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“Science is the organized knowledge of God’s creation.” Sr. Mary Matthew RSM ~a beloved science teacher from my grade school and high school years. |
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How can I help my child succeed in the online class? It's important for a child to have a good place to work--a desk or table with a smooth, flat surface and good lighting. The study place needs to be free of distractions like, TV, Computer Games noises, toys, even good books, if your child is an avid reader like mine! They would much rather grab a novel and read while they are supposed to be “doing school”. But it needs to be where you can check up on their activity discretely. Set a time. Make a daily/ weekly schedule to set a particular time do various subject assignments. They should take no more than a 10 minute break during homework, but make it an active one to refresh the mind. Vary subject matter every hour to one hour and a half. Take an exercise/P.E. time at least once a day! Have the materials. Provide plenty of paper; folders in which to organize work and resources. Help them learn to take notes from the text or articles they read. Have your child make flash cards for terms and concepts and get an older child or other parent or grandparent to help them drill. Help them organize and manage email and test results, and computer work, so your student can find what is needed. Keep the computer, head-set, and printer in good working order. Don’t tell them the answer! When your child misses a question, encourage him or her to look it up in the text and site the page the answer was on. Writing the missed question and answer makes it stick if questions are missed from the text or online quiz. Check course announcements weekly! It is very important to be accessible by email and to watch for the feedback from me and from the quizzes. Email me if your child needs help on a topic, or is getting frustrated and we’ll try to direct you and your child to the resources that help and make a note to address that topic in class. During Class time: be nearby, just incase, and frequently check to be sure your child is looking up and writing notes on misunderstood material as directed, and please install native parental controls for both browsing and software use. Many options are available! But even with these staying in touch with your child throughout the day is necessary. Check Homework with your child : First make sure they do daily reading and work. Some Homework is auto –graded, some is graded by you and your child together. Please do not just hand the key (provided to you) to your child. There are judgment calls that you need to make. Go over all corrections with your child to be sure they understand them. Don’t just call out the answers. Ask your child to give his/her answer, then tell them if it is correct or not. If it is not correct have them go back to the text where the material is and re-do that question. Keep at it till they GET it. If they don’t get it after 3 or 4 tries, do tell them the answer, but have them bring it up in class for further explanation. How much time should my child be studying out side of class time? The average workload should be about forty-five minutes to an hour per day during the week on non-class days. Check the grade book update links sent. Make sure your child is completing the daily lesson plan and turning in labs, assignments, and tests on time. What is the advantage of this course over a traditional correspondence course? Your child’s progress is monitored by both you, the parent, and the teacher. All grading is done for you. You have readily available help for your child. There are many more helps online than in just a correspondence course. In addition to that, there is on-line class where your child can participate in discussions, ask and answer questions over material, and view multimedia presentations during live class. Students can post pictures of their laboratory experiments. Also there is an additional study sessions wherein students can study with classmates over the week’s material. There is the aspect of some fun collaborative class/forum discussions Hopefully, the oversight of a teacher, due dates as well as the social aspect of the class will help you motivate your child to work. How much help will you provide my child?We will provide lesson planning, scheduling help, test grading and reporting, study suggestions, record keeping as well as recommendations for remedial work when needed. We provide testing online, and quizzes and drill and online supplements. We try to encourage and motivate students to work hard. also I will handle email questions. We also provide quarterly grade book updates and an end of year course report. |
