Making a Smooth Transition to a Virtual School

When we first started virtual schooling, I think I tried to make it too much like the school they were used to. I tried to find similarities between their elementary school and CA. What's more effective is instead, thinking of this as something totally new and different. Emphasize the fun you can have with new opportunities. For instance, the ability to sleep in one or two days a week makes a slumber party possible. Not having to go to a cafeteria means that students can go to lunch anywhere with a friend.

Each age group is a little different. When my son and daughter were younger, they were snugglers. Well, my daughter (9th grade) still is :) My son (11th) is a little busier now. They loved it when we would have a day on the couch in front of the woodstove. I would let them snuggle in with blankets and hot chocolate and I would print out their work and they could do it all on the couch. For lunch we would listen to old time radio shows (I didn't allow the TV to ever come on between 9 and 4...even on sick days).

It’s important to listen to all concerns about leaving school. Remember, you can't make them go away, but you can replace some of the things that they would miss. My kids didn't care about PE… but they did miss playing games with other kids. Not soccer and stuff, but the team building kinds of games that good PE teachers come up with. We found a day-time community PE group (that had a ton of other virtual school kids in it) and we did that one day a week.

The kids also chose a different instrument to try every few months. We did that for a year, nothing formal, we just went and rented one at the music store and then borrowed instructional video tapes for free from the library. Keep your student busy and active and they’ll have a much easier time transitioning. I think that's the hardest thing about being a virtual school parent (or a parent in general).

Let us know how it's going with you! Share your advice on making the transition from a brick and mortar public school to a virtual school.

Incentives and Keeping Kids Motivated to Learn

Motivation is crucial to a good virtual schooling experience. Every single child needs motivation in one are or another. This could be for piano lessons, cleaning a room, walking the dog… you name it!

My kids are masters at getting out of doing things. They’ve taken procrastination and made it an art. The truth is that they probably got it from me! I’ve tried taking things away from mykids for years as a way of motivating them to get something done. It always seemed to backfire though. For example, if I told them that they couldn’t watch TV if they didn’t clean their room, they would decide they would rather not watch TV than clean their room. If I offered them $20 to clean the garage, they would decide cleaning the garage wasn't worth $20!

Here’s something I've used over the years that has proven somewhat successful. I got this idea while watching the TV show Third Rock from the Sun. One of the characters walked into a restaurant explaining that he didn't like the way tipping worked. When the waitress walked up, he laid a stack of $1.00 bills on the table and explained that this was her potential tip. Every time she did something that he didn't like he would take $1.00 away. She didn’t believe him at first, but as he started deducting money from her tip she started working harder and faster. I figured if this worked on a sitcom, it would work in my home!

I created something called “smart bucks”. Before I introduced it to the kids, I planned out exactly what I wanted to do. I created a chart of what smart bucks would buy. I didn't have a lot of money, so I decided that smart bucks would buy my time. If the kids did their school work without giving me a hard time, I would have more time to spend with them doing other things that they wanted.

I made a chart of what $1, $5 and more (in smart bucks) would buy in my time. For example, $5 would buy TV time, $25 could buy an afternoon at the park. If they really saved up their bucks, they could have a sleepover or some other big event.

Think of it in terms of this, if you give a potential $5 in smart bucks a day, that would equal $25 in smart bucks a week, 100 smart bucks a month, and with 180 school days 900 smart bucks a year. Now you can break down how you would like to reward that. Set smaller goals, for instance if you know that your child could be good half the time, then set a reward that they can earn in two days, or with 10 smart bucks.

After I figured out what the reward system would be the kids and I sat down and actually created a bunch of the fake money: $1, $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills. We even created a bank to put the smart bucks in. You can print out your own monopoly money from here if you don't want to create your own smart bucks.

At the beginning of each day, I would lay five smart bucks on the table for each child. If they started horsing around I would just reach over and take one smart buck away. Be careful not to get into the habit of letting them earn their smart bucks back or to create a bargaining situation which will totally undo what you are shooting for: mainly cooperation. Trust me I know!

Some kids have a hard time thinking long-term and it's hard to set long-term goals. Think of your child's individual mindset and base your choice of motivational tools around that. Is there anything that you do that works to motivate your kids?

Public School Wasn't Like the Disney Channel

My daughter went through a period of time where she kept insisting that she'd be better off going to a local school. I finally gave in one day and went down the street and enrolled her. She was there for 3 days and begged to come back home. She told me later that she really thought school would be like what she saw on the Disney channel, but it wasn't like that at all.

Sometimes I have to remind myself of that too. I have to stop and get a reality check and ask if my son or daughter was in a traditional school, what would their day be like, and what would our night be like if they were doing homework or crying for hours because they had a bad day at school.

It's so easy to think that there has to be something easier...especially when you are having a bad day. When I first started schooling the kids in a virtual school, I put a little note on my computer which simply said "It's not an option". It reminded me that this was what we needed, and I had to find ways to make it work.

Have you ever had to do a “reality check” and remind yourself why you made the virtual school decision to begin with?

Share Your Pictures: Fridges and Bulletin Boards

Whether it's on the fridge, a cork board bulletin board, or a spot on the wall, displaying a student’s work is another chance to let your student know how proud you are of them. This area could also be a place to post upcoming field trips, pictures of their teachers, friends, reminders, motivational posers and much more.

Here are some great sites to help you get started. Most importantly, have fun and give this area your own special touch!

Area Trimming - Print and cut out: http://www.abcteach.com/free/s/small_straight_autumn_color.pdf http://www.abcteach.com/free/s/small_scallop_autumn.pdf

More Bulletin Board Ideas (you don't have to decorate a whole wall - a small space will do :) http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/bulletin/

Create your own motivational posters:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php

Here's a picture of our bulletin board right now:

Please share your work area ideas with us in the comments and email pictures to fake@connectionsacademy.com.

Distance Learning in The News

I came across this story from the Southeasetern Missourian. It reminds me of when I was first getting adjusted to distance learning.

The Missouri Virtual Instruction Program is still "feeling birthing pains," but parent Rose Nanney is doing her best to work through the kinks. Her son, Eric, is past the midpoint in all his MoVIP semester classes and getting into the groove of learning virtually.

Problems with functioning computer links and textbook availability were worked out in the first two weeks of school. Envelopes for mailing portfolio assignments arrived this month, so Eric could send his assignments in for grading.

"It was real tough at first. But we are getting into a routine now," Nanney said...

The program, run by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is designed for students who wish to take classes their school does not offer, for students who have been expelled or for families wanting to homeschool but needing direction. It is also for students whose medical problems prevent them from attending school, like Eric.

Last year, Nanney's son missed 14 days at Woodland Elementary School in Marble Hill due to asthma attacks. Eric also has a severe peanut allergy, which forced him to eat lunch outside of the cafeteria.

"If he was going to be that excluded, he might as well be at home," Nanney said.

Nanney tried homeschooling Eric in kindergarten and first grade but had a hard time coordinating material. At Woodland Elementary, however, she wished a foreign language was offered, that less time was spent on test preparation and that her son would receive more personal attention.

She now has the flexibility to take him outside to see the changing leaves or visit a lake. Wednesday she and Eric traveled to Beggs Pumpkin Patch near Blodgett, Mo., for a field trip.

When she initially signed up for the program, she imagined Eric sitting in front of the computer all day. In reality, he only spends about 25 percent of his time online.

The other 75 percent is spent reading novels, completing science experiments, researching for social studies reports or computing math problems on paper.

When he does get online, it is to complete short quizzes, submit test answers or watch animated lessons. There are also online videos and games that are part of his lessons.

"You can do it at your own pace and finish it faster. I get done around 1 or 12:30," Eric said.

Nanney can choose her son's schedule to meet her needs. On Fridays, for example, Eric completes one English lesson and one science lesson. He doubles up on math on Mondays and social studies on Wednesdays.

Full article at Getting into the groove of virtual learning.

Considering Other Schooling Options

Parents should always be alert for opportunities to make things better for their family. The more information you have about schooling options and what’s out there, the better the decision you will make for your family.

I found this wonderful new resource on the web. It's actually for schools to use as a standard for choosing online classes but it also could work well for parents as a way of choosing quality courses. Go to http://www.nacol.org/nationalstandards/ and you will need to download the PDF to read the standards.

I've always loved hearing what other schools have to offer. I chose CA because it was a perfect fit for me and my family. That doesn't mean that I don’t get irritated with something from time to time and then I need to find a way to get it straightened out. I think being a parent in a new type of school means that there are going to be things that don't always go as smoothly as I'd hoped.

What schooling options have you considered for your family? What is most important to you when looking at other options?

Help! Encouraging My Child

I recently received a candid email from a fellow mom in a virtual school program. The email resonated with some of my experiences I asked her if it would be OK to share her experience with the rest of you.

“Hi all! Last week, we had a VERY rough couple days at our house. Rough is actually a rather soft term, I might even go for a couple of BRUTAL days as a better definition. We are having a rough time finding our groove. My son has a teacher (meaning me) who really cares and wants to make sure he learns something more than how to just get by. He will sit and stare at a problem and convince himself that it is too hard or too much and then shuts his brain down. When we do assignments together, I honestly think he plays stupid in the hopes that I will just give him the answers.

He also refuses to work independently. I tell him to bring up his assignments on his computer, read what it asks for, ask me questions if he doesn't understand something or needs clarification, and then do the assignments. (Occasionally, assignments will require that we do parts together, but I have already gone through them beforehand, so I am prepared when that comes up and we go from there.

Yesterday, he had a review for Social Studies. After staring at Numbers 1 & 2 of 16 review questions for 20 minutes, he came to me in tears and actually said to me, "But mom, these questions are really challenging!" Yeah they're challenging, they are supposed to be. That's how you learn!!! He has to re-learn how to learn. It's not fair. But it's also not fair for him to play the victim card and refuse to really try. Yesterday he had two assignments left from the day before when he started the day. We worked from 8:45 to 11:45, when we stopped for lunch. I gave him 45 minutes for lunch and break and we got back to work. He worked until his dad took him to Scouts at 5:15, came home, had dinner, and worked until bedtime.

Today, we started out 4 lessons behind! It is not because the work is too hard. It isn't. It's because he dinks around, refuses to be independent, and convinces himself that he won't be able to do it - so why try?! I get so frustrated and I admit that I have lost my temper a few times. I have ranted and paced and basically threw a very un-ladylike temper tantrum.

I know this school will be a blessing for us, once we can get it worked out. But how do we get there? How do I encourage my son to work? How long will it take and will I still be sane, or will they have carted me off to the funny farm by then?

I appreciate any ideas you may have.

- JMom"

We've all run into this problem before, how do we encourage our kids when they've hit a stumbling block? What do you think?