What do you think of doing school on the internet instead of going to a public school?

Question

What do you think of doing school on the internet instead of going to a public school?

Answer 1

I think there's nothing wrong with it if it's the right fit for the family/student. Some are better than others, evidently!

Answer 2

i think either public or private school is great.  interaction is the best way kids can get an idea of the real world.  internet just deprives them from society and makes them anti-social and shy

Answer 3

I think it depends on the individual. Some people thrive in public school, some get by, some are not suited for the environment and will never reach their true potential there.

If someone falls into the latter, then it seems alternative options are worth a try.

Internet schooling works for some students... it seems to be good for parents who feel most comfortable with having someone else guide the student/parent through the education (as opposed to regular homeschooling which is parent or child-led, or a combination of both). Some people like, or need, that kind of structure, flow and authority.

Answer 4

you have to be VERY motivated and stay on task. Although the idea of sleeping in and not sitting is class sounds fun - this option is very hard. You will have to take a GRE and be able to explain to your college why you took this route.

Answer 5

it would work better for some people than others and with some subjects than others

Answer 6

you have to pick the right child and right school. i go to IQ academy and love it !! it is not easy i am taking 8 classes with is about 6-8 hours of just hw on a good day and tons of writing!!!! my work is harder then my all my friends that go to a normal high school

Answer 7

We have done tradition homeschooling as well as online homeschooling both in a virtual academy and as independent homeschoolers. Also, my son is in college currently and takes a mix of online and face to face classes.

Content delivery and interaction in online courses vary considerably from program to program. On one extreme, you have no more help than what you would have if you bought the book and studied on your own. There is little to no teacher interaction when you need assistance. Often, the content is a book they send that you are to read and then you e-mail or snail mail your assignments without any more contact that a grade entry in a gradebook. Hence my saying that you could have done that on your own with the book and answer key.

On the other extreme, you have online courses with lots of multi-media content (in addition to the text - video presentations, MP3 take-with-you-anywhere audio file, interactive simulations, immediate feedback interactive self-quizes, live online lectures, etc) and a live teacher and other students to interact with and get help from when you need it. Often the teacher has internet link-based office hours in the evening where you can drop in for homework help or meet with other studentsin the online classroom for a study session prior to a test. This type of online class is great and I think as time goes by it will be the model that will be sought out by students and their parents. That means it will become more and more common in the online course world.

Ona side note - The tools are available and can be accessed by not only schools but also by homeschool co-ops and enterprising homeschool parents who want to earn a little extra money while offering courses they are teaching their own homeschooled kids anyway. It can be a great way for grandparents to be involved in their grandchildren's homeschool day even if they live hundreds of miles away. They can get a free vRoom and actually use it to teach or support their grandchildren's education. One mom I know has used it for her kids to read to their grandparents. The pages are scanned in for the whiteboard and Gran can read along while grandson gets practice reading aloud. No reason why the reverse couldn't happen. A distant Grandpa can read a nightly bedtime story to his grandkids via the online classroom. We have a homeschool course co-op using an online classroom and while one or two children from a family are in the online classroom with me studying chemistry, the mom is able to work with the younger two at the table working on phonics. Then a bit later, I get the benefits of working with my younger one while my older two are studying a foreign language in the online classroom with another mom. I don't have to teach chemistry AND forign language. I can focus on chemistry while the other mom focuses on the foreign language course. I hope the idea of using online classrooms takes off among homeschoolers. It is a fabulous tool and the kids LOVE it in there. I do too. They get to have fellow homeschool classmates alongside them and I even leave my online classroom open at the end of the day for them to stick around and socialize in a safe, monitored online environment.

Answer 8

This one girl went to my school for years and she made average grades (like B's and C's) She went to cyberschool for a while and came back and she had no freakin clue what was goin on so she went back to cyberschool before a week.

Another girl I used to work with goes to cyberschool and she makes straight A's and everything her junior year, and her freshmen and sophomore years she was makin straight F's. She can go out and party and do whatever she want's now and she doesn't have to do like any work to pass cyberschool. It's so freakin easy. I hate cyberschoolers lol