Odyssey Charter Schools

Odyssey was awesome. I went there from 6^th-​12^th grade. I love the idea of one day a week for 4 hours 8−12pm or 12pm-​4pm. And everything is done online.

It’s becoming more apparent that their needs to be a overhaul with the school system in this county. Charter schools are becoming more popular for a reason. They focus on actual real education and eliminate the excess waste of physical education and other unnecessary programs that don’t have a direct positive impact on why Nevada ranks in the bottom of the school system nation wide. I know allot of hard working teachers and upper level staff in this city. They are all great people and truly care for the kids in this city. At the end of the day teachers lives matter just like blue lives matter! I’m looking forward to the desperately needed overhaul that will be coming very soon.

Our third year at Odyssey, so I thought I would share some info and highlights with parents looking for alternatives to traditional school setting.
I have long considered home school for my son, who has struggled with traditional school setting for years. Asperger’s diagnosis comes with many challenges, making getting through a typical school day a struggle. After trying everything from Child Find early program when he was three, to attending public school, to moving onto catholic school, all the while partaking in behavioral, speech therapy, autism programs, medication, I was open to trying just about anything to make the educational experience as effective for my son and smooth for those around him as I could. Home school seemed like a logical choice, but I was always intimidated by the idea. A friend suggested Odyssey, and what a gem it turned out to be!
Your child gets all curriculum, support, materials he could need or want. The roadmap is clearly defined, there is no guess work, and if you feel like your child is getting through his/​her work too easily– you quickly get accustomed to finding additional resources with the guidance of your teachers.
The format through 5^th grade goes like this– all curriculum for the week is loaded into the «portal» on Sunday night/​Monday morning, complete with work sheets, links to e-​learnings, etc. Teacher meets your child once a week on the same day at the same time for an hour. Students are grouped geographically, so your teacher might cover first and fifth graders. The visits are meant to collect grades (you grade the work) and provide support in any subject your child needs help with. Visits are either held at home or library, whatever you agree on. There are social outings, picnics, field trips to give your child a chance to interact with others.
Occasionally you will need to visit campus for testing.
Starting with 6^th (our current) grade, visits are suspended and your child now spends four hours/​week on campus. Extra lab time us available as needed.
The great thing about the program is you can push your child and really stretch them beyond required minimum. The caution I would extend to a parent considering Odyssey is don’t think of it as computer teaching your child and you kicking your feet up. You will read, study, agonize over spelling and tests every minute alongside your child. Think of it as sitting at the school desk with them for the duration of their learning journey. Yes, you’ll Google things you’ve forgotten in 5^th grade and you will become more appreciative of Khan academy, than an average American of Wikipedia.
I found it to be an ideal setting for my academically bright but socially struggling little one.

My daughter hated traditional middle school — and I hated it too. Nobody at her old school knew up from down, and half the instructors didn’t speak English. Don’t even get me started on the constant sexual harassment that occurs in this school district! A year ago, I was doubting that she would graduate high school. By the end of the last school year, I started to wonder if she would even survive to the end of high school. It’s a sad state of affairs when you have to seriously worry about your child’s safety when sending them off to school.
This is our second week with Odyssey and I’m very pleased. English appears to be the primary language for all of her instructors. In fact, even the office personnel and administrators have a good grasp of the language. Rather than going to school in fear and faking illnesses, I now hear (on almost a daily basis) how much she loves school, loves homeschooling, loves Odyssey, etc… I never EVER thought I’d see the day when that kid enjoyed school.
I love that I can help her with her work. I can teach her things in a way that she’ll understand, rather than being limited to the only way that the teacher will allow. I just need to be sure she asks me for help (or I hover over her), otherwise she still has problems.
My only concern is the lack of time that is spent on schoolwork. She’s been breezing through the lessons, usually only spending about an hour a day to do her work. And then she brags about it to her sister, who is in a traditional elementary school. This is just the second week, though, so that might have something to do with it. I do need to hover over her more than I thought, to be sure she isn’t just guessing during the quizzes.
There is a lot more peace and harmony in the house now. I am hopeful about my daughter’s future, for the first time in years. She is enjoying school, for the first time ever. I wish I had heard about Odyssey a long time ago.

FINALLY! This school is WORKING for our son. The standard Jr. High experience was horrible. We put him in Explore Knowledge Academy, EKA, which had several favorable aspects but had atrocious teachers and administration. Odyssey is a HYBRID school, but really, it’s 80% (4 days a week) online, 20% (1 four-​hour day a week). Better yet, for that whole one day of school a week, you can choose to go from 8 am to 12 noon or from noon to 4 pm. (We, of course, only choose the noon to 4 periods for class and make up days.) And here’s something refreshing: the teachers responsible for each subject actually knows and cares about the subject, so if the student has a question about their online course work, the teachers can actually address them accurately and immediately. Yay! The school is located at Jones and Sahara, and while that’s a 25 minute drive for us, for one day a week and he gets to sleep in until 10 am to begin class at noon, it’s totally worth it. By the way, his grades are MUCH better now in 9^th grade than they have been the last few years. We still have to crack the whip to ensure he’s getting his school work done, but he can usually get it done in about 2 hours a day, so it’s easy for him to not want to screw up a really good thing. We highly recommend checking it out, especially those looking for an alternative to Jr. High and High School.