated then the other gets in trouble. But of course, there is nothing you can do about it. If you have a good argument it doesn't matter. Online school sounds great in the mind, but in the end is it truly better than public?

I really do not know where to begin with this awful school! If it is not the horrible customer service lieing to you about EVERYTHING and not knowing a damn thing about anything, they seem as if they don, t give a damn about your student at all! Where in the hell do they get these teachers from?! The enrollment process is a NIGHTMARE and then they look at your file and go home and nothing is being done at all! Although they will tell you it will be handled, it NEVER gets done and you have to continue to call and call and call and call until something may or may not happen! Really ridiculous! If you are seeking homeschooling options, if I were you, I would skip the aggravation and go somewhere else. This school does not care about students and will not care about your child and if you ever get enrolled this lifetime, your child will be ignored and mot taught a damn thing! They need to be reported to the state education department and BBB, just look at some of the many bad reviews concerning the enrollment and how the students are "not being taught". I ABSOLUTELY HATE THE FACT THAT I CHOSE THIS SCHOOL AS A HOMESCHOOLING OPTION FOR MY CHILD AND WILL BE RESEARCHING OTHER OPTIONS SOON.

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 think Connections Academy is perfectly fine if you're using it as a trial run before you decide if you're truly ready for an online academy. The key is; It should NOT be your permanent solution to homeschooling. I think that this is amazing if you want to try online school, but if you decide to stay within the realm of homeschooling, you should switch to a school that is paid-- Such as James Madison High, which I'm hoping to attend next year.

It isn't the best school. I will not sugar coat the fact that the math lessons are incredibly vague. However, most of the gaps that the systems have can be filled. EG, Since I can't use the math lessons, I use Khan Academy. I also purchased an Algebra 1 Review book for study. I basically don't use their math platform at all, and I come back to the lesson when I am prepared to do the Quick Check; A small test at the end of every lesson.

My teachers have always responded to my 'webmails,' and I've only had one issue with this when the school counselor didn't respond to my webmail for ~3 days. She eventually did and we worked things out pleasantly. The tests are easy if you study and read closely, and each lesson provides extra work to ensure that you understand the topic before you move on. Sometimes, they do throw in a random question in the Quick Check that you're almost certain not to know, which I do hope they fix. The unit tests are fine, everything is fine; As of this year, books etc are digitally provided. Live Lessons are essential for classes like math where the in-book explanation is very vague-- I use them whenever I need extra help in a specific area.

ALSO. The workload is NOT overwhelming if you stay up to date on your work. DO NOT fall behind; It's hell.

TLDR; Its great to use as a first go. I would not recommend it as your forever school.

This is our second year with Reach Cyber Charter (PA's Connections Academy School). I was a cyber school student myself back in the early 2000s and though I loved the idea of it I didn't particularly like the school I was with but did graduate from there. When I had kids of my own I knew I wanted to choose a cyber school option but wasn't sure which school. My son is a whizz at math and science and Reach is a STEM based school with tons of STEM clubs which we love. They also have a lot of great in person events (prior to covid) both school wide, and just events in your local community put together by the community coordinators. The communication has been top notch the last 2 years and all of the teachers and staff truly care about your student. Last year I was having some health problems and my son had to miss a few days of school due to me being hospitalized for surgery and all of his teachers were more than understanding and a few even called me personally not even about school but just to check up because they generally cared. All of the teachers go above and beyond to make sure your child is learning. I think the way they handled covid in the beginning last year was perfect and so far this year even with the huge influx of B&M students coming to cyber they even handled that to the best of their abilities and made adaptions when needed to make it work. Reach is a bit advanced I would say. I have 2 nephews in the same grade as my son in B&M and when I talk to their families about what my son is learning in school compared to their kids they are blown away because it is far more advanced than what their kids are learning. And I don't mind that. I think it is a good thing but if were just coming in from a public school to this I am sure it would be extremely overwhelming at first. However we started in cyber school from the start so we are used to the work load. We wouldn't change a thing about the experience. I think Reach is the perfect school for our family and we will continue to be here most likely until my kids graduate.

My kids are currently in 9th and 10th grades. I made the decision to take them out of the public high school for two reasons. One reason was that my 10th grader was starving to be challenged academically and her high school had no program for gifted or talented students. My other daughter was suffering from anxiety issues that stemmed from being bullied at her previous school. I had heard nothing but good things about Connections Academy from several parents and students, they seemed to have a huge selection of classes to choose from (including honors classes, which was appealing to us), and they advertise that each student can work at their own pace. They even have examples of students who have pretty high demands on their time, such as child actors and even Olympic athletes. So we thought this would be a good choice. My older daughter would be able to get the stimulation she was craving with their large variety of classes and my younger daughter would get the space she needed to heal from her experiences. It seemed like a no-brainer.

We have been at Connections for 5 months now and I have to say I am not impressed. At all. My kids came down with a flu in February and were each down for a week. They have been struggling to keep up ever since, even though they have been putting in longer days to get caught up. I have contacted teachers, their advisory teacher, and the school counselor. Both my girls were A and B students until they started Connections Academy and now they are getting C's, D's and even F's. Teachers and staff have been very unhelpful with a "sorry we can't help you" attitude. While my kids' friends have time for the fun things, social things, that kids their age should be doing, my kids are stuck at home struggling to catch up from missing a week of school. I worry that they will lose their love for learning completely if they continue at Connections.

Hugely disappointed mother.

My son has been enrolled in Minnesota Connections Academy for 6 years. I did not think that it would be difficult to transfer to Coastal Connections when we moved to Florida last month. Enrollment was closed for the fall, but we were told we could enroll him for the spring semester. His immunization record was refused because it was not on a Florida form (funny, Minnesota does not use Florida forms). I made him a pediatrician appointment to get a new physical and the immunizations transcribed to the Florida form. Just this week I confirmed with the enrollment department that Coastal Connections did not have a student cap and I was fine to wait until his scheduled appointment next week. Imagine my shock to get an email yesterday that the school had placed a cap on enrollment and no more students could enroll for the next semester. However, I was graciously provided an invitation to enroll my child in Pearson Academy (the private Connections program) at a generous 50% off. The 50% off value leaves me paying a tuition of $2,000 for spring semester to keep my son enrolled in a program we have attended for the past 6 years. The private school will not provide any of the IEP/IHP services my son has received from Minnesota Connections. I will now have to pay for those too. All of this when the enrollment office confirmed with me last night that they could indeed see all of the conversations I have had with them regarding my son's transfer. And still, the answer is too bad for me. I will have to pay up to stay with the program. Let me reiterate. I was told Monday I was fine waiting to submit the last two forms until after my son's appointment with the pediatrician next week. "The school does not have a student cap." The very same week I get an email that the school has implemented a cap and I must pay to keep my son enrolled in online classes. They further acknowledge that they can see the documentation of this conversation, but will not honor their word. I am now writing a check for $2K plus what his support services will cost throughout the semester, and the response is "Tough luck. We changed our minds." We have always been so happy with Minnesota Connections. This has really shattered our trust in Coastal Connections.

Location: Coastal Connections Academy

I was sold on the "flexibility" -yes, you have flexibility, but you'll "pay" for it, by becoming even more swamped, couldn't keep up! She got A's and B's in regular school, she is smart, but this method is insanity, she struggled with lessons that are repetitive, redundant and were so long, The amount of reading is ridiculous. It was so stressful every day to keep up. That's all it was, barely keeping up. You won't enjoy school vacays and weekends or days off, because of the crush of work to do. A friend had her child in it, so I tried it, right after I enrolled, she pulled her child out. I thought, "uh oh." she expressed what I am expressing right now; but I thought, "everyone is different, we'll try it." I wish we never did it. The "field trips" are always on the other side of the state or at least a few hours ride away and very few and far between. It is "packaged" as a wonderful program, but you'll see how overwhelming it is. The anxiety every morning turning that computer on was through the roof, it was not enjoyable, it was drudgery. And it was difficult to get through the Walpole, MA school admin. Office, mailboxes are full or the option they give you is an "invalid entry." Rarely do you get a call back IF you can find a mailbox with room on it. I had to call the 1800 number more just to get a human being. She has an IEP and there wasn't IEP support, she was on her own. They are a business, they need good reviews to get the money from the state. I have been trying to unenroll her for a week and keep getting a runaround. They need the numbers for the audits and the funding. I feel that I am being discouraged and ignored because they don't want to let a student go, it's B. S. --When you google reviews, check the website it is on, it's usually a "connections academy" website review, so they will all be stellar.

I have been at this school for 2 years now, and I have been astounded as to the quality of general knowledge that I have gained through this school, and the general quality of the lessons, (in most cases) is very good. However, there are a few glaring problems with the system that have discouraged me from re-enrolling. The first being the scheduling system. I have seen a lot of reviews on this school claiming that the workload is too much. Typically, this is not true, and I can get by the average day getting all As on my assignments by 3 PM. Notice, however, I said average. Because of poor design of the schedule, there will be slack periods, days which I will get few to no lessons assigned to me, and then others in which I will receive up to 4 portfolios or projects to be completed within 2 days! I find that absolutely ridiculous. My second complaint is that response time from teachers is incredibly slow via the "webmail" and on occasion I find myself needing to send up to 10 messages before being responded too. Other times the teachers are simply on vacation. Lastly, this school, in general, is not for the faint of heart or weak. Assignments are hard, and the concept of self-teaching, in general, requires a great deal of self-control. I am in the same classes as around 50 other people, many of them, alongside me, have high grades and are capable of handling the workload. Others are, however, in the D's and F's, and are incredibly unhappy with the workload. That just goes to show this school is not for everyone, which makes this last thing not a complaint but a simple statement. The school isn't at fault for everything, its just designed for a certain type of person, and your child may not be that kind of person. I think that this is an incredibly good school, with a few problems, but should definitely be explored more before enrollment. If you are asking, how do I know? There are multiple programs over summer that don't require commitment, which can give a rough, but effective idea of what to be expected, these include khan academy (also a partner of connections), brain chase, and probably some others. I definitely recommend this school, for a select few people with maturity, and a willingness to work hard. If your child does not have this, you can forget about enrolling.

Worst Enrollment process ever! ITS END OF AUGUST AND MY CHILD HAS STILL NOT STARTED SCHOOL! Our last call before today was 10 days ago after they told us that our account has been sent over to the principle of Georgia connections academy for placement. Today we call and still on the phone...i have been placed on hold for 5 times...lady I was speaking to didn't like my tone and frustration so when I asked to speak to a supervisor or someone who can advice us on what is really going on...she sent me to another department...APPARENTLY IM ON HOLD NOW FOR 15 MIN WAITING ON PLACEMENT TO PICK UP!...

Back story,
We started enrollment for my 2nd grade son in JULY. They asked us to upload documents from his previous school. I had a copy of his last report card on my Email so i sent it in...they sent it back saying it was missing the school year...I went ahead and called the school and requested an official transcript.Once we had it we uploaded it together with all the health documents. We called same day to confirm they had received all documents. They said they now have everything and are submitting our account to the principle to review and placement. Well.Ten days later, they are still saying our report card is still missing the year...but this is after several people told us it should not matter because we have submitted an official transcript. There is no way for us to delete a document so i asked them if they can remove the report card from our account because apparently thats what has been holding everything!...I regret pulling my son out of the school he was in...school started 2nd of AUGUST, we still dont have a clear path to what is going to be done...they are giving us the run around and constantly giving us different information. I will not be surprised if they email us telling us the 2nd grade placements are now full and no more space.what a joke!...im still on hold with placement btw...1:00:17 later!

Update! Surprise surprise, 2nd grade is now on waiting list! This is beyond unacceptable

Location: Georgia Connections Academy

The portfolios can be tedious, but a good education is provided and the teachers have been helpful.

After months of trying to get my son enrolled, I was told he would not be accepted if his grades were low. I told them at the first contact the REASON I was enrolling him was due to COVID and the "confusion" within his current school. NEVER was I made aware this semester's grade (AGAIN DUE TO COVID) would be an issue with getting him enrolled.

I'll spare the long story but will tell this... once this was made aware to me today I asked to speak to a supervisor. After the discussion, I asked her for stats on why kids enroll in Connections Academy. She told me
1. Parents with kids in sports so their schedule is more flexible
2. Kids being bullied
3... this is the big one. Kids with special needs because they "can't function in a public school setting" I had a few choice words from her coming from this mom of another child with special needs... YES some kids with special needs can't handle the socialization to make the ASSINE statement that ALL kids with special needs can't is beyond frustrating.

I then got into the discussion of his grades and was connections academy taking into consideration COVID and realizing a lot of students grades were being affected and she then stated that
"his current academy transcripts won't change because she changes schools" So basically stating my child can't be helped by changing schools/systems... I then reminded her as she did me, that the call was being recorded and told her I was thankful it was being recorded because the statements she had just made are reasons their school should NOT be operating! When I asked to speak to her supervisor I was told that her supervisor wasn't in the office... how convenient!

I highly suggest avoiding this "option" based solely on their lack of communicating information and their statements that are clearly UNTRUE! Please take your children's education seriously and not trust it to people like this!

My daughter recently enrolled into connections academy because she was tried of public schools my daughters been an straight A student and when she tends to get a B she completely spazes out, continue the story well I took my daughter out of public school and put her into Connections Academy and it was the WORST! In the beginning it was ok I had contact with the teachers and I thought everything was going well my daughter would wake up stay at home and work she liked it so I did and it wasnt until one day I came home from work and founded my daughter starting to spaz our once again I asked her what happened she said she has Ds Fs and overdue assignments I said that cant be I quickly grabbed the laptop and looked at her grades and it was true I asked her why is it that is it harder and she said they give her test on things she did not learn and when she submits an assignment it comes up as not submited and when she tries to do it again it says that she dose not have access to it I immediately grabbed my house phone and called the school teachers and the tech support but they did NOT get back to me until the next week i completely went off on all of them my daughter is galdly back in regular school and for the distraction she keeps her self busy DO NOT put your kid into connections academy I am very sure there are different and better home schools connexus is NOT one

Immunization records for online school is ludicrous. This stupidity is a complete turn-away!

We switched to Connections Academy in Washington State a few months ago. My kids are in 6th, 4th and 3rd. My kids love it and I love that they are home with me all day. It is a school so you do have to spend a good amount of time learning and doing assignments. People post that there is too much work but it's really not. My kids spend less time doing school work with WACA then they spend at their public school. But we do spend at least 4 to 5 hours plus reading each day doing school work. It's not laying around and being lazy kind of deal that I think some people are expecting online school might be. It's real school work that has to be done each day... Yes it is flexible... If you have something going on on Monday you can skip doing your school work that day and do extra work the other days or finish it up on the weekend. But you can't just push off the work to do when you feel like it or you will quickly get behind... That is not a good feeling. I feel like my kids can learn more doing online school. If they have a question when we are going over a lesson or want more info we can stop and look up the info or watch a video to get more details or we can simply just talk about what we are learning. This is something they can not do at public school because they have to quickly move on to the next lesson or activity. I have also read about people complaining about needing to track hours. It's very simple... you put in 6 hours each day M-F into the computer systems... It's super simple. You don't actually have a stop watch counting your time spent learning. The teachers are nice. My kids have one live lesson everyday M-F. They are required to go to at least one a week to get their teacher contact in. My kids go to all their live lessons... It's school and I want them to learn as much as possible. It's also another way to interact with the other kids. Some teachers allow more of it than others. I think the only negative for me is my daughter misses seeing her friends at school. The social part of it. We do plan on signing up for field trips next school year to get more involved with the school and meet other families. Since there are so many negative comments I just wanted to give my feedback. Connections Academy is a great school if you have the time to help your children go through the lessons and you are ready to do some work. It's not something you sign your kids up for and have them figure it out on their own...

I have been attending California Connections Academy for 5 years now. As you read most of these comments, you can obviously see that there are a lot of bad ones, but that's because only the really pissed off people feel the need to come on here and trash the school, so take those with a grain of salt. When it comes to communicating with teachers, all my teachers over the years have been great at getting back to me very quickly. You got to remember that the teachers are not the ones creating our academic content, so no need to blame them for the amount of lessons. There are higher up people that do the software and create the material, our teachers are really just there to grade and answer questionsnothing bad about that at all, that's just their job. My counselors over the years have been fantastic and I cannot thank them enough. I also have an IEP and most of my teachers have been very accommodating. The only teacher that I had a problem was the AP US History teacher, who couldn't understand why I had an IEP and asked me if I was faking it. That has been my only bad situation with any teachers at this school. Ms. Finkelstein, who I had for Algebra 2, was a great teacher and probably one of my most favorite teachers out of the 5 years that I have attended this school. My 11th grade counselor, Yvonne Hernandez, was such a great counselor and so helpful! The receptionist that works at the front desk in the Capistrano Office was so nice and great to talk too! I forget her name, but she is blonde and the main one you talk if you ever go into the Capistrano office. The in-person biology lab teacher, Ms. Solomon was such a great teacher and the one that did my letters of recommendations for college. I just got accepted into UCLA and USC. I only have about 2 more months until I graduate and I am really going to miss this school!

We love the flexibility and ability to complete assignments when we're able to.

The teachers are great all the staff is wonderful.kids been going for years

I like the curriculum and the flexibility to teacher my son

Very grateful for all u teacher's and staff thank you for all u do love the Anderson family