When doing a K12 program with 3 children, would it be better to have more than just the one computer provided?
Question by Shannon M: When doing a K12 program with 3 children, would it be better to have more than just the one computer provided?
I am considering doing K12 with my 1st, 4th, and 6th graders next year. For those with experience, would it be necessary to have an additional computer for the kids to use?
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Answer by North
We’ve used the K12 program. Even though we want our kids to be learning computer skills, we found the program to be far TOO much time on the computer. After just a few weeks on the program, the younger kids were fed up with all of the time sitting at a desk in front of a computer. That said, if you’ve already tried it and do like it, then yes, it would be better for them to each have their own computer. Otherwise, you’ll have to schedule who uses the computer and when, which can get to be a bit of a nightmare. I hope this is helpful.
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I would say you will need one for each child since the work typically take 4-6 hrs a day on the computer. It would a lot easier to let each child work at the same time instead of having to schedule them 1 after the other on the computer.
I program computers for a living, and if I had to sit in front of one for 6 hours straight, I’d go totally mad.
With the first grader, you probably shouldn’t let him/her be in front of the computer more than an hour or so. The fourth grader shouldn’t spend more than 2-3 hours, and the 6th grader 4-5 hours (and that would be pushing it) The children need to be doing things other than sitting in front of the computer, and they still need one-on-one interaction with their teacher.
With that said, it may be worth while to get additional machines for logistical reasons. You can get reasonable laptops that will handle K-12 for about $250 on eBay, or purchase used desktops for as little as $160 from surplus outlets. But I wouldn’t consider it essential.
I have a 3rd grader, and this is our first year with K12. He is only in front of the computer for approximately one hour per day. In math, he does an online review of previous lessons before beginning his math lesson for the day. It takes about 5 minutes, if that long. He is supposed to log on to Study Island for at least 15 minutes per day to prepare for the CRCT. History and science lessons are rotated every other day, and those are the only lessons where he spends more time in front of the computer. Science and history include lessons that I read aloud to him online, and then a story which he reads to himself. Then there are activities to be done away from the computer, such as working on a timeline, science notebook and experiments. Then he goes back to the computer to take the assessment for the lesson. Maybe K12 required more computer work in the past, but apparently that has changed.
When I homeschooled my oldest two children, they were on different time schedules. My daughter was an early bird who finished all her work before lunchtime. My son was a nightowl who did his best work after dinner. They rarely ever did their work at the same time. I don’t think you would have much of a problem scheduling computer time with one computer. Your 1st grader could do his in the morning when you’re both fresh, since you will have to monitor his work more closely. Then if he still has a quiet time after lunch for napping or reading, one of the other two could use the computer while the other works on language, literature, spelling or math with their workbook. Then they could switch out.
Your biggest scheduling problem may come with the benchmark testing and the testing they have to do on Study Island, but the testing windows are usually one week long, so it should still be doable. They will also have monthly Elluminate sessions with their class and teacher (about one hour each), but the teachers seem pretty good about not scheduling these on top of one another.
Good luck with K12…we love it!
me and my brother use k12 and if we did not have our own computers we would go crazy!!! for a day we had to share chargers and i couldnt take it! AND the teachers can only do live classes at a specific time so they will have classes at the same time ranging from 9-3 so making u would have to cutomize a schedule every week because every week varies..it would be too hard..wat if one is taking a test needs more time but the other childe has a live session at the momement..it realy is nessasary to have ur own computer just like its nessasary to have ur own internet connection.