Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
My kids joined Koa Academy online school at the beginning of this term and it has been the most incredible experience. A few years ago I did a live video with Mark Anderson, the principal of Koa Academy. Right at the beginning of the video I told him that there was no way I would ever do any kind of home schooling, whether it was online or not. Yet here I am 3 years later eating those words and I couldn’t be more delighted to share my Koa Academy review.
About Koa Academy
Koa Academy is a fully online, IEB registered school for Grades 4 to 12 that offers a truly personalised learning experience. Designed around “Pods”—intimate virtual classes of just eight learners per teacher—Koa ensures everyone is seen, heard, and supported. Built on pillars of engagement, accountability, and real-world relevance, the school fosters meaningful community connections while preparing students for the needs of the future.
Small, Engaging Classes
One of the standout features of Koa Academy is the small class sizes, known as Pods, with only eight learners per teacher. This allows for meaningful connections, personalised attention, and plenty of interaction. Learners take part in live classes every day, which include Pod Connect—an engaging session where students explore ideas, work together, and build strong relationships with their peers—and Check In, a focused time where teachers touch base with each learner to track progress, provide feedback, and ensure they’re supported in both their academics and personal growth.
Pre-recorded Lessons With Built-In Assessments
Koa Academy also offers pre-recorded lessons with built-in assessments, giving learners the flexibility to work through their subjects at their own pace. These lessons are designed to be engaging and interactive, with regular checkpoints to test understanding and reinforce learning. This approach helps students take responsibility for their progress while ensuring they fully grasp each concept before moving on.
One On One Teacher Time
One of the standout features at Koa Academy is the dedicated one-on-one teacher time. Learners can book these sessions through their dashboards whenever they need extra help, and there’s no limit to how many they can request. This gives kids the freedom to reach out as often as needed, creating a safe space to ask questions, get additional support, and dive deeper into areas they find challenging. It also helps build strong, supportive relationships between learners and their teachers.
In-person Events
Koa Academy also brings students together in person with two exciting events each term – an Edu-Outing and a fun social event. Held in major areas, the Edu-Outings give kids the chance to learn outside the classroom through hands-on, real-world experiences, while the social events focus on building friendships and connections in a relaxed, enjoyable setting. These gatherings add a wonderful balance of learning and fun to the online school experience.
Real-Time Dashboard
The Koa Academy dashboard is a powerful tool for parents, students, and teachers alike, providing a clear real-time overview of each child’s learning journey. It shows exactly where your child should be in their work and makes it easy to track progress, upcoming tasks and assessments, attendance, and marks. With parent, child, and teacher access, everyone stays on the same page, ensuring learning is transparent, organised, and well supported.
All Inclusive Fees
Koa Academy offers a simple all-inclusive fee structure that covers everything your child needs for their education. There are no hidden costs or surprise extras – tuition, digital resources, access to the learning platform, and one-on-one teacher time are all included. The only additional expenses for parents are the obvious ones: devices and internet connection, stationery, optional in-person events, and Grade 12 IEB exam fees. This makes planning and budgeting straightforward while ensuring learners have everything they need to succeed.
Why I Was Unhappy With My Kids’ Private School
While this post is about my experience with Koa Academy, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the things that left me deeply unhappy with my children’s previous school. These issues played a big role in my decision to make a change:
- Bullying was something we had to deal with a number of times, and the school did very little to address it.
- One of my children has mental health challenges, and the bullying made things unbearable.
- School fees were extremely high, yet there were constant extra costs that pushed expenses even higher. Adding to the additional expense was my kids’ stationery was frequently stolen. I found it shocking, because this was a private school and I couldn’t understand why the children felt the need to steal.
- Too many unnecessary and time-wasting activities, like “free periods” and events that were more frustrating and costly than enjoyable.
- Outdated teaching methods with a one-size-fits-all approach, which simply does not work when it comes to education.
- Endless, irrelevant communication from the school, making it hard to sift out what actually applied to us.
- Subjects my kids excelled in dragged on with repetitive work, while subjects they struggled with were rushed, leaving them behind and confused.
- My kids struggled with the disruptive behaviour of other learners, including noisy classrooms, laughing at children who asked questions, and mocking during oral presentations.
- I had to put in an unreasonable amount of time and effort at home to support their education—running out to buy last-minute supplies, helping with homework, and pushing them to study when they were already exhausted.
There was so much I was unhappy about, but these are the main points that really stood out for me.
My Koa Academy Review
From the moment I started considering Koa Academy for my children I had my socks blown off every step of the way and now a few months in they continue to do so.
Responsive and personal touch
When looking at online schools and home school options I did a lot of research and sent a number of schools emails asking for more information. Teagan from Koa Academy answered all my questions beautifully and in a way that showed me she took great care to read my email properly before answering. Every time she replied to one of my emails I thought of something else I wanted to ask and sent more emails. She was patient and helpful every step of the way.
In comparison, I emailed the online school of the in-person private school my kids were in asking fifteen questions that I could not find on their website. The response I got back was quite frankly shocking. It was a copy paste reply telling me to look at their website and giving me a link to download a brochure. The brochure answered ONE of my questions. When I replied and asked them to kindly read my questions and respond accordingly they answered a few of the questions to my satisfaction, some questions they gave half an answer or said something ambiguous, and the rest were not answered at all.
With Koa Academy they impressed me every step of the way, there is nothing copy paste about the way they do things. Everyone I dealt with has taken great care to help me along this journey and to form a close personal relationship with me.
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They Don’t Put My Kids In A Box
Koa Academy wants to know what my kids’ passions and hobbies are. It was even in the application form. They want to bring out my kids’ personalities and help them bring out their passions, they want kids to discover who they really are and celebrate that. Going from an environment where my kids were expected to conform all the time to an environment where they not only have the freedom to be themselves, but they are encouraged to do so, has been the most amazing gift.
Pre-recorded Lessons
I love that all the lessons are pre-recorded and the kids can (to an extent) work through class work at their own pace. Subjects my kids ace are knocked out the way quickly and subjects they struggle with they can spend more time on. Another cool thing is that pre-recorded lessons means that there is no set time for a lesson like there is in an in-person school. Lessons are as long as they need to be, not a set 45 minutes. This means no wasted time sitting in a class when they are done their work, or feeling like there is not enough time to get their work finished. They can also go back to a lesson if they don’t understand it or want to refresh their memory.
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Live Engagement Sessions
They have a number of different live sessions for different purposes. They have Pod Connect where teachers and learners connect with each other and Check In to see how everyone is doing with their school work and sometimes do assessments. Master classes are live classes where subject specialists give a live class.
One On One Support
If kids are struggling with something they can book one on one teacher time – as many sessions as they need. There is literally no limit. This is gold to me.
They have their teachers at their fingertips if they need them. Previously I had to help my kids with something every single day without fail, whether it be homework, assessments, or exams… this has completely fallen away.
Modern And Relevant
If you had to ask me to describe their previous school I would use words like old-fashioned, conform, frustration, anxiety, pressure…
If you ask me what words I would use to describe Koa Academy modern, relevant, engaging, exciting, passionate, and fun come to mind.
The way that they teach is modern and relevant, but also in the content they focus on. I love that they have had sessions with my teenage child like “Dark Thoughts” which focused heavily on depression and suicide. They also had a session on addiction, which is so close to my heart as I am an addict and alcoholic in recovery. These are mental health topics kids need to be learning about and talking about.
In addition to this, they also have a Whatsapp group called Klild in your pocket Koa where they send parents useful and interesting information related to the online world and kids. For me personally, the online world scares me when it comes to parenting. There are so many dangerous things going on and it is impossible to keep up with it all. It is so nice to get sent information that I had no clue about. If I know what is going on online I am better prepared.
The Dashboard
Koa Academy has a learner, teacher, and parent dashboard. I can see exactly what is happening with my kids schooling any time. I can track their progress, tasks, attendance, and marks at the click of a button at any time.
This is a game changer for me. No more asking my kids what school work they need to do, whether they have handed work in, or not knowing how my kids are doing until I get their reports at the end of the term.
One of my kids is super focused on school and very diligent. My other child is a chancer and will try get away with doing as little as possible and will often try pull a fast one if I ask if something has been done. No more wondering if I’m getting the wool pulled over my eyes, I can see for myself and dosh out whip-ass as needed.
They Keep A Close Eye On My Kids
There have been a few occasions where I looked at my kid’s dashboard and wondered if something was wrong. Then shortly after that I get an email from the teacher updating me about that exact thing.
One example was when I looked at my son’s dashboard and it said he was doing 3 minutes of daily math and I thought that doesn’t look like much and I wondered what he should be doing and should I ask the teacher. Later that day I got an email from his teacher saying he should be doing 45 minutes a day and please can I encourage him to do that.
It has become clear to me that while I can check up on my kids and ask the teacher questions I really don’t need to. If anything needs to be addressed I’m confident they will contact me.
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In-person Events
There are two in-person events each term in major city centres. One is pure fun for kids, parents, and teachers to connect. The other is an Edu-Outing, so more focused on educational.
We went to the Edu-Outing for this term at the Museum Of Illusions in Cape Town. I was super impressed with it and we had loads of fun. It was superb to meet some of the teachers face to face and it was a lovely opportunity for my kids to socialise.
Something that really stood out for me is when I did the booking to join. It cost nothing for my kids to join. I only had to pay for myself and it cost R207.50. This was a welcome breath of fresh air.
Financial Things
The school fees are all inclusive, with very few exceptions. Obviously you have to pay for your own computers, internet, and other costs related to tech in your home. Stationery is an additional cost, but that was a short list of essentials. Gone are the days where I’m given a ridiculous stationery list each year with so many unnecessary things needed. You basically need a book for each subject, some pens, colour pens/ pencils and yes things like a math set, calculator etc. There is nothing unnecessary.
It also states on their website that in-person events are not included in the fees and are optional, but as you can see from my previous point we did not have to pay for my kids to attend the event. I only had to cover my own entrance fee.
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Independence And Responsibility
During one of the parent live sessions I asked the principle, Mark Anderson, what exactly he had done to my son! He was a child who will do anything to bunk school and get away with not doing his school work. On one occasion he came home so proud of himself for hiding under his desk while assessments were under way, he got away with not doing an oral presentation. Yes that bad LOL…
Since starting at Koa Academy he has taken responsibility for his school work and does it independently without me having to push him. It has been the most beautiful transformation. The teacher even used his school dashboard recently as a good example. That made me burst with pride.
Course For Parents
Soon after registering my kids with Koa Academy I received a course for parents. I was not expecting that and I found the course incredibly helpful, not only because it showed me more in-depth how things work, but I did not feel quite as anxious about my kids starting at Koa Academy. It was a really nice touch.
In Summary
Before settling on Koa Academy I looked at a number of options for online schooling, and right from the start Koa Academy was on the top of my list by a long way. They offer everything I was looking for in an online school, plus more that I never realised we needed.
We are heading towards the end of our first term with Koa Academy and I look back on how our lives have changed for the better and I can’t even begin to describe how amazing this process has been. I always thought that having my kids home with me all the time (like in my face LOL) would be so much harder than them being in an in-person school. I believed it would take more of my time and effort, but it has been the exact opposite. My life is easier. All that school stress has literally disappeared, just gone.
In just two short months my children’s mental health, happiness, and confidence have improved. They are more well-rounded and have more free time to pursue things that make them happy. There is such a massive change in a short time, I am excited to see what happens over a longer period of time.
I’m big on sharing pros and cons in my reviews, but there is nothing I can add to a con list here.
If you are interested in learning more about Koa Academy join their next open day, you will not regret it.
