Connections Academy

I absolutely love this school. My daughter had a biology teacher at her traditional high school who was not a good fit for her. While I would normally force her to work it out with the teacher, in this instance it wasn't worth the anxiety.

I pulled her out of that class only and enrolled her at CA. Her new Biology teacher was interested in her as a learner, was willing to individualize the curriculum needs to include what she had missed in traditional school, and was a complete professional, keeping in touch with both my daughter and myself as her learning coach.

I understand the frustration that a student might feel if they think they can work at their own pace, but it simply is only true to a point. If the school year ends on June 4, the student HAS to be done by June 4! I'm not sure why they would think that "at your own pace" means you can take as long as you want to. My daughter traveled a bit and missed about a week of school, but because she had worked ahead, she didn't fall terribly far behind. She was able to complete her late lessons at her own pace (again, within reason) to catch up and finish the class on time.

My daughter gets A's, B's and C's in traditional school and as expected, earned a B in Connections Biology. More importantly, she learned a LOT more than she would have with her traditional teacher.

IF you are willing to take personal responsibility for your education as a student, and if you are a good reader and have a good support system at home, this could very well be a GREAT opportunity for you. Parents: Keep in mind that you are expected to partner with your child's teachers as a learning coach to help keep them on track. If you don't have time to monitor each day what they are doing and where they are going on the computer, then this is probably not a good option for you!

I've been going to Connections (ARCA) for 3-4 years now, I'm in 9th-grade rn. The school is more worried about passing than anything else, they claim they care SO MUCH about the students, but they do not. If they did, they'd address the concerns that I brought up and not completely ignore them. They do not care about the students. I realized most reviews were made by parents, not students. Is it helpful to other parents? Yes, it is! But you need to also look at how the student feels. Most students I met (which was not a lot, because this school doesn't care about social interactions.) Does not like this school, most cheat because this school throws so much stuff at you. Lessons have many grammar errors, and the questions can be wrong, confusing, or have more than one correct answer, but you have to pick one answer anyway. If this school did what they claimed, I wouldn't be here. As a student with learning problems, I feel like the school does not care about me and many other students. They expect everyone to learn the same way. So if I had to say, this school NEEDS to be fixed and NEEDS to change for the better. I am going to leave after this year is over.

Edit: I want to add this. It matters from school to school. ARCA isn't good, no social interaction, no talking, nothing. At the time of making this, I was trying to do my work, but I needed to stop, there is just so much work. The weird thing is, I like reading, but for learning it's a no-go. I'm better off learning from someone talking to me, the normal school that I'm going to next year is good. No bullying, most people are nice, and it's in a really good area. If you are not good with in-person learning, your local public school is really bad, or you like being by yourself a lot, this school would be okay for you. It's just not for me. I felt like I needed to add this, so if you're fine with the stuff I said, then the school wouldn't be bad for you.

This is our second year and could not be happier! Curriculum so organized, teachers Simply phenomenal! Best educational decision!

Connections Academy states that you aren't the teacher, but a "Learning Coach". A "Learning Coach" is someone that is supposed to keep the student on track, but not to teach them anything. They say the teachers and the online lessons do that. This is not entirely truthful. When your student has a question, they will come to you for help. Either because the online lesson is convoluted and doesn't actually cover the material asked in a quiz, or because they can't get real help from their so-called teacher.

There's also a designate called "Caretaker". This person (in your household) is the person that is supposedly taking care of the student's needs, such as doctor's appointments, driving to events, meals, etc. You guessed it, the "Caretaker" and "Learning Coach" are one in the same.

So, not only are you the "Learning Coach", but the "Caretaker" and much of the time the teacher.

Don't enroll your student if they struggle in any subject and need help frequently. YOU will be providing that help.

Connections Academy is fine for someone who decided they want to be a homeschooler and was needing some curriculum already planned out for them. The state testing and reporting is all taken care of, too. But don't expect to modify the lessons.

The stress caused by CA in our family has made us decide not to re-enroll our student next school year. But that hasn't stopped CA from asking us for a review. But they only want you to give them a 9 or a 10... if you don't think they deserve that, they tell you to contact the Executive Director. So, in other words, don't give an uncomplimentary, honest review. That's why I'm doing it here.

I enrolled both of my youngest children into Ohio Connections Academy due to covid19. Overall it is a pretty good school... the teachers are present and active with my kids and the classes all all great with the exception of math. My daughters 7th grade math class uses Mathia for all assignments except for tests. The mathia program is absolutely useless! The teacher expects the students to complete two mathia workspaces a day and one workspace usually takes my daughter over an hour to complete. The wording they use on the program is confusing at best and doesn't teach the kids steps to complete the problems that they will find on the test thier teachers give at the end of the week. My daughter is about 20 assignments behind in math because of this mathia program and always struggles with the unit tests because nothing on the test is what she is seeing on mathia... she is not being taught how to do this math using mathia program so i am having to find alternative lessons for her so she will pass her unit tests. Because of Connections Academys use of mathia in their cirriculum, I do not recomend this school if your child struggles in any way with math because they will just end up more confused than they were when they started.