This year The Professor started attending a virtual school and let's just say that more than one person has asked, "What is that?"
So, this post is dedicated to answering,
"What is a virtual school?"
Who?
The Professor is enrolled in Arizona Connections Academy...
Connections Academy is a nationally available school with different options for enrollment depending on your state. In our state virtual schools can be set up as charter schools, so the Arizona Connections Academy is set up as a charter school.
The school does have a local administrative office, but most of our teachers work from home.
What?
When you enter the world of virtual schooling you get to learn a whole new vocabulary...
first of all - you no longer attend a "bricks and mortar" school... we learn "without boundaries."
We have an assigned teacher, a list of classes to be done daily, assignments to send in and tests to be taken. The Professor also participates in pragmatic speech therapy once a week, is a member of the Robotics Club and is taking an elective - beginning spanish.
Sounds pretty rigourous and frankly, it is... however the "without boundaries" part, is the best part. That's the part that benefits us the most... Asperger's Syndrome is not easy and my experience is - some teachers and administrators in our public schools care (we have had two teachers who were absolutely amazing), others could care less, some have their hands tied with budget issues and some are just out right uneducated and mean. Now that we don't have the "boundaries" The Professor and I can make working on social skills part of any subject or lesson - we can meet the problems head on, instead of ignoring them and, even more importantly, help The Professor learn and grow without tearing him down. We also get to discuss the gospel with any and all subjects - The Professor and I have had some very interesting insights this year. The Professor's favorite part is that once he's done with his day, or taking a break he can study whatever he wants... it's great. Last year, in the "bricks and mortar school" The Professor was constantly in trouble for wanting to read - which yes, proper time proper place, however, this year on his breaks he's practically memorized his science book - reading it over and over just for fun.
Yes, virtual school is real school! In Arizona we still have to do the state mandated AIMS testing. And yes, universities accept kids who graduate from Conncections Academy - many students have been accepted to the local colleges like ASU and NAU, but they've also been accepted to schools all over the country, including Harvard.
When?
When you're in a virtual school you can learn whenever you want - as long as you're working on curriculum, meeting your state mandated number of school hours and turning in assignments in a timely manner.
For us, The Professor works best with a schedule - so we have a daily schedule with very specific time frames for accomplishing his work. If his work isn't finished according to our schedule then he has homework. This approach seems to work best for The Professor, so that's what we do.
Where?
Right in our front room. It's great - at the beginning of the year the school sent all of the text books, workbooks and most of the supplies (we still have to provide a few of our own), so we have our computer area, study area, and then, if we feel like it, we can go anywhere else we want. We do a lot of our science projects in the backyard, reading can be done sitting in a comfy chair, or if we feel the urge - field trip! We have several resources within 15 minutes of home -museums, the zoo, the Mesa Temple... if there's something we'd like to see, we can! We also go to the library once a week and as I said earlier The Professor still recieves his IEP speech services online. He meets online with his teacher and 4th grade class once a week and does the same for spanish class. The school also plans field trips once a month - it's been fun to have the chance to meet with other students and parents.
How?
All you have to do is go to the website and see if you're eligible. In Arizona enrollment is free.
Attending a virtual school is a lot of work and as a mom it's been a huge committment for me to adjust my schedule and outlook to make this type of schooling work in my life. I'm still learning. All of my children are important to me and as a mother I am committed to doing whatever I can to help each of them know that they are a child of God, that they each have special gifts and talents and that each of them have special assignments that they came to this earth to fulfill. I can't live their lives for them, but I will do my best to give them the tools they need to live their own lives and do the things that they know are right.
