Virtual Homeschooling - Options Available to Families
This article explains virtual homeschooling in detail. Please read my comments at the end.
What is Virtual Homeschooling?
You have seen most likely the phrase virtual homeschooling appear many times during your Internet surfing or heard it in conversations with family members and friends. No doubt you have heard someone use the phrase within the context of a home school but without any reference to the Internet. So just what does this concept refer to? What exactly does this perplexing phrase mean?
As so often is the case with information circulating on the Internet, this phrase is improperly used most of the time. Usually, the phrase is used synonymously with homeschooling. That is in error.
Homeschooling means a formalized teaching of one's child at home which is authorized by state law and permitted to substitute for the state requirement that children between certain ages be in school during certain hours of the day for a required number of days each year. There are various methods for setting up and running a home school - online, correspondence, tutor, homeschooling school, etc.
A virtual homeschooling enterprise is just one of those methods and refers most properly to a teaching experience at home which is carried out over the Internet. This means that the child accesses the Internet and reads and answers questions online. Textbooks may be electronic or hard copy or a combination. Although in the narrow use of the term, the textbooks should be in an electronic format. Thus, the child is virtually attending school at home rather than attending in what we call brick and mortar. And yet, the child is in a formalized course of instruction and as such, like her/his peers, is not free to come and go as s/he pleases during school hours.
Now that you know the proper use and meaning of this much abused phrase, please join us in spreading the word so that all will have a proper understanding of the meaning and usage of this term.
If you would like more information about homeschool lesson plans [http://homeschoolingbasics.info/homeschool-lesson-plans] as well as general information on homeschooling, please visit [http://homeschoolingbasics.info] These links are not active but I am required to include them here.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com Virtual Homeschooling - What is It? by Don Rodriguez
What Online Homeschool Learning Really Means . . .
My Comments: When people tell me that they are going to be using virtual homeschooling I smile and think about how this parent has been lead to believe that they are homeschooling.
School districts love it when parents choose this option because the student is still considered a public school student and the school district still gets all the money for the student.
In Ohio this option is free to the student and their family. You receive a computer, printer and compensation towards Internet access. Although this sounds wonderful I have heard lots of stories from parents saying that the computer and printer are not very good and that it is very difficult to get printer ink as promised.
There are various companies that provide online programs. Some require you to do all your work online and others just require you to logon each day but let you do your bookwork with pencil and paper.
I have only heard of one family that liked this approach and used it more than one year. Many homeschool parents like to have more control over what their children study and how much work they have to do.
Along with the computer work there is also mandatory testing and field trips that you have to attend. The testing is done at another site sometimes quite a distance from where the student lives.
Make sure you ask plenty of questions before you choose this homeschooling option.
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