My daughter attends IACA ( Iowa Connections Academy) and loves it! I
love it too! She can move at her own pace, and there is even a program
with the International Connections Academy that allows her to earn an
Associates degree right alongside her high school diploma!! This has
been the best step we've taken for her education. Please check out this link and find out why virtual schooling can be a wonderful thing for your child!
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/blog/posts/2013-09-30/How-Virtual-School-Educates-the-Whole-Child.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Virtual+Learning+Connections
I have PMDD, and my 13-year-old daughter also has PMDD... going to school, as many of you who live with PMDD know, can be a serious challenge. I've wanted to homeschool her for years, but because of my PMDD and other health issues, lack of income due to the PMDD and those other health issues, it was impossible. Virtual schooling like the Connections Academy is part of the state. They are public schools but they are virtual, as in, the students submit their work through an online portal.
The only bad thing about Connections Academy is that we DID NOT KNOW IT EXISTED until recently!
Without talking badly about her previous school/resident school district, I'll just say that it was not a good fit for her.
The learning curve for the Connexus platform for the online learning at Connections Academy can be big for some parents, but for someone who has dealt with a lot of online learning or has a lot of computer skills, it is very simple. It took me a day to figure it out completely. There is a lot of support for those who are not quite as computer literate or who have multiple children. There is a huge help section as well as message boards, internal webmail, or you can phone the school directly. Each Learning Coach/Caretaker is required to go through an interactive tutorial in order to learn how the whole thing works.
As far as the curriculum, since these are state-run schools, it is just like the instruction you would receive in a brick & mortar school, except the books, etc. are not chosen based on cost; they are chosen based on content and quality. Julliard, for example, is the school they go through for art and music classes. The children learn through actual books that are sent to the home for free on a loan basis, e-books that they use online, as well as a LOT of interactive information online from fun and informational videos (BrainPOP is one that is used very often) to interactive labs (I've even played around with these, and they are pretty cool!) to games to hands-on activities that they must complete at home and then send in a portfolio of what they did, with pictures or scans showing what they did. Sometimes a PowerPoint is what they must submit, which has become the norm for a lot of brick & mortar schools who use computers already.
If you do not have a computer or scanning/printing capabilities, they provide them for you for free on a loan basis. They provide many school materials for things like science (graduated cylinders, safety goggles, etc.), physical education (which is mandatory in most states, but you get to choose what you do for your required weekly physical activity, and for us it was great as my daughter has a heart condition and she doesn't get ridiculed by children who don't understand why she can't perform as well as they do), art (modeling clay, pastels, paper, paint), etc. Some items must be returned to the school at the end of the year, but a lot of it you can keep.
If you cannot afford an internet connection, there is an application you can fill out to receive assistance for that. By the way, the tuition is FREE.
There are many, many clubs and activities that meet both virtually and in real life, and there are scheduled LiveLessons for most classes, in which students go into a virtual classroom with a headset/microphone provided by the school (and you can use a webcam too), and the teacher and other students are there interacting with one another in real time. If you can't make it to the LiveLesson, it's recorded for later viewing. Sometimes LiveLessons are just for fun. For example, there was one recently where they did a virtual tour of a museum in Washington D.C. One of the teachers also hosts an early morning "coffee break" (sans the coffee) for students just to talk about whatever they want to talk about and get the day started right. That LiveLesson is a bit early for us, as we usually start around 9:00 a.m. (which is another great thing.. you can start WHEN YOU WANT).
There is even a free online yearbook where students can submit photos, photos throughout the year from portfolios or clubs are included, artwork is shown, awards are listed, and there is even a section for "current events" like most yearbooks have now. And the students can "autograph" the books by leaving a message at a student's page (yes, each student gets his or her own page!). Instead of paying upwards of $50 for a book, you can just download it for FREE, save it on a disk or harddrive, or print it out in full or in pieces for a fraction of the cost of a real yearbook.
If you are worried about the social aspect of going to school at home, the school hosts multiple field trips every month within your state. Many of them are free. You can also get together with other families in your area on your own accord. Set up play dates, study sessions, or just some time to hang out. If you have an idea for a field trip, you can submit it to the field trip coordinator.
My daughter is speeding through the lessons even though she started a little late, and with the International Connections Academy, there is an option for her to earn an Associate's degree at the same time as her high school diploma! If she decides to pursue this, she'll enter the workforce at age 17/18 with a degree in hand already! (Or if she works fast enough, she can graduate from high school early, as you can do all of this at your own pace.)
I like that I get to choose what and when she eats lunch. No food gets dumped in the trash and no funds wasted like at most schools. No more battles with food allergy issues. We go for walks and do yoga for her PE requirement. (I'm thinking about adding a bit of yard work to this regimen ha ha.)
The teachers and staff have always been so wonderful and helpful. This is by far the best step we've taken for my daughter's education. My daughter is in a gifted & talented science class, and she is working on a major semester project that will help the community and use engineering skills. She decided to help our family out by constructing a drip irrigation system using an old water heater as a rain barrel to water our garden and plants. Next semester she is required to create something for an outside business or organization. Her Home Life class has been like badgework for Girl or Boy Scouts. She's done home and car maintenance, baked pies, and we're going camping this spring for a class requirement!
I cannot say enough wonderful things about this school!
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/blog/posts/2013-09-30/How-Virtual-School-Educates-the-Whole-Child.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Virtual+Learning+Connections
The only bad thing about Connections Academy is that we DID NOT KNOW IT EXISTED until recently!
Without talking badly about her previous school/resident school district, I'll just say that it was not a good fit for her.
The learning curve for the Connexus platform for the online learning at Connections Academy can be big for some parents, but for someone who has dealt with a lot of online learning or has a lot of computer skills, it is very simple. It took me a day to figure it out completely. There is a lot of support for those who are not quite as computer literate or who have multiple children. There is a huge help section as well as message boards, internal webmail, or you can phone the school directly. Each Learning Coach/Caretaker is required to go through an interactive tutorial in order to learn how the whole thing works.
As far as the curriculum, since these are state-run schools, it is just like the instruction you would receive in a brick & mortar school, except the books, etc. are not chosen based on cost; they are chosen based on content and quality. Julliard, for example, is the school they go through for art and music classes. The children learn through actual books that are sent to the home for free on a loan basis, e-books that they use online, as well as a LOT of interactive information online from fun and informational videos (BrainPOP is one that is used very often) to interactive labs (I've even played around with these, and they are pretty cool!) to games to hands-on activities that they must complete at home and then send in a portfolio of what they did, with pictures or scans showing what they did. Sometimes a PowerPoint is what they must submit, which has become the norm for a lot of brick & mortar schools who use computers already.
If you do not have a computer or scanning/printing capabilities, they provide them for you for free on a loan basis. They provide many school materials for things like science (graduated cylinders, safety goggles, etc.), physical education (which is mandatory in most states, but you get to choose what you do for your required weekly physical activity, and for us it was great as my daughter has a heart condition and she doesn't get ridiculed by children who don't understand why she can't perform as well as they do), art (modeling clay, pastels, paper, paint), etc. Some items must be returned to the school at the end of the year, but a lot of it you can keep.
If you cannot afford an internet connection, there is an application you can fill out to receive assistance for that. By the way, the tuition is FREE.
There are many, many clubs and activities that meet both virtually and in real life, and there are scheduled LiveLessons for most classes, in which students go into a virtual classroom with a headset/microphone provided by the school (and you can use a webcam too), and the teacher and other students are there interacting with one another in real time. If you can't make it to the LiveLesson, it's recorded for later viewing. Sometimes LiveLessons are just for fun. For example, there was one recently where they did a virtual tour of a museum in Washington D.C. One of the teachers also hosts an early morning "coffee break" (sans the coffee) for students just to talk about whatever they want to talk about and get the day started right. That LiveLesson is a bit early for us, as we usually start around 9:00 a.m. (which is another great thing.. you can start WHEN YOU WANT).
There is even a free online yearbook where students can submit photos, photos throughout the year from portfolios or clubs are included, artwork is shown, awards are listed, and there is even a section for "current events" like most yearbooks have now. And the students can "autograph" the books by leaving a message at a student's page (yes, each student gets his or her own page!). Instead of paying upwards of $50 for a book, you can just download it for FREE, save it on a disk or harddrive, or print it out in full or in pieces for a fraction of the cost of a real yearbook.
If you are worried about the social aspect of going to school at home, the school hosts multiple field trips every month within your state. Many of them are free. You can also get together with other families in your area on your own accord. Set up play dates, study sessions, or just some time to hang out. If you have an idea for a field trip, you can submit it to the field trip coordinator.
My daughter is speeding through the lessons even though she started a little late, and with the International Connections Academy, there is an option for her to earn an Associate's degree at the same time as her high school diploma! If she decides to pursue this, she'll enter the workforce at age 17/18 with a degree in hand already! (Or if she works fast enough, she can graduate from high school early, as you can do all of this at your own pace.)
I like that I get to choose what and when she eats lunch. No food gets dumped in the trash and no funds wasted like at most schools. No more battles with food allergy issues. We go for walks and do yoga for her PE requirement. (I'm thinking about adding a bit of yard work to this regimen ha ha.)
The teachers and staff have always been so wonderful and helpful. This is by far the best step we've taken for my daughter's education. My daughter is in a gifted & talented science class, and she is working on a major semester project that will help the community and use engineering skills. She decided to help our family out by constructing a drip irrigation system using an old water heater as a rain barrel to water our garden and plants. Next semester she is required to create something for an outside business or organization. Her Home Life class has been like badgework for Girl or Boy Scouts. She's done home and car maintenance, baked pies, and we're going camping this spring for a class requirement!
I cannot say enough wonderful things about this school!
No comments:
Post a Comment