Parents Modified school schedules?

[duyetanh]

The outcomes at many brick-and-mortar schools is exceedingly poor as well. Clearly, you don't sit an 8 year old in front of a computer and let them have at it -- you find a good curriculum, with a good instructor or a well planned syllabus with guidelines that you can execute. You work with your child, help them, monitor them and seek assistance if needed. We've had some amazing experiences and outcomes with virtual classes -- it just depends on the class, the provider and your approach to it....pretty much just like a regular school.

Like times infinity. It definitely goes both ways. My kids brick and mortar school sucks. Thus online courses help them stay motivated to learn, not bored to tears with the educational process.

 

[raenndrops]

I tutor kids that attend an online public school. They have to follow the same standards as the brick and mortar schools. The good thing about the online school is that the kids can work at their own pace. One student caught up and surpassed his grade level peers in six months last year - and got high marks on his state testing (high school). The two that I mainly work with this year are in 2nd and 6th grades. They were having issues in the local school. The younger one was missing a lot of school due to severe anxiety. He enrolled in the online school one month after school began. Our goal was to get him caught up with his grade level peers by Christmas and then keep him on pace with them. Well, he was caught up much sooner. He will finish his school year toward the end of this month and start 3rd grade in April.
His older brother completed 12 weeks at his middle school before switching. He only had credit for the 9 weeks on his grade card, so he was three weeks behind when he started. We got him mostly caught up... language arts is borderline, depending on the day - waiting for grades to be entered stinks, lol. He will be finished with his year by the end of April.
They caught up quickly because even though they only put in 3-4 hours a day, but they have more "on task" time than the kids at the local schools

 

[GymDad9.9]

I'm enjoying the feedback here. We are very happy with my daughter's brick and mortar school and reside in our current school district for the sole purpose of having good public schools K-12. However, there may come a day when my daughter is invited to her gym's fast track program where most of the girls are either home-schooled or virtual schooled. My wife and I value education greatly and I'm sure if that day ever comes it will not be an easy decision to make.

 

[Seeker]

Choosing an alternate path doesn't show a lack of commitment to education -- sometimes it shows an even greater one. Each child and scenario is different and while the decisions can be tough, I've never met anyone that made them in an effort to get out of educating their child or to give them an "easy out".

If whatever you choose initially isn't a good fit -- try something else. Your child and their needs will change multiple times over their school years. My daughter has had good teachers and bad ones; nice ones and mean ones. Fair & balanced and totally off-their-rockers biased. She even had a 1st grade teacher that didn't like her (and made it very clear to her little 6-yr old self). Said teacher told me at conferences that she was "too much work for me" because she was working a few grade levels above and required some intervention/individualization. So yeah...I'm fine with taking whatever steps are necessary to put your child into a good environment where they can learn and have some balance in their life -- wherever that may be.

Schools can be wonderful and nurturing and they can also be the exact opposite of that -- as many can attest to. Even a really good school can be a bad fit for your child. The way I see it is that she only gets one childhood and I want her to have opportunities and exposure to things that enrich her and create a desire to continue to explore and learn. Sitting in a classroom being "taught" material that is 2-3 levels below her capability isn't going to nurture anything except to instill a dislike of the educational process. Fortunately, that is not her fate -- but it took a few tries to get it right (public, private, independent, etc). We all want what's best for our kids. That looks and feels different for all, but I think the desire to support and enrich them to the best of our ability comes from the same place for all of us.

 

[gymratmom]

Found out that our district has a hybrid program where students can take one or two classes on line and the rest at the school. It is dependent on scheduling for next school year though if it would allow her to leave early. Keeping my fingers crossed because it would be a great arrangement for dd.

 

[sshreed]

I don't want to alarm you but can I just advise you to keep a close eye on this.i read some research on this recently that outcomes of online classes for children can be very poor

I also teach for this school. Our outcomes have been very good. Our online high school kids outperformed the district kids on our state testing. We do have certificated teachers teaching our students. We have transitioned over the years from a self paced to a teacher driven model and it has had a huge impact. There are many studies to counter the negative research. Also, I am sure it depends on the family and the drive to be involved.

 

[duyetanh]

I also teach for this school. Our outcomes have been very good. Our online high school kids outperformed the district kids on our state testing. We do have certificated teachers teaching our students. We have transitioned over the years from a self paced to a teacher driven model and it has had a huge impact. There are many studies to counter the negative research. Also, I am sure it depends on the family and the drive to be involved.

Bingo. Particularly the last sentence.