Online Learning: Take the Cue from Apple - Teaching the Home Schooled Student with Computers
By Mimi Rothschild
Recently, Apple Computers signed a deal that would provide a high school with a number of computers. The computers were to be used to help educate the students. Clearly, computers increase one's access to invaluable information and home schooling parents should take the cue: home schooling lessons can be significantly enhanced if the home schooled student possesses a personal computer. Home schooling parents may frown upon the idea of the Internet and all of the “bad experiences” a child can have when using the Internet. Nevertheless, the home schooling parent can monitor a student's online activities and can even block certain sites that they don't want their home schooled child to have access to.
A personal computer is the most powerful tool that a home schooled student can have next to parental guidance. If a home schooled student needs to create papers, documents, notes and the like, a number of computer software applications makes the process easier. The basic computer alone has a word processor, a notepad and a calculator to improve learning and a home schooled student can use software applications like the one offered by Microsoft to create proficient time management schedules.
If the home schooled student is provided with a personal computer and Internet access, they will be almost unstoppable in terms of learning. With access to free resources like dictionaries, encyclopedias, glossaries and e-texts, there is no stopping a home schooled students ability to learn. Moreover, the home schooled student can easily access information that can supplement their home schooling experiences and thereby enhance what they learn in the home school setting.
With a computer, the home schooled student can also freely participate in online classrooms. Many institutions offer home school courses online and students can work with other home schooling students on difficult course work. The virtual classroom is invaluable to the home schooled student and they can take courses that home schooling parents may not be particularly versed in. From foreign languages to mathematics, from science to literature, the home schooled student will be exposed to all of the learning they need to succeed when they have a personal computer. It is clear that the personal computer has become a powerful educational tool, a tool that affords home schooled students with the ability to learn anything they desire. It is a tool that no home schooled student should be without.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
