Connecting Waters East Bay
This school is enrolling students who reside in the following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco. CWEB was authorized by the Alameda County Board of Education on March 14, 2017.
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.Been through this at OUSD and homeschooling worked best for my son with HF ASD & SPD. I do more of a hybrid because I’m the primary teacher and he’s supported by a public charter school (Connecting Waters East Bay) so he has an education specialist that supports us as well. He also retained his IEP so he gets high quality speech therapy at a private practice contracted by the charter school, social skills group, and in person classes with small class sizes! It’s a great option for kids who need an individualized approach, but also socializing with their peers in a healthy, bully free environment. And its FREE! Kids get about $2900 a year for books, supplies, classes- academic and extracurricular (there are limits to the extracurricular). Teach at your kid’s pace whether they’re advanced or behind. Too good to be true but it is!
Sounds like my 8 year old son’s experience. I also pulled him out of OUSD in November to homeschool for bullying and he’s academically advanced. I enrolled him in Connecting Waters Charter Eastbay. Its been great since he was accepted in January. They provide structure, support, in person classes, and funding for academics and extracurriculars. I had no idea how to go about homeschooling as I went to private school and my husband public school. I felt like I did the wrong thing at first by pulling him out because at first he missed his classmates and even “his bully”, but after 3 months at CWEB, I know I did the right thing for him. He’s so much happier and has plenty of time and energy to do his extracurriculars which he could never do at OUSD. He can’t even fathom having to sit in a classroom and listen to a teacher talk for 5 hours, learning absolutely nothing he doesn’t already know, and getting bullied on the playground and in the bathrooms. I tried to support OUSD for 2.5 years, but their lack of action and concern, not to mention the teachers own personal agenda is not worth my son’s happiness and education.
Have you tried Connecting Waters Charter East Bay? My son is 8 and goes to their resource center once a week for in person classes. I see many high school age kids there and in looking at in person class availability many are geared towards high school age. Not sure of the age limit, but since they’re a public charter school they accept iep’s if your son has one.
Hi there,
I started homeschooling my 7 year old son in November and also couldn’t find any day classes. It wasn’t until he was enrolled at Connecting Waters East Bay that I found in person day classes. I signed him up for 4 classes but one got dropped due to lack of enrollment. Today’s our first day since we had to quarantine the first weeks of January. If you’re interested I can let you know how it goes.
Best,
Jaymee
We are the proud parents of a "homeschooled" son who is enrolled with Connecting Waters Charter. For two years we searched for the best option after leaving the public school system. We enrolled in a couple of private schools each promising so much only to discover numerous problems down the road. After extensive research we decided Connecting Waters was the best fit for us. Contrary to what many might believe, "homeschooled" kids have many options and choices on how to meet the requirements for graduating from Elementary, Middle and High School. We work with an "Educational Specialist" and receive funds each year to spend on approved vendors for classes. The counseling staff at CW was very helpful when we first enrolled. We struggled at first thinking this would not be a legitimate way into college. However, it has been the best situation despite many outside concerns that our son get the "socialization" skills through the traditional route in the public school system. Really? I think some of the greatest kids I've met have had non-traditional educations. We supplement with many outside activities that include sports, music, art etc. where he is exposed to kids his own age.
It would have been easy to just stay in the public school system where the emphasis seems to be to teach to the test so the school receives accolades for exemplary work. The fact that you are thinking about this at age 6 is fabulous.
Best of luck in your search!
My 8 year old son with HF ASD and SPD, who I’ve been told is likely 2e, but never formally assessed, is doing great at Connecting Waters. He got enrolled early January and the next day his teacher dropped off a workbook for every subject which I thought was awesome. He came from OUSD where at his school the kids can barely get a photocopy worksheet let alone a new workbook.
I taught him nearly an entire year of 2nd grade in 3 months and not at an overwhelming pace at all. So I imagine next year we can space out the curriculum even more allowing for more extracurriculars, fun activities, field trips, and traveling.
He attends the in person classes at their resource center originally twice a week, but he was too advanced for one class so now its once a week. I wanted him to still be around kids regularly in a classroom environment although his current class is actually not worth the drive or funding.
I feel like CWEB gave us structure as we are new to homeschooling which was really helpful. All of his teachers have been great and flexible. The funding is great too since you can use it for both academic and extracurriculars. Since my son is somewhat advanced, he’s able to get through the curriculum pretty quickly allowing for more time for his other interests which is something he never had the energy for at OUSD.
The only advice I would have for enrolling in CWEB is to do it now or before the Fall starts so you will get all of your funding. Since we were enrolled in January our funding was pro-rated so I had to pay out of pocket for some extracurriculars.