Finding Success with Florida Virtual School

This post was written by Tangela Walker-Craft, parent of a FLVS Flex student and graduate.

I attended traditional public schools from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Homeschooling was not something that I ever planned to do when I became a mom. I even taught at traditional public schools for several years before I had my daughter. I knew nothing about homeschooling.

During that time, when I was teaching high school, many of my best students shared with me that they had been homeschooled at some point during their lives.

Homeschooling Allowed Emari to Excel

When I had my daughter, Emari, I started working with her at home and saw that she was progressing well academically, so her father and I decided we should give homeschooling a try. When she reached middle school age, I was not sure that I was adequately equipped to teach her subjects like math and science. I did not want her to miss out on important academic content. After doing some research I discovered Florida Virtual School (FLVS).

Emari was enrolled in Florida Virtual School from 7th through 11th grade. All of her End-of-Course (EOC) assessments that were required for her to be eligible to receive a traditional diploma were completed while she was an FLVS student. Thanks to FLVS, Emari’s scores were consistently high. She earned 5’s on most of her EOC assessments. She earned a 5 out of a possible 5 on her Biology EOC when she was in the 8th grade. Biology is traditionally taken when a student is in the 10th grade. Emari was the only 8th grader who took the exam at her testing site. She also earned college credits for an Advanced Placement English course that she took with FLVS. I credit the FLVS curriculum for her high test scores.

Accelerated Learning Provided New Opportunities

Emari was admitted as an early admissions student at Polk State College during her senior year. She was able to earn her final high school credits and credits towards her freshmen year of college simultaneously. She chose to receive her high school diploma from my high school alma mater for the sake of tradition, but much of the credit for her academic success in middle and high school is due to the education that she received from Florida Virtual School.

Working online proved to be an advantage for Emari. She was able to accept casting calls to do print and video modeling because of the flexibility of her online FLVS classes. She booked several jobs for Disney. Once she began her early admissions courses at Polk State College, she was able to complete many of her courses online without the need to adjust to online learning.

Emari’s final weighted GPA was a 4.45. She applied to four colleges and universities and was accepted to all four. She was even accepted to a fifth university without submitting an application. So far, she has been awarded six scholarships.

As a parent, I am so grateful for Florida Virtual School and all that FLVS did to provide my daughter a quality education. If you’re interested in homeschooling your child, visit www.flvs.net/HomeschoolTogether.