Online Homeschooling

Archive for February, 2010

Have you ever participated in a 3D virtual world? If you have, you know exactly what we mean when we say it’s magic.

The physical world places limitations on what we can do or on how we can represent ourselves. Our age, gender, medical conditions, physical location and many more factors often dictate our activities and how others perceive us.

A virtual world lifts those limitations. It frees us from physical boundaries and enables us to truly tap into our imagination and our creative side and to express ourselves, freely and fearlessly. In fact, many disabled people report that joining a virtual world community, where they can represent themselves with a “healthy” avatar, makes them feel normal again. Elderly people who have discovered virtual reality also report that by using young-looking avatars, they get to feel young again.

This is not about deceiving or pretending to be someone you’re not. Virtual worlds are very much about being the best possible you – without the labels that physical reality often places on you.

When it comes to 3D virtual learning, there are of course boundaries that stem from the need to keep a safe, respectful learning environment. Those boundaries are carefully enforced. But as long as students are respectful, they get the same level of freedom that always comes when engaging in virtual reality – the freedom to set themselves free from labels. Students can create avatars that express who they really are, on the inside – not how the physical world perceives them. This is obviously an amazing experience for special need students, but in our experience, it is a dream come true for any child, and especially for teenagers.

Photo by Jim Sneddon

Many parents are very confident about homeschooling their children in elementary school and in middle school, but are worried about homeschooling their teenagers through high school.

We believe that homeschooling through high school is not only possible, but has many benefits, for both the child and the parents.

Homeschooling through high school: concerns

Of course, it’s important to choose a fully accredited high school homeschooling program that offers a full, rigorous high school curriculum. This would enable your child to receive a high school diploma and easily transition to college.

It is also important to make sure the child engages in competitive sports and in other extracurricular activities that develop her potential and help her to get into the best colleges.

While many parents are worried about not being able to help their child with their high-school level learning, they need to realize that the public school system does not really provide that much support to students who show major learning difficulties, so that in most cases, it’s either up to the parents to help, or they need to hire tutors. If helping your student with the advanced material is of concern, the same concern exists whether they are home schooled or go to public school.

Homeschooling through high school: advantages

One of the biggest advantages of homeschooling a teenager is that they are so independent. Homeschooling is perfect for them, enabling them to manage their own education (with your supervision of course). For you, this means significantly less time spent teaching and supervising, and more time to pursue your own interests. Of course, 3D online homeschooling is especially suited for teens, who enjoy virtual worlds and texting for leisure, and appreciate being able to incorporate those into their learning.

Another advantage of homeschooling teens is that you are relieving them from the intense peer pressure and the need to conform that are so prevalent in the typical public school classroom. You are allowing your teen to focus on academics and to socialize in a safe, violence and drug free environment. Sure, teens need to socialize – but is the public school classroom atmosphere the best place for that? We think it can actually be a very emotionally damaging atmosphere for many teenagers, who would do so much better socializing in a more natural, mixed-age, accepting environment.

We love online homeschooling and believe that it’s very suitable for many types of students, including gifted students and special needs students. But online homeshooling has the potential to be just as dry and boring as traditional schooling! This is why we are so excited about 3D immersive education for K-12 students.

3D immersive education is a virtual reality and game-based learning method. It combines interactive 3D graphics, game and simulation technology, virtual reality, voice chat, Web cameras and rich digital media with collaborative online course environments and classrooms to give students a wonderful sense of “being there” even when they learn from a distance. 3D immersive education is fun and exciting for children, and it provides both teachers and students with the ability to connect and communicate in a way that greatly enhances the distant learning experience.

Traditionally, 3D immersive platforms were available only to university students, but today, online schools such as WiloStar3D are offering next-generation immersive education in the form of a fully accredited 3D immersive learning curriculum for K-12 students.

Unlike traditional computer-based learning systems, which can be repetitive and boring, Immersive Education is fun – in fact it’s just as fun as a video game, only it’s educational and provides your child with a fully accredited online learning experience that can take them all the way through high school and allow them to continue to college. While old-world educators often dismiss the importance of “fun” in learning, next-generation educators know better. When learning is fun and exciting, children do much better academically. They are more challenged, and material retention rates are significantly higher.

Immersive Education is very suitable for intelligent, independent students and for creative and visual learners. It supports self-directed learning while also offering social interaction in the form of collaborative group-based learning environments and 3D classrooms.

To us, Immersive Education is simply a tool – a wonderful tool to get students excited about learning.