Georgia Virtual Academy

A friend of mine homeschools her children through the GVA, which is the Georgia Virtual Academy. This is a curriculum provided by the State of Georgia & is part of the public school system. The curriculum they use is K-12 & is a better one than what is provided in the local school. On average the kids are about one year ahead in their education. This is a great choice if you don't feel you can homeschool on your own or if you cannot afford the cost of buying your own curriculum. Everything is provided free of charge & a teacher is assigned to your child to over see their progress. Your teacher meets with you & your child on occasion plus there are meet & greets, so that not only can you meet the teachers, but the other families in your area that are using the GVA. They also provide several field trips each month so that you can choose trips that are close to you locally, but you can go on as many as you want. Some of the field trips have a small fee but some are totally free. The only draw back to GVA is that you do not get to chose your curriculum or cater your courses to your childs interest. Plus you must report to them on a continuing basis & are more accountable to them, which is a good thing for some parents. However, your child is tested & put in at their own educational level & can either advance faster or go slower if they need to. Not all States offer the virtual homeschool but it is starting to grow. I know that Florida offers it, so check with your State to see if this is something you would like to enroll your child in. If homeschooling ever becomes banned, which California already tried to do, this will be an alternative that we can provide our kids.

The reason I made that point is because one of the GVA parents in my friends group went on a field trip to the Georgia State Capitol last week. They were listening in to one of the sessions in progress & they were discussing a ban on homeschooling. I haven't heard anything about it but it is something I need to look into. You may want to check your State to see if they are discussing homeschooling bans as well. We all need to be prepared with alternatives...may God help us all!