Virtual Schools

This week we were lucky enough to have a gentleman come in and talked about virtual schools.  He is actually a teacher at Wisconsin Virtual Learning.  Wisconsin Virtual Learning serves grades K-12 and right now has approximately 900 students attending. 

What is a virtual school you might ask?  I had the same question myself when I heard he was coming in to talk to our class.  A virtual school is based online and you can do it right from your home.  Wisconsin Virtual Learning provides computers for each individual attending their school along with all of the learning materials needed.  What I found interesting was even for Science classes and disecting animals, they all come straight to your house in a package.  How gross would that be? 

There are currently 14 virtual schools in Wisconsin and only accept individuals during open enrollment which usually happens in Feburary.  There are many positive aspects about attending a virtual school.  For instance, each child has their own individualized curriculum that they work on themselves.  This is great opportunity for a child with a disability of any kind to work at their own pace and not be pushed through grade levels along with their peers like in a regular public school.  He also stressed that there are more social aspects that are available through virtual schools.  If there are activities going on during the day on a particular day, you can go to those activities but still be attending school and getting your schoolwork done for that day.  It is also very flexible. 

What I took away from this presentation and will keep with me while I become a CTRS is that there are so many different options out there for individuals.  Not every person is the same and there is endless ways of getting a child to learn with going "out of the box" instead of following traditional activities.  The biggest thing I learned is don't be afraid to try new things.  It could be the best thing that has ever happened to someone or in this case in just one school, 900 individuals.

More about Wisconsin Virtual Learning