Connections Academy Blog, Virtual Learning Connections

My name is Tracy Ostwald-Kowald (my students call me Mrs. O.K.), and I’m a teacher at the virtual school Wisconsin Connections Academy. Flat Stanley, an educational character, arrived through snail mail from my friend Mrs. K., a teacher in the Dallas, Texas, area. Flat Stanley loves to see new places and make new friends. In fact, he took a tour of Lambeau Field to see the Lombardi Trophy from last year’s Super Bowl! Then I brought Stanley with me to show him how a virtual school works. He shares his photos and impressions of his visit to our virtual school below—take it away, Stanley…

I went to work today with Mrs. O.K.
Mrs. O.K. is a teacher in a newfangled kind of school; she teaches online!

Mrs. O.K.’s students (and those of the school) live all over the state of Wisconsin. There’s a map in the school offices showing where the students live. Wow! They’re really spread out.

Mrs. O.K. took me around the online high school side of the school. I met the social studies teacher, and we fooled around with Google Maps. He was looking for Westminster Abbey.

The high school language arts teacher has a cubicle full of posters encouraging reading—everything from Shakespeare to (be still, my flattened heart) the Cat in the Hat.

This guest post is by Jane Kummer-Meyer, a Learning Coach from Wisconsin.

Working with multiple children in a virtual school or homeschool setting can at first seem daunting, but with some organization and planning, and a bit of flexibility, it can be quite manageable. For the past three years, I have had four boys enrolled in Wisconsin Connections Academy, and during that time I’ve been the Learning Coach for grades ranging from kindergarten through 12th. I definitely had to find creative ways to simultaneously give all of my children the support and attention they need, ensure success, and maintain my own sanity.

It doesn’t have to be stressful! Here are a few key things I do to help balance my time between each of my boys:

• Having a schedule is imperative. With a schedule, I can plan to work with my youngest son when the older ones are doing an online class session or working independently. A schedule also helps keep the kids focused on their responsibilities as online students. One great feature of online learning is the ability to be flexible, so if we have an appointment or special event, we tweak the schedule. If my students ever get behind, we talk about how or why this happened and what adjustments they need to make to their schedules to get back on track. This is a great way to teach them how to effectively manage their own time and to take ownership of their own learning....

Students with health-related issues face a myriad of challenges, but getting a quality education shouldn’t be one of them.

For children dealing with frequent hospital visits, doctors’ appointments, treatment schedules, or long recovery times, attending a traditional school may not be a viable education option.

Many virtual schools offer an accredited education alternative to students who must or prefer to stay at home in order to properly care for their health needs.

For Toni Wood, a reassured virtual school parent in Oklahoma, the quality online curriculum and flexibility of an online school environment are the keys to simultaneously maintaining her daughter Belle’s type 1 diabetes and her education.

Toni explains:

“After the initial diagnosis, Belle had encountered many challenges as she learned to cope with her condition and integrate care into her daily life. School life was particularly challenging, specifically in her ability to think and learn. Her blood sugar was frequently too high or too low, making it difficult for her to pay attention and perform academically at the level of which she was capable. For that reason, we chose to withdraw her from her traditional brick-and-mortar school and educate her at home so that she would be able to take care of herself when she felt it was necessary and still not miss any instruction time. Then we found virtual schooling with Oklahoma Connections Academy.

"Online education works for us because our daughter is no longer restricted to certain hours to accomplish her daily work. She ...

Watching your child’s education develop before your eyes is a truly gratifying experience. Being able to witness the “aha!” moments when concepts are mastered and lessons completely understood is priceless for many parents.

But what about those times when your child isn’t able to grasp the material right away? When he or she stumbles through the lessons and can’t seem to complete the accompanying activities?

As a Learning Coach, you are not responsible for teaching lessons to your online school student, but rather for playing an active role in reinforcing study habits that lead to success. Since online teachers are there to determine your child’s needs, develop individualized learning plans, and handle the teaching, your role is to assist your student to become an independent online learner. Here are some important techniques to help foster effective learning:

1. Mastering the art of note-taking. Just because your student is taking notes during an online lesson doesn’t mean that he or she is doing so effectively. If you notice that your child is struggling to grasp the most important information, it may be time to work on note-taking strategies. Some of these include:
• previewing the readings
• paying attention to boldface words and headings
• reworking main ideas into concepts that are easily understood
• being attentive to captions
• using different modes of note-taking, including highlighters, sticky notes, index cards, graphs, charts, and diagrams
• making sure the notes taken answer/reference the objectives and questions that accompany each lesson
2. Providing a variety of learning materials. Your child ...

Want some ideas to help your kids really understand the significance of why we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day?

Many students have an easier time understanding the impact of a public figure’s accomplishments when presented with a chance to make connections between specific details and the bigger picture through hands-on activities. Try some of the activities below to provide your children with a real understanding of how Martin Luther King Jr. influenced our world.

• Develop a Time Line. Students always retain more information through active learning, so turn reading from a book into an activity by asking them to develop a time line of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. This will encourage them to do research and exercise their critical-thinking skills to figure out which events are most significant.
  
  
• Go on a Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt. A great way to enhance comprehension is to help your student learn the vocabulary associated with Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Once you create a list of terms, direct students to trusted online resources that can help them find definitions and examples. To finish the activity, ask your student to develop a sentence that uses the term. Some examples of terms include boycott, discriminate, dream, emancipate, marches, and segregate.
  
  
• Volunteer in the Community. On Martin Luther King Day, encourage your student to give back to the community just as Martin Luther King Jr. did. This is the perfect opportunity to teach students the value of volunteering, and if you ...

Instead of just giving me an allowance as a child, my parents insisted on teaching me the value of money, and at the same time the value of giving. Every week when I got my allowance, I had to split it into three sections: spending money, savings money, and giving money.

I learned at a young age that giving to others should be just as natural as providing for myself. Having spending money allowed me to go out with friends for a Slurpee. Saving money, however, I didn’t fully understand until I was older. I was a bit attached to my saved money, but after contributing to my grandma’s birthday celebration for the first time, I slowly began to understand the reason for giving.

This important lesson is one I have made sure to teach my own children as well. However, in addition to monetary giving, we also stress the importance of giving back through volunteering and donating items.

In our house, we see volunteering as a wonderful way to spend time together as a family while also doing something good for people in need. There are so many ways to volunteer and so many places within our community that can benefit from help. We help out at several organizations during particular times of the year, but we also try to find new places in need.

Sometimes it’s as simple as sorting items for our church’s yearly “Trash to Treasure” sale. Other times we join a group that is doing ...

At the start of every January, I come up with a few New Year’s resolutions to guide the coming year. For me it’s a great way to get focused and identify a few key areas of my life I’d like to work on improving.

With my kids, we do it a little differently and set New Year’s learning resolutions. We sit down and determine a few topics of interest they want to learn more about, or maybe pinpoint a particular skill they need to improve in order to advance.

In addition to setting new goals, we always make sure to reflect back on how last year’s resolutions were met. This is a great way for my kids to see the progress they’ve made, and it makes them proud to know they accomplished something that was important to them. Taking time to look over past writing projects and worksheets just to compare content or handwriting is a tangible way to reflect.

My kids have come up with all kinds of learning resolutions over the years, including these below, which you can use if you need some suggestions:

• Focus on the big picture. Stepping back every so often to remember why they are learning something is a great way to keep kids motivated. Taking time to talk about when they go to college or tech school and how current work will benefit this goal is a great way to create that big picture for a student.
  
  
• Communicate clearly. Whether they ...

Some may think that online learning only occurs through the computer, but this form of education actually allows for plenty of hands-on exercises and real-world application of concepts.

Science is one of the subjects that lends itself especially well to experiments and interactive learning activities. We don’t usually think of our kitchen as an electrical engineering lab, but did you know that play dough made with salt is actually great at conducting electricity? And play dough made with sugar is resistant to electric currents. When you use them in combination and add in a battery pack and a few lights, you have the opportunity to create circuits. They are not the complex circuits used by professional electricians, but simplified, colorful, squishy circuits that even younger children can build and understand!

Watch the video below to see a demonstration of how play dough squishy circuits work:

Having trouble seeing? Try going directly to YouTube.

Now that you’ve seen how fun this activity can be, it’s time to start making your play dough. You may have done this in your own childhood, but in case you never did, the recipe is below.

How to Make Conductive Play Dough

You’ll need: 1 cup water, 1½ cups flour, ¼ cup salt, 3 Tbsp. cream of tartar, 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, food coloring of your choice.

1. Mix water, 1 cup of flour, cream of tartar, vegetable oil, salt, and food coloring in a pot (medium-sized).
2. Cook over medium heat and stir continuously (the ...

What adult role models does your teenager have? Would you say these people have made an impact on his or her life? In what ways?

My name is Christy Lamb, and I am an online high school assistant principal at Ohio Connections Academy. Teachers typically serve as important role models for many students. However, teachers are not the only individuals who are qualified to serve as positive adult influences in a student’s life. An adult role model can also be a coach, counselor, social worker, minister, neighbor, boss, or family friend. It can be anyone who comes into contact with the student on a regular basis and takes an interest in his or her well-being.

Most people believe that having positive role models in a young adult’s life can make a big impact. These role models can help students make healthy choices, and those choices can increase their chances of having a successful life.

Often, these role models don’t have to do anything that significant, because many teenagers just want someone to listen to them, and occasionally offer advice. They also want someone who will:

• Encourage them to pursue their passions
• Listen to their opinions and stories without judging
• Provide insight when asked/needed
• Remind them that they are not alone
• Help them explore college and career options
• Teach social skills

All of these things can be accomplished by any adult who takes the time to care.

I recently surveyed a combination of 137 tenth and eleventh grade online high ...

What better way to make your and your children’s holiday gifts even more personal than by creating your own wrapping paper? With a few simple supplies and your kids’ imaginations, the outside of your holiday gifts can be just as meaningful as the thought put into the surprises inside.

Here’s what you will need:

• Butcher (white) or Kraft (brown) paper (you can buy it in rolls at most craft stores)
• Scissors
• Drawing tools such as crayons, markers, and colored pencils
• Glue (optional)
• Additional craft supplies such as glitter, beads, feathers, lace (optional)

To get started, cut either butcher paper or Kraft paper into pieces that are large enough to cover the gifts you want to wrap. Then, break out the crayons, markers, colored pencils, and other drawing supplies—and let your children’s creativity go to work.

Have each child draw pictures, write words, or make designs on the paper. You may want to use their drawings to give hints about the gifts inside, or to identify who is getting each present. Your children can even write the lyrics to favorite holiday songs or use their own handprints. The sky is the limit here, so encourage them to be as creative as they want.

If your kids want to add a little more pizzazz to their homemade wrapping paper, they can glam it up with glitter, stickers, beads, feathers, and pretty much anything else they can get their hands on.

When it’s time to exchange gifts, the pictures, words, and memories shared ...