Elizabeth Connelly
Learning Coach
Elizabeth Connelly is a mother and Learning Coach to two children who are students at South Carolina Connections Academy (SCCA). At SCCA, she is able to be involved in her children’s learning and enjoy the benefits of a flexible schedule. Elizabeth shares her family’s story below.
"One of my best friends had enrolled her children in SCCA, so she really encouraged me to try it with our children. She knew I was considering making a change, and she felt like it would be a great fit for our family. There were several factors that made SCCA attractive to us. I felt like the online platform would work well for our family, plus I believed it would give us more flexibility. I also liked the fact that I could be more involved in terms of curriculum delivery. My favorite benefit of the program is that I get to see my children learn and grow all day, every day.
We have seen our children mature and grow academically. They become more and more independent every day. We feel like they have taken ownership of their educational paths, and we hope that will stick with them throughout their lives. My favorite part of being a Learning Coach, besides simply getting to be with our children, is knowing that we are making decisions based on what is working for us. We are the captains of our own ships and I love that.
Our children have built true friendships with their SCCA classmates. They ‘see’ each other often during LiveLesson® sessions, and they enjoy spending time together during field trips (We actually go on a lot of field trips—during the 2013–14 school year, we went on over 20 of them!). They are masters of electronic communication, too! In addition, they have many local friends through church and extracurricular activities.
As students in South Carolina Connections Academy, our children are encouraged to be active, independent learners who take ownership of their own educational experiences. We strongly believe that school experiences should be based on collaboration among students, parents, teachers, and administrators. SCCA gives us the flexibility we desire, while providing the structural framework necessary to ensure our children have access to a high-quality curriculum.
— Elizabeth
I have found our children's teachers to be extremely responsive. We communicate with them by WebMail and telephone, and we see them during field trips. Being able to communicate with the teachers is important to me as a parent and Learning Coach, but it's more important to me that the children communicate with their teachers on their own, and I like that they are encouraged to do so.
Our children participate in activities at our church and are involved in scouts. In addition, they are both free to participate in whatever extracurricular activities interest them during a particular school year such as dance lessons, camping trips, or anything in between. SCCA's flexibility makes it easy for us to do the activities that are important to us as a family. We can easily schedule vacations and field trips knowing that the children can adjust their schoolwork schedules as needed.
