Insights new Look

note: this is a contradiction of what I said in February 2011. At that time, I had been assured that Insight Corporation although had been sold/bought, and the CEO had left, no major changes would occur. I'm questioning the validity of that statement.

I am disturbed by a trend in virtual schooling. When I began this journey a decade ago, there were many players in the field. Keystone, Aventa, Apex, K12, FLVS, were the heavy hitters, but there were half a dozen other companies that were providing educational materials and courseware for schools. Each of these companies sold their product (the course material, online access) to a school (iQ, Insight, WIVA, Connections, etc) where the student could access the material. Many of these course providers also allowed parents to purchase individual courses. It was through this flexibility that my son took Auto Mechanics, and Aviation (I & II) through Grantsburg Virtual School. Today, that would not be possible. K12 has bought out what seems to be everyone. And, just like I don't like the fact that Wisconsin public schools are a monopoly, I don't like the fact that Virtual Schools are soon to be in exactly the same boat.

Insight Schools (corporation) is the most recent acquisition by K12. The CEO and founder of Insight, Keith Oelrich, is no longer associated with Insight. Virtual schooling has lost another leader, another innovator.

K12 is a wonderful curriculum. When it comes to teaching K-8, I don't believe there is a better choice available in this country. The K12 method is concept based. Children are taught ideas and then the details are applied. It's often referred to as a mastery approach, but that's merely the grading method. The teaching method is concept focus. It is unarguably fabulous. It was developed under the leadership of Bror Saxberg. Bror left K12 in 2009. I assume (although have not confirmed) that there were philosophical differences that caused Bror to leave. It was shortly after his departure that K12 turned from being a fabulous curriculum provider to being a pariah of independent virtual schools.

Insight schools of Wisconsin this week sent out a letter from Karl Peterson. In this letter, Karl mentions the new course catalog. While I had been assured in February that there would be no changes to the individual offerings at a local school, apparently, that is not the case. Insight will be offering the K12 high school courses. This isn't a bad thing. I like the K12 product. But, K12 doesn't offer British Literature. K12 doesn't offer Mythology. K12 doesn't offer C++. These are courses that have been dropped from the Insight catalog.

I am deeply concerned over this news. I do not believe that a monopoly is beneficial to the students of virtual schools. I do not know what is ahead for us, but to me, it appears there are storm clouds on the horizon.

Switching schools

Because of some serious issues with WIVA, I have decided to move my daughters to Insight Schools of WI. (oldest daughter graduated from Insight WI this June.) I must say, it is a learning experience to switch virtual schools.

Sending back equipment has been challenging. I have computer equipment from two different schools for three different students. I have books and other materials for the same. I've gotten 14 emails requesting supplies be returned. Most (but not all) of the emails have a student name. One email had both the materials to be returned listed and a shipping label. Some have just shipping labels with a student name as sender, in 8 point font. Two were links to generate shipping labels, for "computer equipment". (I have three laptops and two printers to return as well as a large assortment of microphones, cameras, books, microscopes, etc.) In total, I have 4 shipping labels for computer equipment. Not a single email/label gives me a serial number of the equipment that is being requested. I know, I'm a bad mom. I'm supposed to remember which HP laptop was from which school. And I'm supposed to remember which Lexmark printer was for which child from which school. My favorite email was from "Gene Ortman", a name totally unfamiliar to me. He asks, "How many labels do I need?" No reference to school and/or child and/or type of materials to be sent.

This quandary is of particular interest to me because I've been receiving detailed emails from Vicki Wood for the last six years. Vicki Wood is the name on the emails from K12 computer reclamations. I don't believe she is a real person, but I might be wrong. In these emails, I am asked to return a computer from K12 for my son Joseph. These emails include shipping labels and material specifications (CPU, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse). They specify Joseph's name. They even list the type of CPU - a Dell 386. Yep. A 386. (for non-geeks, a 386 was a computer in use in the early 1990's. It was only barely capable of running Windows 95. It had a floppy drive and less memory than an average smart phone.) This equipment was returned many many years ago. Apparently it was lost in a warehouse somewhere. Probably being used as a door stop, because it isn't good for anything else.

My suggestion to parents of virtual students: Attach labels to all computer equipment. These can be purchased from the local office supply store. Label cables and power cords, too. Keep the box and packing materials for each - or plan ahead on this one. It's hard to find Styrofoam padding that will adequately protect a laptop sent by FedEx. If you are returning equipment to Insight, they will not send labels (or they haven't to me) But, they will send the FedEx guy to your house and he can attach the label when he gets there. K12 also wants their computers sent via FedEx. They provide labels but not the home pick up. Therefore, you will need to take the computer to the closest FedEx pick up site. For me, this is 35 miles away.

My suggestion to schools: We are families, not corporations. We live in houses and not offices. Please send serial numbers of any and all equipment that you want returned. Many of us have a half dozen HP laptops lying around the house. If you want a specific serial number back, ask. Please affix school labels to all equipment before you send it to us. Don't expect us to read your mind. We have multiple children. Please include the students name in all correspondence. Please include the name of the school in all correspondence. Please include a real live contact name and phone number or email address.

One more thing, I got a lovely email today from Insight. It did have a real person's name. The subject line was "Welcome to the K12 Online School." (more on this confusing name change later) In the email it said, "Please disregard this system-generated email at this time" (underlining in original) And they wonder why sometimes we parents are clueless.

Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual Families

The Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual Families has a new website. This organization has changed the face of public schooling, for the betterment of all. Without the efforts of the Coalition it is unlikely that Virtual schooling would exist in Wisconsin today. They deserve every superlative I know. They also deserve our support. They are not associated with any specific school. They represent all virtually schooling families in the state of Wisconsin. Please consider signing up to stand with them.

http://www.wivirtualschoolfamilies.org/

How Colleges View Online Education

The title of this post is slanted. I have never sat on an academic admissions board. Everything said is speculation. My student sampling is extremely low - one child.

My daughter is brilliant. She was in Calculus AB in the eighth grade. One of the reasons for switching to an online school was I couldn't continue to teach her at home, and the local public school didn't want to even try. (true story. They told me that she should graduate at the age of 14 and go off to college... yah, that's gonna happen) Online seemed like a perfect fit. Individually tailored classes, flexible scheduling, accredited. What more could I ask?

Fast forward four years, my daughter is graduating valedictorian of Insight Schools. She has taken 12 AP level courses. She took math classes from Stanford Universities EPGY program for gifted youth. She scored in the top 1% on her standardized tests. She has worked 20 hours per week and volunteered 5 hours per week for the last two years. Her weighted GPA is 4.3. Her recommendation letters were from Princeton alumni, Rose Hulman professors and other professionals. She was turned down by a dozen colleges. She will be going to UW Milwaukee, but it was truly her last choice.

Why was she turned down? Well, it is true the competition is stiff. There are tons of applicants for colleges. The average high school senior who wants to go to college applies to 10 or 12 schools. It is not uncommon for a student to apply to 20 different schools. This means there is a lot of paperwork for an admissions board to review. Her paperwork was all in on time, but her financial information was pretty close to the deadline. That might have made a difference. Finally, on those 12 AP tests, her average score is only a 3.8 (that's out of 5 possible) None of these possibilities seem likely to explain why this child isn't going to be attending a more prestigious school.

I think there is still a slight negative associated with the name of online schooling. I think the fact that the US Armed Services still views online schooling at the same level as correspondence school is a huge issue. I think that admissions counselors use that fact to justify their suspicions. After all, if the US Army doesn't approve, what do they know that we don't? I think there is confusion on the part of admissions boards. They don't understand that online education in Wisconsin is controlled by the same educational standards that regulates any public school. There is a move to try to change the opinion of the US Armed Services. This is a change we need to all support.

Online College

I have been a college student for exactly 7 weeks now. As an "expert" on virtual schooling, I thought I'd start commenting on the college level as well.

A little bit of history: Many years ago (1995?) someone came up with the brilliant idea of using this new phenomenon (the internet) to help educate computer nerds. The online curriculum was begun. Within a very few years, many companies began to try to sell computer based training. These mainly focused on A+ certification (how to fix a computer) networking and proprietary software (Oracle, Microsoft, Red Hat etc) Some of these programs were very very good, some were scams to separate the unsuspecting person from their money. Years past and the programs offered grew exponentially. By 2001 there were full colleges online and just about any technical training could be found there. But, because of the wild west attitudes that pervaded the industry in the early years, skepticism of the media abounded. (the is why to this very day, the US Armed Services does not recognize virtual schooling in any form)

There are many programs now available for online college classes. Kaplan and University of Phoenix are two biggies. These programs have a long history (well, in context it's long.... maybe ten years) of decent course ware taught by decent instructors. I have no direct experience with either program. I do know, as a former human resources employee, the sight of these two on a resume was neither a big plus or a big minus. It will get your toe into the door - but it won't cause the door to open. But, these companies, and many others, made a LOT of money in the early 2000's. And, struggling Universities saw that this was a way to increase revenue. MIT began putting ALL of it's course ware online in 2004. (You only get credit if you pay for the class) Stanford began offering online high school classes (more on this topic another time) Big names gave credibility to the idea of college online.

Today, you can take classes from the University of Wisconsin and it is entirely online. It has the same name that goes on the resume, same impact for human resources. But, it has the convenience (and difficulties) of being entirely online. They only offer an associates degree, but they will guarantee that all credits received will be transferable within the UW system.

I have been a UW Colleges student for 7 weeks now. I am taking my midterms this week. (wish me luck) Some of the coursework has been pretty good. My psychology class is very effective. The teacher is readily available. There is a focus on making students participate in class discussions. The course takes advantage of the myriad of material online that is available to enrich the learning. My math class is not so good. The material is written by someone who apparently understood math, but not English. There are lots of practice problems that a person can do, but unless you buy both the student and the teachers text, you don't have all of the answers. The teachers (there are two of them, they swap in and out throughout the semester) are not the fastest at answering questions. (48 hours or so)

I have four courses that I am taking. Two are really quite good, two are not. That seems to be the downfall of all virtual schooling. Some people just don't get it. They know how traditional classrooms function. They know how to teach one on one or in a large lecture hall. But, they don't understand the differences and subtleties of online schools.

Perks of Virtual school

My house, like most of yours, is occasionally busy, chaotic and disorganized. While none of us likes to live in that moment, life does have a way of creeping up on us and messing with the best of plans. Almost a year ago, I fell and broke a vertebra in my back. Fortunately, it was treated quickly and effectively and I am on my way to a full recovery. But, during the last twelve months, I have been unable to do many of the things that I used to do for my family. Virtual schooling has helped my family get through this.

The flexibility of time is one of the best assets of virtual schooling. My children have elluminate classes that they attend, but outside of those few hours a week, they are free to schedule their schoolwork as it fits into the rest of life. Because of this, my daughter can drive me to therapy. I don't need to depend on a neighbor, or ask my husband to take time off of work. We have managed to avoid paying for in home care for me throughout this time. Because of this flexibility, my children are available to help with shopping and dinner plans. And, as I have recovered, my daughters have been available to help neighbors, to volunteer at church, to watch school aged children who were out of school unexpectedly last week.

Life happens, and this week, my dryer has decided to die. If my children had to attend a traditional school, I would have been forced to find a way to get the laundry to the laundromat while we wait for the repair service. The challenge of lifting heavy laundry in and out of a car is just too much for me at the moment. But, because they aren't at a traditional school, they can wear their pajamas "to class". No one will tease them if they are wearing an out of style fashion. Plus, they have the time to hang clothes on the line to dry. None of this would be possible if we were out of the house for 8 hours each day.

Lunches are another perk. I have never had to buy a school lunch. I don't even have to plan for sandwiches, plastic utensils etc. for them to take their own lunch. There are leftovers from last night that can be reheated in the microwave. And, if all else fails, a frozen pizza can be popped into the oven. These are options a "normal" school aged child doesn't have.

I strongly believe that virtual schooling is not for every family. There are drawbacks. But, for me and my family, the perks are too good to pass up. What perks have you seen in your family?

Last day

Today is the last day to submit the Open Enrollment form to the DPI. Even if you are not sure that you want to try Virtual schooling, you should submit the form. If you turn in the form, you are not obligated to enroll in any school. If you do not turn in the form, you cannot enroll in any school outside of your district (unless you are already enrolled in another school)

Yes, there will be a waiting list for virtual schools. But, you can't get on the list, unless you fill out the form today. I know, it's six months before the next school year. I'm just looking forward to my tulips coming up. But, the government doesn't lead a normal life. They want their form today. Don't forget to give it to them.

State Testing and Virutal Schools

The question was posed recently, does this virtual school, or that one have the kids take the state standardized tests. I've heard the question before, so I thought I'd address it here.

All public schools in the state of Wisconsin require the students participate in State testing. That is part of being a public school. (9th, 11th and 12th graders are not tested. I have no knowledge if 1st and 2nd graders are tested). But, everyone else must be tested. Failure to have at least 95% of the students in a particular school take the test two years in a row will cause a school to be "put on probation" If the school does not get 95% of the students taking the test, the Department of Public Instruction can take away the schools funding. (Section (I) - part of No Child Left Behind Act)

If you want to avoid having your child tested by the state, do not enroll in a public school. As we've all heard, nothing in this life is free. Driving my children to the testing location is part of what I pay to keep my school open and free. (following the other rules of the school like submitting papers on time, attending elluminates etc., those are the other part of the "pay")

All virtual schools handle state testing pretty much the same way. They all pick locations around the state. They all try to make testing as comfortable as possible. It's always around the same time every year, late October or early November. Some schools are more regimented about the actual test. Others, if the proctor sees that everyone is done with part A, they won't wait the entire time before going on to part B. That is more the choice of the proctor than the school. I've seen it go both ways. The tests can be scheduled for two days (if the child is in 4th or 8th grade, when the testing is more encompassing.) I've heard of schools that even arranged those to be done in one day to avoid a longer commute.

Personally, I think the schools should all be a bit more flexible in how they deal with testing. Parents do have to drive their children to the testing site. Most families have multiple children, not all of them in a virtual school. This could mean child care costs or other issues. Yes, the state requires the proctors of the exam to hold a valid teachers license. But, really,would it be so very difficult to pay a substitute teacher (or 2 or 3) for two weeks? That substitute could proctor exams in multiple locations around the state. One teacher could proctor exams in 10 additional locations. (5 days times 2 weeks) That alone would make a huge impact on parents ability to get their child to the location.

Insight schools uses (or used, it's been two years since I've had a student at Insight require standardized testing) their iMentors to proctor exams. This gives them a few more testing location options for students.

Information on iQ Academy

From our friend, Veronica Streetz,

I have a Senior in IQ Academy. He has been with IQ for all four years of High School. K12 buying IQ has had no visible effects on the school from a parent or student perspective. The students do receive textbooks for classes but not every class. Right now he has books for Economics, Psychology and Chemistry. The teachers hold weekly elluminate session where they teach the material that week. They are also recorded and posted within each class. We love his math teacher with a pause button. lol The kids also have online lessons to read and then assignments. The assignments are either multi-guess (as I call it) and gets graded right away by the computer. Sometimes there are essay questions where my son does the essay and then cuts and pastes into the quiz or exam. Sometimes work is scanned in and attached to a email or dropped in the teachers "digital dropbox." Scanning is rare. Teachers used to be part-time at IQ and then work also in the local schools but that changed. Now the teacher's just do IQ. His Algebra 2 teacher will meet with students throughout the state at different locations. He does receive a "pace chart" for each class that lays out everything for the entire semester. He can work ahead if he wants. The only true deadline where any missed work turns into a zero is at the end of the semester. If provides wonderful flexibility and a opportunity to learn a lesson from stress and cramming. lol If your kid likes everything to be laid out for him and likes things to be routine and pretty much the same then IQ would provide that for him. 1. Look at the pace chart 2. read the required textbook with the quiz in hand to locate the correct answers 3. attend elluminate to listen to the teacher explain material. That's it. They can also print out exams and fill those in along the way. The essays is where the deeper understanding is assessed. With math we don't even bother looking at the lessons on-line. We listen to the recorded elluminate take our notes and do the problems along the way. Completely teacher lead. If you go to elluminate you get the material as simple as that. Math also has extra "help sessions" in elluminate. Teachers are also totally available via e-mail.

Madison

I've been following the news out of Madison pretty closely over the past week. It's been really hard to get an unbiased report of what is happening. I've actually turned to reading the U.K. version of the story in an attempt to avoid the rhetoric. The Guardian actually did do a good job of giving facts, regardless of what you think of his conclusion in the last paragraph. (conservatives will disagree with his conclusion; liberals will agree)

But, what does all of this have to do with us? Virtual Schools are public schools. Our teachers are affected by this in the same way the teachers in Madison are affected. The only difference is my children have not lost a single day of schooling because of the protests. Their schooling continues regardless of snow, or protests. The assignments might not be graded this week, but that's ok. My students progress will continue.

My children have not been told what to believe on this issue. We have read the bill itself. We have been able to have some really good debates around the kitchen table as to the scope of the bill, the language of the bill and the impact of the bill. We don't agree with each other, but we have enjoyed the conversation. That is the advantage of virtual schooling.

An Insight Parent

As I said at the beginning, I want this blog to be a forum for parents of virtual students. I want it to be a place of information, not publicity. I have been contacted by an Insight parent. This is her story.

I saw the blog that spoke on the different virtual online schools and I would like to make a comment on Insight in particular. We have a daughter who is a sophomore at Insight and she was also using Insight last year for 9th grade as well. I have to say that last year was GREAT!....really, really GREAT! The teachers actually worked with the parents and the students. Whenever I questioned the materials being used (ie., dark, morbid poems in English.....or morally unacceptable reading materials in History) the teachers bent over backward to provide an acceptable alternative. This year is the polar opposite. I have to preface this year's experience with this fact, however.....Insight was BOUGHT OUT by another company. OK, so this year for 10th grade, we have a teacher who locks her "classroom" down in the first 5 minutes of class and there are NO EXCEPTIONS. If you are not there (even for tech issues with a tech support ticket number), you MUST watch the recording and email the teacher with a phrase embedded on each slide or answer a question from each slide. There is no hope of catching the teacher on IM, calling the principal, calling the counselor...NOTHING. The teacher-proposed solution to this is to log into class 2 hours BEFORE class. This way, if the computer "kicks you out" you can still log into class. Biology teaches evolution in the 10th grade. We were told that it was only for 2 units, but it is entrenched throughout the year. Evolution is presented as THE ONLY WAY/FACT. If you do not go along with phrasing your answers as such, you will receive a "0" on your assignments (this DID happen to our child). You do not receive your class schedule for online required attendance classes for the first two weeks of the semester and even then, it is still up for change per the teacher's choice. Full credit courses will change their day/time of class with the change of semester. So if you had an activity planned for first semester at 2pm on Wednesdays for semester one, don't count on being able to do it for semester 2. I understand this as typical for a 1/2 credit or one semester course....but for a course like English, Math or Science that goes the entire year? Insight School's TV commercials boast flexibility. NOT TRUE. If you are not at class, you still MUST watch the recording, whether you need it or not, in order to submit to your teacher the "special phrase" for credit. If you do not attend class, your grade WILL GO DOWN. Attendance points are built into the curriculum. The teachers have FREE REIGN on grading. Our child is in a science course which clearly lines out an objective sheet for each assignment. Our child will turn in the assignment making sure to address each point on the objective list. On first submission, the teacher grades the paper at 50% (no matter what your actual grade should be). Then the teacher decides on completely random "extra paragraphs" that our child must add in order to receive another grade. For example, our child was asked in an assignment to critique two different articles on oil eating bacteria. She received a 50% on first submission. The additional requirements after first submission were, "to write a paragraph about a fictitional scenario regarding the extreme of overabundance of oil eating bacteria....like Star Wars and the overuse of clonning (this was the teacher's wording)." Our student was also told for a previous assignment in this same class that if she couldn't figure out where to "fit this extra paragraph in, just stick it wherever." This causes the student to worry about completing assignments because there is always one that they may have to redo and there is no possibility of doing it "right" on the first submission.

I have to admit, I was really thinking that the above examples were just unique to our child as of this year, but in reality, there are many, many students that speak of the negative changes noticed as of the beginning of this school year. This is noticed in the chat at the side of the classroom. It all seems to boil down to the change in ownership of the school.

I appreciate you allowing me to give a current factual experience with regard to Insight Schools. Incidentally, our child is a straight A student and takes honors courses as well, so this is not coming from a disgruntled parent of a failing student.

Parent of Insight School Student



(edit-I want to add one note, I believe the reference she makes to Insight being sold is the leaving of executive director Jeff Bush. To the best of my knowledge, the corporation based in Washington was not sold during the 2009/10 school year.)

No major curriculum changes at Insight for next year

According to the school leadership (and confirmed by Billy Beasley, Principal) Insight is not planning on major changes to their curriculum next year. They are considering adding some new courses. But, no major changes.

Why I pulled my son out of Virtual School

One of the things you will notice, as you look at the families of virtual school advocates, often times, they have some of their children, at one time or another, leave virtual schooling to go to a traditional brick and mortar classroom. I can imagine this has caused at least one person along to way to say, "if virtual schooling is so wonderful, why aren't all your kids involved?"

My third son was initially enrolled in the Ozaukee County incarnation of WIVA. Because of the condition of my local school district, I did not want him going to the local public middle school. However, because we live in a rural area, I didn't want to drive the 40+ miles required to get him to the next middle school over. So, we tried WIVA (Ozaukee version) It was a good fit.

Mr. Schmidt (whom I believe is no longer with WVA) was my sons home room teacher. And it was wonderful. Mr. Schmidt not only got my son to do reasonable quality of work, but he also taught my son some life skills that are really needed.

But, at that time, WIVA (Ozaukee version) didn't have a high school. I switch my son to Grantsburg Virtual School (another school that has changed and is now run by Insight Schools) It wasn't good. Not that Grantsburg wasn't good. In my opinion, we lost a tremendous resource when Grantsburg chose to reorganize.) This child in virtual schools wasn't good. Sure, a child can get behind in any school. Because of the number of assignments, because of the method of teaching, when a child gets behind in a virtual setting, it becomes extremely difficult to get them out. (All schools are looking at the problem. All of the schools have come up with different ways to help manage this problem. It isn't the HUGE issue that it was six years ago.)

After TWO really bad years for my son, we put him into a local private high school. It's a very small school - only 6 teachers total. I thought, this might give him a chance to be the extrovert that he is, and learn some things on the way. It would have been fine, eventually. My son was beginning to be accepted by some of the students there. The problem was me. I am, and always will be a geek. I found myself struggling with some of the methods of teaching being used. I struggled with some of the content. I didn't fit.

My son was ready to head into his senior year. I had filled out all of the open enrollment forms. I left open the potential to return him to virtual schools, and the nice high school 45 miles away. At some point, before June 1st, we discovered something. The US Military will NOT accept students immediately out of high school if they attend a virtual school. ALL virtual schools have a tier 2 rating by the US Military. (Of the administrators I talk with, all of them are aware of the problem and are trying to come to a solution.) This means,

IF your child wants to join the U.S. Military straight out of high school they cannot attend a virtual school during their senior year.

So, what did we do? Actually, he was home schooled his final year. The U.S. Military gives tier 1 status to home schooled students. -now, that's the kind of lobbying power virtual schools need.

Babysitting

This has nothing to do with open enrollment. It's just a rant from one parent to another.

I have looked at babysitting from all sides now. I've been a sitter; I've hired sitters and not I am the parent of babysitters. My opinion of the institution hasn't changed one bit. I hate it. It's horribly flawed, and it really should be fixed.

The system continues because frazzled mothers everywhere dream of being able to step outside their house without smelling like kool-aid, and without having to take a second mortgage to pay for this step outside. We radically devalue the job of mother. We think anyone can do it, no training necessary. This is why we believe we can take a 15 year old girl, give her no instruction, and throw her in without supervision. Excuse me? What are we thinking? They don't even do that at McDonald's! At McDonald's, she'd be given at least a weeks worth of training and then she'd be shadowed by an employee for another week or so. But, when it comes to watching children and caring for a house, we just let that 15 year old waltz in with a 5 minute interview.

[the other extreme is found in professional day care businesses. They require the child be brought to their facility. The child must bring the right change of clothing for the day. They will participate in coloring for 15 minutes, followed by story time for 10 followed by nose picking. The child will pee/poo on schedule or they will be given a laxative/suppository. --ever wonder why childhood constipation is skyrocketing? But, these places charge $10-$15 per hour per child. with a $100 minimum.]

sorry, tangent.

As a babysitter, ever so many years ago, I hated it. I would walk into the neighbors house, they would say, "put Tommy to bed at 8:00. Here is the number where I can be reached. I'll be back at 11:00" That was the sum total of instruction that I heard. Excuse me, What do I do with Tommy between now and 8:00? I've seen Tommy, but I don't know him. I don't know what games he likes. Besides, does he really want a stranger just sitting around watching him play with his Power Rangers? What if he asks for a snack? Which are ok? A tv show? Can he play outside alone? How does he normally spend the hours between now and 8:00? What would you like me to do? What are your RULES? Not just 'no destroying the house', but really, what are your rules about playing in the living room? Eating in front of the tv? Watching PG13 videos?

As a parent, I disliked babysitters. Not that I didn't turn green with envy every time I heard of a friend being allowed out, in public, with both legs shaved and her hair done. It just never worked for me. I would ask a 17 year old to come. (I figured with 6 children in 8 years, it would be bad to have a 15 year old. Especially those times when I had extras? Then it was 10 children under the age of 9) By the time the young woman would arrive I'd have a sheet of paper with all of the rules I thought would possibly come up. (ok, it was generally three sheets of paper, but I only write on one side of the paper) She'd never read my novella. Instead, she's ask my oldest son what the rule was. If two siblings bickered, she'd ask my oldest son to settle it. If someone scraped their knee, my oldest son would be the comforter and apply the bandage. So, why was I paying this person $20 an hour. (there were a LOT of kids) If I wanted my son to be in charge, I would have hired him! One of the house rules, written on the first page of that novella, is "never ever make an older sibling enforce a rule upon a younger sibling". (yeah, it was a pain to get off the couch all the time, but I think that's why my children are best friends now. I never allowed tattling, or bossing. EVER. Even if it meant I didn't punish a child who really deserved it because I wasn't the one who caught the perpetrator.) And no amount of verbal instructions was sufficient to explain this to the babysitter, I could have stood there all day. Rarely did they want to come just to meet the children. And if they did, I couldn't get them to hear me tell them, "Don't make the oldest child do you job."

Today, I am full circle. I watch my daughters babysit. Parent A will tell my daughter to call if there are any questions. Little Bobby refuses to change into jammies and go to bed at the prescribed time. He locks himself in a bedroom. My daughter calls Parent A. They are upset because she interrupted. These parents give detailed instruction as to who the doctor is, dentist is, mother-in-law's phone number, blood type, recent illnesses, but they never quite remember to say anything about Bobby being allowed to play T rated video games.

So, how do we fix this?

EOL's, K12 and WVL

The term EOL has come up. First, what is it? It is an Evidence of Learning. To the best of my knowledge (and if I am wrong here, I will really need someone from one of the other schools to correct me) An EOL is strictly a K12 idea. Because the K12 curriculum in the primary grades is based upon "mastery" not grades, the teachers need something that can be tangible that they can use to point to the Wisconsin Department of Instruction and say, "see? We really are the teachers of this child." As a mastery based program, the focus is on a child fully synthesizing a concept, not whether or not the child competes any given assignment.

The number of EOL's required to be submitted changes depending on grade and subject and is this a year that is a multiple of four? (slight joke. Although, it does seem to change yearly and randomly. I have wondered if the school increased EOL's just because it was an election year and the politics involved in education -- as always, check out the Coalition for Virtual Families)

An example of an EOL could be a unit exam in math, or a lab report in science. There are scads of different types of assignments that are required. You cannot pick the BEST assignment your child did during that unit. It is always (now) a specific assignment. It can be mailed, or faxed, or scanned and emailed to a teacher. (or at WIVA, they use "K-mail ... possibly THE most god-awful excuse for an email client since Mosaic became Netscape)

WVL also has children in the primary grades. They have "scanned based documents." Parents are required to scan in a number of assignments throughout the year. They use Lincoln (which is, I believe another of the former KC Distance Learning acquisitions.) in the primary grades, and Aventa, Apex, and FLVS in the higher grades. All of these curriculum are fine. They present the same material and they all try to be engaging for the students. The Lincoln curriculum tries to take an entertaining approach to learning. They have interactive games and teacher video segments. They try to take a very short attention span into consideration. Both K12 and Lincoln do a great job at primary education. I personally prefer K12., but that is because it fits ME.

As always, these schools are all great schools. Which is best? The one that fits YOUR child.

Take the dare

I've invited substitute blogger, Verconia Streetz, to join us. She is a veteran Virtual school mom. She has seen all of the good, the bad and the ugly of virtual schooling. She is determined to see her kids get the best education they can. There have been challenges along the way, but she has always been victorious. I have asked her to consider sharing her experiences and wisdom.

You know how kids dare each other. I dare you to say this or do that. Usually they are trying to get the other person in trouble. However, I am going to dare you. I dare you to dream that education could be different for your children. I dare you to dream that your children could learn to love learning, for the sake of learning. I dare you to believe that you can really do this and be awesome. Think out of the box, I dare you. Dream a little dream. Dream that day after day your children could live without fear of being criticized by peers. It is up to you to lead your children, they will follow you. Show them a whole different world. I dare you. I dare you to open enroll. This is your chance. Then gather your information. I dare you to follow your heart.

Open Enrollment Ends February 25

For those who are already in the school of their choice, you do not need to fill out the open enrollment form from the Department of Public Instruction. (DPI) If you are thinking about switching from one virtual school to another, you have to fill out the form. If you are thinking about having a sibling switch into a school, you need to fill out the form. If you are new to virtual schooling, you need to fill out the form. If you want to switch to any brick and mortar school outside of your assigned district, you need to fill out the form.

This is a problem. Why? you might ask. After all, the form is online. It's simple to walk through. What could possibly be the problem? Well, apart from the fact that we still haven't repealed the cap on virtual schooling (www.wivirtualschoolfamilies.org) It took me 48 minutes this morning to fill out the form for my two daughters.

To be honest, my computer is slower than my children doing math. But, I do consider myself to be some what internet savvy. I couldn't find the link to file online. The ONLY link I could find on the DPI web site was for the paper form. (which has to be postmarked no later than the 25th) In order for me to even find the information necessary to begin the form, I had to follow a link from one of the virtual schools. --if it matters to anyone, Insight school had the clearest directions telling me how to fill out the form. K12 did not address the issue at all, even though this is the most important two week period in the year for virtual school families. If we miss this, our children cannot participate in this form of education. No exceptions.

So, as a public service, I am posting a link that will take you directly to the form. Only use this if you are sure that you are ready to file. https://www2.dpi.state.wi.us/Opal2011/Login/RegisterAsNew.aspx

Please, if you are considering virtual schooling, and your student is not already enrolled in the school of your choice, fill out the form. If you are considering switching schools, fill out the form. This is the ONLY way to keep your options open. If you do not put a specific school on this form before the 25th, your child will not be able to attend that school in the fall. It slurps. I agree. Please join the coalition.

Helpful Links

The Coalition for Virtual School Families
http://www.wivirtualschoolfamilies.org/
The First web page you should bookmark if you are considering virtual education.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
http://dpi.state.wi.us/imt/onlinevir.html
Open Enrollment forms must be filled out before February 25. No extensions are allowed

School Websites are listed in no particular order.

Insight Wisconsin
http://wi.insightschools.net/


Wisconsin Virtual Learning Academy
http://wisconsinvl.net/


Wisconsin Virtual Academy (also referred to as K12)
http://www.k12.com/wiva/home


iQ Academy
http://iqacademywi.com/


Connections Academy
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/wisconsin-school/home.aspx

There are other virtual schools. Depending on your particular school district there might be "brick and click" options. Where your child can attend part day at his/her local school and part day with online options.

Another story from a Virtual School Family

The following entry is from Sarah. She explains how virtual schooling works for her family. She is a veteran of four different virtual schools.


How our family, the Marcis7pk Schools
from 1999 to date

We are very grateful for the choice in Wisconsin to school many ways. Our family has used this to give our 5 children the best education and life learning we know how. Our children have been home schooled, attended private Christian schools, schooled at home using virtual schools, and/or attended public school. We appreciate the laws in Wisconsin to allow this way of education for the future generations.

Our first year of schooling our oldest and only son was in the fall of 1999 when he was 4. We used our church's private school for this and continued this the following year along with speech therapy at our local public school for him. His kindergarten year he attended half days at this private school. When 1st grade came and another baby for us we tried home schooling and loved it. For 2nd grade we tried the private school but the distance and time he was gone was more than we, as parents, liked. We brought him back home to school. He continued home schooling until grade 5 when a different private school was available to us. He went back to home schooling in 6th grade. In 7th grade we applied for open enrollment to Wisconsin Virtual School in Fredonia, WI. He finished 8th grade there and then choose to go to brick and mortar public school along with an on line class with Wisconsin Virtual School in CESA 9 which he continues now as a sophomore.

Our oldest daughter was special in learning because she taught herself to read using tape/cd books from our local library. She attend private schools for preschool and kindergarten. The school she was in let her work at her own pace and she was 4 booklets away from 2nd grade and the end of Kindergarten. We then home schooled her along with her brother for the next couple of years. After we had one year of virtual schooling under our belt we applied to Monroe Virtual Middle School for 7th grade. She finished 8th grade with them and took a few high school courses with them as well. This year she is virtually attending IQ out of Waukesha. Because she likes the challenge of getting done early we choose her own school instead of placing her in WIVA. She switched from Monroe to IQ because she wanted more on line live classes. She plans to continue with them in the fall of 2011.

Our 2nd daughter like the 1st attend preschool and kindergarten at the same private school. She came to home schooling also like the older two. When 6th grade came and we had 2 years and 2 different virtual schools down we asked which she wanted and she wanted her own school. So, we researched again and applied for Connections out of Appleton. Each virtual school has their good and bad points. They really all work to educated children just in a different way sometimes. We are very proud of all of Wisconsins virtual schools they strive to be the best and offer upstanding curriculum. She currently is in 7th grade at Connections and plans to continue there for 8th grade. We are so excited Connections is offering high school for the fall of 2011.

Our 3rd daughter did the same as our 1st and 2nd daughters. After having 3 in virtual schools we applied to McFarland for WIVA for her in the fall of 2010 for 4th grade. Having used the curriculum with our son we felt comfortable doing this. The new part was WIVA moved from Fredonia to McFarland.

Our youngest and 4th daughter is the youngest we have virtually schooled. We applied to Wisconsin Virtual Learning to use the Little Lincoln curriculum. It is working out, but we may go back to home schooling again. There is more parent paperwork with young students, and that would be our reason.

Our view of schooling takes in many considerations. We run a dairy farm and when our children came home on the bus we would most likely be heading to chores. We home school or virtual school for more time with our children. The idea of virtual schooling is exciting because it is “real” public school at home. We view home schooling as a private schooling at home. They run very different, one is probably not better than then the other; it just gives us, parents, control over our educational choices for our families.

Train up a Marcis came about in the early years of home schooling our children from the Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. We still continue to view our way of schooling that way.”

The dad in our house is referred to as the principal. He takes care of those duties and is around during most of the day. He assists with the math and high school level courses. He knows each child is responsible to work at their schoolwork and do the best they can do. They also have chores that are expected throughout the week where they spend one on one time with him.

The mom taking the role of teacher/learning coach. She follows through with daily work and keeps the children on task. Checks work that needs it, logs attendance and submits assignments to teachers on line for the young ones. The older ones can do this themselves. She reads newsletters and decides on field trips each child may go on from each virtual school. Her goal is to work at school with the children to have them feeling good about themselves and that they are learning as them go along.


Our family,
Steve, principal and dairy farmer
Sarah, coach and assistant to farmer
Andrew, sophomore at Stratford High School with 2 on line classes from WVS
Alayne, freshman at IQ
Audree, 7th grader at Connections
Annica, 4th grader at WIVA
Angela, 1st grader at WVL

WVL Parent review

The following blog post written by a friend, Jenny Lecato. She has kindly offered her opinion on WVL. She has been involved in virtual schooling of her children even longer than I have. She is truly a veteran who knows what is good for her children.


We are a day 1 virtual schooled family- we love it! My youngest is trying a brick and mortar for the semester and has settled in well at a parochial school. She does say she likes it at home better and learns more there and has intentions of returning there next year. We are enrolled in WVL- while changes have been great there, the one thing that has stood strong is the high school- the teachers are fabulous and the curriculum strong. We did try freshman year at iQ- we were not satisfied as there was not any “levels” to the classes and my advanced student was being dragged down by that (ex: assignments being dropped because others were not keeping up) So sophomore year we started again at WVL- it has been FABULOUS!! The teachers “teach” live classes for an hour once a week- some of her AP classes also have lecture recordings on top of that. Additionally there are open office hours and study hall daily for the students to get 1 on 1 with the teachers. The core classes are in house and then we have access to electives- not my favorite though because they are independent based classes with no teacher interaction-lots of choices though for the kid who does not mind that. We opt for youth options instead. Next year we will add a number of cutting edge science classes which should be fun. At the AP level the kids must have all their work turned in by Sunday at midnight which forces them to be on pace- and a good thing! Additionally by being on pace the weekly classes are much more pertinent to the lessons for the week. It is a great lesson in time management and will have my daughter fully prepared for college. There are many options available in the virtual world- take the time and examine all of them and find the one that will best suit your child’s needs. We live in a time of lots of choice-how lucky for us!

Connections Academy

I have no knowledge of Connections Academy. I looked into them a long long time ago (which in the virtual world means four to six years) I know they have a long solid history (which in the virtual world means five years or more) and they are a very stable school (their teachers don't change over every year)

I'm hoping by starting this topic though, someone else can fill in where I am ignorant.

WVL

My children attended this school, when it was WIVA. (which is an interesting bit of history that I will have to put somewhere.) During the time we were there, this was my favorite of all of the virtual schools. That said, there was a reason that we left. I don't believe that reason still exists. It involved issues surrounding the transition from a K12 school to a curriculum independent school (a school where the administrators can pick from any of the online providers: Apex, Aventa, FLVS. If a school uses K12 curriculum they must only use K12 curriculum at that grade level.)

It is not a bad thing to be a curriculum independent school. Most schools are. However, the transition process became a little messy.

Lockhart's Lament

For anyone who hasn't read it yet. Lockhart's Lament

Paul Lockhart is a mathematician. He is an artist. And yes, I am being redundant. He wrote this thesis some time ago, and it has gone viral. It is becoming an anthem for those of us who believe we have a duty to our children to raise them up to be vibrant, thinking, creative adults. He has sounded the rallying cry for all of us who want education to be more about discovery and inspiration and less about theorems and formulas.

Viva Lockhart!

An email dated 2/5/11

I really feel that WIVA, Insight and iQ are very good schools. I think all three of them are graduating well educated students. They are do have differences, and those issues are what make one school better for an individual child. (I have very little experience with Connections Academy. Their curriculum is less rigorous than the other schools. They were (my information is from three years ago) very flexible in elective options, but their core curriculum was not what I was looking for. Their primary curriculum is provided through FLVS)

iQ- My personal experience with iQ is dated (4 years ago) but I have multiple friends who have children at iQa. Their biggest strength is their ability to work with your local school district. I have a friend whose daughter takes French through iQa; takes band through her local high school and she is homeschooled for her math/English/History work. iQ is incredibly flexible in that fashion and most school districts are wiling to work with them. I have another friend whose child takes history and science through iQ, and is in a traditional classroom for English and Math and electives. They use Aventa curriculum and supplement with Apex for subjects not covered by Aventa and Angel is their LMS (learner management system. That's the portal the kids log into when they first get online. It's where they can see announcements and emails from teachers.

Insight Schools of Wisconsin - They have an incredibly large number of teachers working for the school. Their student/teacher ratio is 40/1 (as opposed to WIVA where the ratio is over 100/1) This means that there is WAY more personal time spent with teachers. The teachers tend to deal with the students directly. If there are phone calls, those are made to my daughter, not to me as often happens at WIVA. The school email is MUCH more convenient than the WIVA kmail system. Teachers can be found on IM almost all times of the day or night. They use Apex curriculum for most of their classes. Angel is their LMS. The school academic counselors are very active in guiding the students and making sure the transcripts are correct and that the student gets into the right classes for their future. (in contrast, I don't think my daughter at WIVA has ever talked to the academic counselor) I do not like the principal at Insight. I'm not sure why. ... However, I don't often have to deal with him. Insight has student tutors - to help augment learning. These sessions are in place of what WIVA has for "study hall" Insight also has TONS of clubs. They have face to face social gatherings in each area of the state at least once every two months. We don't often go to them (they'd be like pizza parties, or bowling, or skiing) but they are an option. They have a prom and a graduation ceremony. My daughter at Insight has taken 12 AP level classes through Insight schools. (to date, I think WIVA only offers four) They might not always initiate the conversation about having my daughter take classes out side of the range of their catalog, but when I have made suggestions, they have always made a way for it to happen. For example, my daughter is taking AP French. That is not in their course catalog. But, Apex does offer an AP French class. So, I went to apex.com, found a listing for AP French, emailed it to Mr. Bentendorf. Insight arranged for the class, paid the fees and is providing support for that class. In other words, you can't just sit back and not be responsible for your child's education, but they are willing to partner with you in getting a good education for your child. Insight does not have a late date policy at the end of each month, so it is possible for your child to get very behind in their courses. The progress is tracked with a percentage on the LMS page. It is very visible but no "drop dead" dates other than the end of the semester. The biggest weakness is there is no course schedule outside of the gradebook. This means my daughter can't go to a single web page to determine what assignments are due within the next five days; she has to click around a bit. We make weekly schedules every Sunday night, but it takes me a good half hour to accurately determine what needs to be finished and estimate how much time it is going to take. Monthly paper progress reports are mailed to the house.

WIVA - The teachers are very much involved with the parents. I get at least two or three recorded phone messages per week from one of the teachers. They offer consistent study halls for the students to come and ask questions. But, the teachers aren't often available to answer questions outside of that study hall time. The students have to use "kmail" and cannot use their primary email accounts. This makes communication a little more awkward. The teachers have yahoo IM, but I have yet to log on to it and be able to contact a teacher. Their status is permanently marked "away". The LMS is a proprietary system from K12. In many ways, it is much more navigable than the Angel system. The only downside is the email system slurps. The curriculum is very rigid. It is probably the most demanding of the three schools. While they also use APEX courses as their foundation, K12 adds on many extras. This provides a depth to the curriculum that isn't available anywhere else. The English classes are completely formulaic. The teacher demands that each five paragraph essay must be written with exactly the same sentence structure, exactly the same reasoning pattern, etc. In other words, English is taught like math and not art. The administrative support (Justine Johnson, etc) are wonderful. Justine has bent rules to allow my daughter (with major test anxiety) to take her finals spread out over a five day period rather than the three days that were scheduled. WIVA does not have very many clubs - although I don't know how involved my daughters would be in them anyway. WIVA's biggest strength is the yahoo chat board for parents. There is nothing else like it. I tried to start one for Insight, but it didn't work. The school is set up differently and the parents aren't as engaged. But, I really really like the support the WIVA board has given me as a virtual parent.

All this having been said, you asked for my opinion, not my analysis. I have 19 years of homeschooling behind me. I would have thought that I'd prefer the WIVA idea of teachers dealing with parents and parents dealing with students. But, after 7 years of virtual schooling, I don't think I do any more. My daughters are older (my 3 sons have graduated) and I'd like them to take ownership of their education. My daughters are not conventional students. That's why we're not in a brick and mortar. My oldest daughter is VERY advanced. (she took Calculus in 7th grade) My second daughter struggles deeply with communication and yet excels in math and sciences. My third daughter is very smart, but has the attention span of a first grader. Because the teachers aren't pulling her in, she is just sliding through, learning nothing and getting A's and an occasional B. I want more electives than WiVA offers. They will not allow any independent study. Therefore, I am going to be switching and my two daughters who are currently at WiVA will be at Insight next year. There are things that I will miss (Justine, the Yahoo board, the extras that k12 adds to the lessons, a course calendar for scheduling) But, I am gaining choices of classes and a HUGE amount of teacher interaction.

Hope this helps you make the right decision for your child. Every child is different, and I'm really glad that in Wisconsin we have three very strong choices for virtual schools. If you have any other questions, please let me know if I can help. Getting your child into the right school is a really important decision.

Comments from an email 11/7/10

As far curriculum, there is no difference between Insight and iQa. They both purchase curriculum through providers (Apex, Keystone, FLVS are the biggest) These curriculum are accessed through a portal or Learner Management System (LMS) called "Angel" The LMS tracks progress, provides hosting for email and announcements. WIVA uses a proprietary curriculum provider for many (not all) of their classes, K12, and uses a proprietary LMS. (K12 was recently sold and I am not at all pleased with where their development team has chosen to go, so I'll focus the rest of the email on the other two schools)

The biggest difference between schools is the administration/teachers. iQa uses Waukesha North high school teachers and administrators. That is both a plus and a minus. The school tries to run as a virtual extension of the brick and mortar school...... your child can participate in more outings and social events. WKCE, SAT, and AP testing is done through Waukesha North. Insight schools of Wisconsin is based in Grantsburg. They will try to schedule WKCE testing in a location near your student, but you might end up driving 45 minutes one way. They do not schedule SAT or AP tests, you're on your own for that. (this isn't super difficult, but it is another thing to remember) Some of the Insight teachers are exclusively Insight teachers, others teach at Grantsburg High school as well as Insight Virtual. It generally is easier to reach the full time virtual teachers. The part-time teachers are sometimes strapped for time.

Now, as to virtual schooling in general... I don't know your background, nor do I know your reasons for considering it. But, let me be brutally honest. It isn't for everyone. It is NOT easy. The classes are as challenging or more challenging than their counter parts in traditional schooling. For example: in a traditional English class, when reading a novel. Some of the teachers assessment of how well the student is understanding the material takes place during classroom discussion. That doesn't happen in a virtual world. Students are expected to write a paragraph, or essay or answer short answer questions on almost every lesson. A traditional English class has one or two assignments per week. Virtual students expect as much as five assignments per week. Same thing for history and only slightly different for the sciences. Yes, there are labs in the science classes. (they send you all the materials) But your student will have to read the lab instructions, perform the lab, record the data, write the lab report and analyze the information. There isn't a lab partner to share the work with. (and honestly, most labs have to be done twice, because invariably when going through it the first time, you miss a step) At Insight, they do not penalize a student for turning in an assignment late. iQa does - or did. They had a policy that if it was more than two weeks late, it was a zero. That seems reasonable until you remember, there are no sick days in a virtual setting. There are no days off for parent teacher conference or teacher inservice days. The only holidays are 2 days at Thanksgiving, 7 days for Christmas, and between 2 and 5 days for Easter (depending on the class) It is also very isolating. It's hard not having friends around. Days can go by without seeing anyone outside of the family. And, it's really hard to stay focused. If your browser is open to school sites, its really tempting to check your Facebook page. (school computers don't allow access to facebook or any of the social networking sites. But, if you use your own computer....)

Insight schools has approximately 50% of their student body as "non-traditional" students. These are students who have to support their family, or they are parents themselves. They want to provide an alternative to these students to dropping out. I know they provide basic level, or remedial courses to help these students, but I don't have any first hand knowledge of them. I assume they don't have as heavy a homework load as the honors level classes do.

So, why do I do it? You've met Daniel... he would have been bullied mercilessly in a traditional school. My other children are no more socially adept. I love the fact that my daughter has been able to take AP level classes since her freshman year. I like the fact that my children are being challenged academically - not just challenged, pushed to work harder. I like the fact that we can choose to do volunteer work every Tuesday morning, and do school Tuesday evening instead. There are benefits. It's just not easy.

my opinion as of 1/6/09

I, personally, am planning on switching to a different virtual school that offers k12 curriculum. (this was written when my daughters were at WLVS - the former WIVA in the Ozaukee school district.) The ease of use is unsurpassed. The scheduling is simple and direct. Material is easy to locate and instructions are clear (most of the time). The progress bar might be a huge source of irritation some days, but I like the visual representation that it gives. I like a calendar that lists all the courses together.

Currently, at Insight, each course has a pace chart that tells the child what needs to be done in that class for any given date. So, to find out what needs to be done on Tuesday, the child has to look in each course, click on Lesson plan, click on schedule and then scroll to the assignment due on the date in question, write it down and go one to course number 2. When courses are written by different providers, they are set up differently. This means that writing assignments or online reading or interactive lessons will each be listed in a different location. Figuring out what is required by whom is a challenge. Most assignments are not computer scored, therefore there is no immediate feedback to direct the child in their studies. Teachers grade hundreds of papers per year, not just the 15 - 20 required by WIVA. This means that sometimes some teachers get behind in their grading. This can be terribly frustrating because it reflects poorly on the child's grade that appears on the main login page. I especially dislike the science programs put out by Aventa, Apex and Florida. They have very very few hands on assignments. It's almost all "read this passage and write a paragraph". I don't feel they encourage the synthesis of the material at all.

iParent Introduction

I have been involved in the virtual school movement since it's inception in the 1990's. Initially, I took internet based classes for medical transcription. Later, my husband and son worked for a company that developed computer based training methods for Information Technology (computer nerds).

My children transitioned from homeshooling into the virtual world in 2005 after I had spent a full year discussing computerized learning methods with wonderful individuals like Josh Watt, Rose Fernandez, Judy Raether, and Keith Oelrich. My children have attended iQa, Grantsburg Virtual school, Insight Schools of Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Virtual Academy.

I have six children. I am myself a student at the University of Wisconsin. (the online colleges, of course)

I am a firm supporter of technology and it's use in the educational process for children today. My goal is to make information available to other parents who just want the best education for their children.