58 • THE GRIFFON • Spring 2016
HOMESCHOOL OPTIONS
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Why Online Public Schooling Can Work for Your Family On average, children in a military family move six to nine times during their school years — necessitating numerous school changes. Continually having to adjust to new teachers, new classmates, and new curriculum can be stressful. For military children, online education provides consistency in their constantly changing world. With online learning, it’s often possible to take their schooling with them no matter where they are. Multiple online education options exist. One that many parents aren’t familiar with is online public schooling. It’s a
tuition-free option offered in many states. With an online public school, students get the flexibility of online learning as well as the benefit of support from school administrators, counselors, and state-certified teachers. And in states that don’t have an online public school option, private online schools are another good alternative. While not tuition-free, they still have all the other benefits of online learning.
Individualized Learning No two children are alike, and it’s important to provide an education that can be tailored to meet a variety of needs and learning styles. Online schools enable individually paced learning and can help students move ahead or get on track. In fact, one of the greatest benefits online students report is that they love the ability to work at their own pace.They can spend more time on a subject they find difficult or breeze through a subject that makes perfect sense. And while parental involvement is still needed — especially in the younger grades — having more control over pacing helps students of all ages develop independence and build important life skills such as learning how to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
Take a First-Rate American Education With You Online schooling often allows military families to take a first-rate American education with them wherever they go. All that’s needed is a computer and an Internet connection. With online schooling, students don’t have to deal with interruptions in their education, regardless of where their family is stationed. Many online schools allow students to stay enrolled in the same school no matter how frequently they move, eliminating the need for course content repetition or exclusion from honors or Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses. And when situations arise, such as deployments, that necessitate temporary changes in a child’s living arrangement, school can be one thing that stays the same.
Flexibility Online schools offer a more flexible schedule than brick-andmortar schools. Because students in online schools have more control over when and where they do school, they can adapt their schedules to accommodate see ONLINE SCHOOLING page 74