Virtual School?

Ok here I go.  I am not a professional blogger so please forgive me any mistakes.
I started this to keep a record of my 4 children and their virtual school career.  Yes I have 4. And each child or young adult has his or her own reason for wanting to do virtual school and reasons for choosing the program that they did.  I have two programs going in my home this year.  My oldest has chosen a K12 partner school program ( more on this later) while my daughter and two youngest sons have chosen the Connections Academy option.

This is the first year that the Michigan School system has allowed this "virtual school" option. We moved to Michigan in 2006 from Tampa Florida for reasons I really don't want to go into here.  My children were all K12 students and the only one who had been in a brick and mortar school was the oldest-Michael.  They were all a bit of grade level except my daughter who was doing work 2 grades above her age.  We moved here knowing it was going to be an adjustment and soon found out how much of an adjustment we were in for.  No virtual school.  No being a grade ahead of your age group.  Well the kids were BORED! They began acting up by not doing homework, developing a who cares attitude and the occasional fight.  After spending a few hours with teachers and principals I realized that they have the same attitude.
Fast forward, it is now 2009-2010 school year, My oldest son Michael, who has gotten into legal trouble last school year has decided to clean up his act.  He informs his old friends of his plans to stay out of trouble and get on the honor roll for his 8th grade school year.  Now that Michael is no longer hanging out with this crowd they decide to make his life miserable.  Beat him up in the halls, jumped him at the bus stop and all sorts of things. We talked with the principal and tried to get him some type of protection to no avail.  March 22, 2010 I got a phone call early in the morning stating that Michael was suspended from the bus and would have to find alternate method to school. I informed Michael of this and so he started walking to school.  March 24, 2010 Michael was jumped off school property and beaten. "Since it happened off school property there is nothing we can do" was the resopnse I got from the principal.  March 25, 2010, in order to avoid a repeat of the day before Michael took a different way home.  He was followed by 7-9 kids who threw rocks and whatever they could find at him.  They followed him for a mile and a half when Michael found a golf club lying in the ditch and picked it up.  He had had enough!  Now this is very important:  He threatened  the boys with the club but did NOT hit anyone with it.  2 of the boys called the police and claimed that they were minding their own business when Michael started hitting them with the club.  Michael was arrested for felonious assault and taken to the Juvinile Detention Center for 48 days.  In the meantime, one of those little punks recorded the entire thing from start to finish on his cell phone and the day after the incident was showing it around school as kind of a "ha ha we got him arrested" when the principal heard about the video he took the phone and turned it and a list of students names over to police.  Ok now that being said I still didn't want him in that school.  It was serious "PARTY TIME" when he found out that K12 had been approved for Michigan. So begining September 7 2010 he will be attending St Charles virtual school and I have never seen him happier.