– Focus on Your School –
– Focus on Your School –
It’s been a little different than usual, but the school year is off to a great start! The students and staff have adjusted well to our face covering rule and we are doing a lot more hand washing, cleaning and disinfecting. The only part of the year that has been troubling, is the number of students who are now homeschooled, instead of participating in our “My Choice” alternative or the eSucceed Virtual Public School.
My Choice is when students and/or their parents decide they will use Zoom to participate in their classes for the day, instead of appearing in person. This is flexible from day-to-day, but the times of attendance are the same times the student would have those same classes if they were in the school building.
If the Zoom time demands aren’t flexible enough for a family and/or they don’t want to attend school in person at all, then we recommend the eSucceed Virtual Public School.
eSucceed allows students to work on their classes when it works best for them. Individual schedules for classes and virtual meetings with the students’ teacher(s) are arranged. An elementary student can expect to work on a screen for one to two hours each day, and then work on projects. Middle school and high school students can expect a little more screen time.
eSucceed is one of only a few virtual schools that use PBL (Project-Based Learning), where students can incorporate individual interests into their learning. Some students, especially those who have more success with hands-on learning, adjust well to this type of education.
When a parent decides to homeschool their child(ren), they need to provide the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) assurances that they are providing an adequate curriculum and level of learning. These parents need to purchase their own materials and are responsible for teaching their child(ren).
My concern with homeschooling, is that not all parents obtain the materials they need to ensure their child(ren) keep pace with the students attending an in-person or virtual school. This can lead to severe academic deficiencies if a child returns to a public school.
While I realize this pandemic has brought fear and uncertainty, we all still need to do the best we can with the format we choose to prepare our youth for the future ahead.
