My name is Carrie Jean Ross and I live in a small community near Boise, Idaho with my extremely patient husband of 24 years, two somewhat patient children, and a pair of adorable impatient red poodles. When my children were born in the early 90's, there were only a few education options available to our family. We tried almost all of them, including homeschooling, public school and a short time with a private school. They all had their positives, but they weren't exactly the choice we were looking for. In 2004 I had the joy of seeing INSPIRE, the Idaho Connections Academy, approved as a statewide full-time virtual public charter school.  Today, my daughter is in her junior year at INSPIRE and my son had the privilege of being in the first graduating class in 2008.

Since 2005, I've been working for Connections Academy, providing support to other parents and community members while they work to open similar virtual opportunities in their states. I've seen many families rejoice to see doors open for them through virtual education and also wept beside parents as they saw their requests denied. Now as Parent Support Manager for Connections Academy, I'm excited to be a part of the Virtual Learning Connections blog, sharing my experience with anyone interested and providing Learning Coaches everywhere with additional tools to meet the demands placed on them to adapt to an ever changing educational environment.

Why I Care About Virtual School

In the summer of 2002 a friend sent me a newspaper clipping about a virtual public school and our family decided to give it a try. Our education choices were about to grow more than we realized. I'm passionate about virtual education and supporting families everywhere in the unique experience of being a learning coach for children using virtual education because I've experienced the benefits first-hand and seen it work well for so many.