Connections Academy Blog, Virtual Learning Connections

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a high school student in an online school?  The best way to find an answer is to go to the source.  Hannah Berquist has been kind enough to share her thoughts on the experience and a few of the surprises she had along the way!

Hannah Bergquist, MTS Minnesota Connections Academy High School Graduate 2010

Like many seniors across the state, I am celebrating the completion of high school and looking forward to beginning college next fall. However, my route to graduation was somewhat nonstandard. I completed my freshman year as a traditional high school student and to all outward appearances was very successful. I was involved in choir, made the junior varsity tennis team and doing well academically. Yet, over the course of the school year I had become increasingly frustrated with several things. First, despite having good grades, I all too often left my classes feeling confused about the homework making it difficult to complete. I often felt as if I was teaching the material to myself or relying on help from my parents. Second, the lack of discipline in all too many of my classrooms made it difficult to learn or enjoy the class time. Third, I was frustrated by not having as much free time as I would have liked in order to pursue other interests. This led to my decision to pursue other alternatives for completing my high school education

With help from my parents, I settled ...

Have you ever wondered why it was so difficult for your student to finish a particular assignment? Some Learning Coaches find their children avoiding an assignment or school lesson because they are worried about not having the highest grade, a perfect essay, or a flawless presentation to submit to the teacher. You can tell if perfectionism is hindering your progress during the school day by listening to your children. Does your procrastinating student say things like the following:

“This is impossible.”
“The paper won’t be good enough, so why bother?”
“Can you check this one more time before I send it to the teacher?”
“It took me longer because I wanted it to be perfect.”
“It will never be good enough!” 

Perfectionism can strangle the creative efforts of any child. A small project may grow into a major ordeal. Sometimes students create expectations that add unnecessary requirements to the project. So how can you help your student knock down this roadblock and start moving forward again? Here’s an emergency plan:

Reassure

• Unrealistic expectations can cause feelings of anxiety and failure. Let your child know that everything will be okay, and that you love him or her and will help him or her get back on track.
• Don’t be critical.

Redirect

• Help your student understand the requirements of the assignment.
• Develop a strategy with your student to finish the task at hand.
• Break the assignment into smaller pieces. ...

As a virtual elementary school teacher with Ohio Connections Academy for the past five years, I have received tons of parent feedback. Most parents are excited about taking an active role in their child’s education, but they also want to make sure to keep it engaging—and even fun. Here are some creative tips I have shared with families that take advantage of the benefits of virtual school to keep learning exciting:

Social Studies: Why not turn that social studies assignment/project into a family virtual field trip? Depending upon the assignment, either start your morning or take the afternoon to visit that location across the world online. Some Web sites that offer great virtual trips are:

• Visit the Statue of Liberty
• Walk the streets of 18th-century Williamsburg, Virginia
• Explore an Ancient Roman Villa
• Experience camp life during the Civil War

On a large bulletin board or in an empty photo album, keep track of the virtual cities/countries you visit throughout the school year. Finally, have your younger child create a postcard sharing one cool thing your family discovered or learned about.

Language Arts: Your student has to write a persuasive essay. Uggghh!! No need to panic; this can be fun. First, get online and go to your child’s favorite online store and do some “shopping.” Give him ten minutes to find five items/toys he feels he just has to have. Next, ask him to provide three reasons why his life would be better with these ...

Have you noticed your children daydreaming more? Are they unreasonably restless or more easily distracted than usual? These are sure signs that spring fever has planted itself in your school day. Today, my daughter announced it was a beautiful day and she couldn't wait to get outside. It was obvious she would rather be outdoors instead of working inside on a Geometry lesson. Luckily, at this time of year, the flexibility of being in a virtual school definitely has advantages!

The challenge is to find a way to let springtime and learning time share the same space. These 10 ideas have helped our family over the years, and may give you some ideas on tackling this blooming situation. 

• Start early in the day and finish your lessons before it gets warm enough to tempt you outdoors. Or take a mid afternoon break and return to lessons later in the day. Isn't this flexibility great!
• Finish an extra lesson Monday-Thursday, and make Friday an outside learning adventure day. 
• Set a good example. Yes, Learning Coaches, this means that you need to finish your chores before you can go out and play, too! 
• Grab the books and study outside. 
• Plan a regular break time to go for a walk, play catch or just breathe fresh air. 
• Enjoy lunch outside. 
• Bring some greenery from outside into the house. 
• Add bright colors to the learning area with colorful pictures of flowers, or even better, a few fresh picked early blossoms. 
• Encourage daydreaming...

My kids are great procrastinators because I've taught them well. Right now, I'm staring at a 43 pound suitcase filled with years of good intentions. It's filled with photos, news clippings, programs from dance recitals and awards my kids have received. I would love to have these items organized into easy to view photo albums or scanned into digital albums, but it's easier to come up with reasons why I can't do it, such as, "I don't have time", "I want this to be a family project", or my favorite, "They’re safer in the suitcase because I can grab it quickly in case of a fire."

Procrastination for virtual school students comes in many shapes and sizes. I see procrastination typically rear its ugly head during lessons that my students are working on independently. A little procrastination is something we are all guilty of every now and then. When it happens regularly, though, it presents a real challenge. Throughout this month I will be writing about different reasons I think most students procrastinate and offering my suggestions for what you can do about it.

One reason why our students procrastinate is due to weak study habits.

I can usually spot when this is the problem because it sounds like this: (in a whiny tone)

"I can't do this" , "It's too hard", "This wasn't in the lesson", "It's boring", "I don't understand it".

So what is the first line of defense for this? Watch your student study a complete ...

This was the simple question I posed to my daughter. Little did I know the reasons she started rattling off would totally stump me.  Imagine that, me speechless. All of her reasons for not calling her teacher for help sounded...well...reasonable. 

Time to call in the reinforcements!  One of my best supports this year has been my dear daughter's English teacher.  So I sent out a distress email: 

Dear Mr. Plummer,

Help!  You said, "CALL ME, CALL ME, CALL ME!!", if I ever needed your help. Well, I really need it now!  My daughter needs help with her school work, but she refuses to pick up the phone.  Even worse, she's come up with some great excuses as to why she shouldn't and she has me stumped!  What am I supposed to say to these? How can I get her to call? I've attached her list of reasons and can't wait to see what you suggest.

Sincerely,
Baffled Learning Coach

These are the reasons I sent and Mr. Plummer's responses:

Reason #1: "If I knew what the problem was, then I could probably figure out the answer."

• Mr. Plummer says: "Albert Einstein said that If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? I think we could all agree that, besides forgetting to comb his hair, he was a pretty smart dude, and even he didn’t have all the answers. Don’t think of them as problems; think of them as questions you just haven’t answered yet. And when you call us, we ...

Sometimes I wish my utterances came with a reverse button.

The other day I had one of those “wishing I had a reverse button” moments while I was trying to motivate my daughter to complete a lesson for Biology. The words were,“You know how to do this, so why don’t you just do it already!” Yes, it was said with the exclamation point at the end. As the words went from my brain and through my lips, I could see by her body language that those words didn't do anything to motivate or help her with the task at hand.

So why did I choose those words? Because at that moment my motivation tool box was empty.

Motivating your student doesn’t mean that you have to make sure your student is always excited about what they are learning. Even with the best curriculum, students may have dips in their desire to learn, but the right motivater can help get him or her across the finish line.

Later when I felt motivated, I came up with these ideas for quick motivation tips to put into my Learning Coach journal:

1. Ask your student how you can help. Listen to both your child's words and actions. You know your child better than anyone. What are they telling you?

Notice how your student is feeling at that moment and encourage a change that will improve his or her learning mood:

(Copy the text in the box below to share the image above on your ...

Are you excited to kick off this new semester?  You should be.  There is no better feeling then the chance to start fresh and a new semester provides just that opportunity.  It's easy to fall into the habit of looking back and thinking about what went wrong and feeling bad about it.  Don't get sucked in, shake it off now!  Growth is about learning and moving forward, so don't let anything hold you back. 

Here's how to launch a great new virtual school semester.

For the Learning Coach:

• Refresh your focus - Remind yourself of the reasons you chose a virtual school setting.
• Revisit success stories - Chances are, you did more right last semester than you realize. Identify what went right and write it down.  You can also read about others’ success stories for an extra shot of motivation. 
• Build your support network - Reach out to other Learning Coaches via social networks or school message boards.
• Reflect on growth - In addition to information gathered from state testing, report cards, and lessons completed, talk about what your student has learned and how this gets them closer to their individual goals.
• Picture change - Schedule some time with your teacher to get their input on how the semester went. Find time to chat with your kids openly (not in an accusatory way) about what worked or didn't work during the previous semester.  If they aren't in a chatty mood, create your own list for reference. What would you and your ...

Math...math...math...

Does the thought of doing a math lesson send chills down your spine? Or do you love math so much you look for free math lessons online just for the fun of it? 

No matter what your learning style, there is one quick way to sweeten up a math lesson in a hurry - CANDY!

Candy can help make numbers jump off the page.  Throughout the year, you can buy candy in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes (watch for them to go on sale). Put some in a bag in the back of the freezer and bring it out to spice up a lesson. 

Use for:

• Learning to count
• Lessons dealing with addition & subtraction
• Reinforcing place value
• Exploring fractions
• When a lesson suggests using a math counter (such as beans or beads)
• Plotting points on a number line or graph
• Have your student tell you a math story ("Dan has 8 pieces of candy.  He wants 10. How many more...")
• Practice measuring lengths

We would love to have you share your favorite candy math stories here.  There's nothing like sharing sweet success with friends.

Whether you are homeschooling or in virtual school, spending so much time together can make it easy to forget that doing a little extra for your children during the school day can go a long way.

Here are some ideas that only take a few minutes, but could make a big impact on your child's attitude:

• Display - Hang a paper or picture your child is especially proud of on the refrigerator.
• Brag - Send a copy of this semester's report card to a friend or maybe a grandparent.
• Share - Read just one more book together before bed, or share a special poem with an older child.
• Praise - Every day draw attention to something your child does well.
• Spoil - Cut the edges of their sandwiches, or add hearts to the center of an apple with a cookie cutter.

Even if they act like it's silly, older kids still love your attention.  Little things do mean a lot.