Tidbits, Resources, and Discussion for ELI Faculty

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Getting a VERY early start on distance learning

I've posted here before about virtual high schools. Well, how about virtual kindergarten? Do any of you have little ones whose schools have a program like this?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's a very helpful CD called "Jump Start Kindergarten," which has been around for several years, and which does a good deal of what Virtual Kindergarten seems to do. Our grandchildren have played with it from about age 3, and our oldest granddaughter, now 6, was still enjoying it when she was in "real" Kindergarten last year. The advantage is that, being a CD, it doesn't require Internet. Of course, there is an Internet site where kids can go for "enrichment" activities. Other Internet sites which our grandkids have used include sesameworkshop.com and noggin.com.

Unknown said...

My son is in Kdg this year. We live in Germany and he attends a DoDDs school. Some DoDDs teachers are good. Others are retired and living the good life in another country while collecting a paycheck. There are times I wish he was learning through a distance learning program. He's smart in so many ways, he's beyond kindergarten. In others he's a typical kindergartner. He has our old lap top and has his share of CD's. In school his teachers use websites to learn. He has Spanish three times a week and we got his teacher to give us some websites to use. I try get him on line once a week to work on Spanish or Italian through my husbands Rosetta Stone software. On one hand I have to wonder why a child has to be in a certain grade because of their age dictates it. Why can't our kids learn according to their abilities at their own speed. Home schooling would give him that option or at my son's school he could attend a multiage class (but don't get me started on that process). Distance learning could be the answer. With all this said, I do know that my son needs the social network going to school offers him. I think it depends on the student. Many, especially the younger ages need the hands on learning experiences with peers that a classroom offers. My sisters children love their distance learning program. They started at an older elementary school age and did quite well. My son would go crazy and so would his mommy.