So in August, we began virtual school with the twins. It's been an adjustment for all of us.
The twins needed a venue change because public school in a brick and mortar school just wasn't working for them. My son, who has ADHD, just couldn't flourish with the distractions of 20 - 30 other kiddos in the room. Add in trauma, and his brain is always on high alert. So getting him to be on task and stay on task takes a lot of 1 on 1 and they do not staff that way. His twin sister, has always struggled with friendships. She gets caught up in the drama. Often she would get so frustrated that she would just "lose it". Since both of them are approximately a grade level behind in their academics (even with the interventions of the school -- assuming staff made sure they attended those interventions), my husband and I decided something more needed to be done.
The twins have been busy "un-schooling". They had to learn that they actually couldn't AVOID work any longer. Often in their school, they learned to get up, get distracted, go for "coloring breaks", go to the bathroom... basically they were masters of doing everything else but work. Since teachers do not send home work to complete, they just learned to repeat the cycle for the new work given to them the next day. Like that, they really never had to finish/complete much work. So now that it's just the two of them, and we can "wait" on it... they really struggled in the beginning that they would have to finish work.
I also have had to teach the twins HOW to study. They didn't really know how to use note cards/flashcards appropriately as a tool. I have been teaching them how to try and remember information. We've made up games or activities. It's been quite the process.
After 30+ days of working on school... I think we are getting the hang of it. The first 20+ days were rough. I'm not even joking about that. I think it was rough because of the unschooling that had to be done, the training on HOW to study, and just learning expectations and for me to understand how much teaching they really need. It was difficult for us to keep the pace that the school wanted us to have. I'm thankful that they have now made some adjustments for us (based on my son's IEP). Hopefully soon, my daughter will also have appropriate adjustments made. We simply made it through with LOTS of hard work and by just continuing to put one foot in front of the other.
After about 20 lessons, our curriculum does testing on the previous units. I admit that I am super proud the twins did amazing well. Like out of 12 questions, they may have gotten 3 wrong. That is better than what they would have done in their brick and mortar school. I can see that they are getting/understand more of the material. I am happy about that. My main goal for them, is to help them become proficient in reading, writing and math. With that, they will have so many more opportunities.
After starting our virtual school with the twins, it wasn't long until my middle schooler wanted to come home for school. So we filed an open enrollment application with an exception that it was in her best interest to do virtual school. It was just approved on Tuesday. So I went to withdraw her from her middle school, and apparently when I did that, they just sent her home with me. That same day, she was online in study hall to meet her new teachers! She has already begun her classes online and seems to be enjoying it. Unlike the twins, her courses are much more independent and teacher lead.
Although not many, virtual school does have some disadvantages and it is NOT homeschooling. I like to think of it as a hybrid between public school and home schooling. So we are still tied to a public school for their pacing. We have to do the work being assigned to us. Yes, we have more flexibility to do work at different times of day, etc. But we still have "deadlines" Where as, if we were true home schoolers, we could spread out the work over the entire year. So we wouldn't stress if we weren't getting a concept... we could just skip it and return later to it. For some, the disadvantage is the curriculum. However, I am happy with the choices that are provided for my kids and I don't think of it as a real disadvantage. (Although with true homeschooling, we could make units out of our social studies/science as we want... add in more home economics classes, etc....)
We have found several advantages of Virtual School. For instance, I'm very grateful that I don't have to plan out lessons. That saves me a lot of time. I also like having the supply lists already printed out for me. I am thankful for teacher support because if there is a concept we are struggling with, I have built in support. Also, since it's a public charter school, tuition isn't expensive and includes nearly all supplies (including laptops for each kiddo and a scanner/printer for the family).
The intangible perks are pretty great too. I love spending the first moments of our day doing a bible study and praying over our day. I can't tell you enough how that is making a difference in our family. We are spending time talking about building character and how to let God's light shine through us. I also just love being able to spend more time with my kiddos. To see them master something that they were struggling with -- also amazing! I wouldn't seem them grow like this if they were in a "regular" school.
More than a decade ago, I wanted to start a family. It took a very long time. I thought I was going to have my own children. I thought at that time that I would have to work as I had been the insurance provider for my family. I had a lot of thoughts about my plans. God knew better. Not only did He bless me with three WONDERFUL children, but He gave me SO MUCH MORE. I have been able to stay home with them. Now I am able to teach them. I never would have thought 10 + years ago that this would even have been possible.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Psalm 100: 4
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