How the Snyders live on their terms through interest-led online learning
For the Snyders, 2022 is a bit closer to normal than it is for other families. While many take had to adapt to online learning, they've been doing online homeschool for over seven years.
Along the way, the Snyders have experimented with resources and approaches to brand learning fit their agile lifestyle. Mom Sarah travels extensively for work, and the two older children compete in gymnastics, also traveling often. After their younger girl also moved to learning online this year, Sarah says that the family will all go along to do full-time online homeschool going forward.
We spoke to Sarah about the lessons she'due south learned from well-nigh a decade of online homeschooling, and the advice she has for families merely kickoff a similar journey.
Hi Sarah! Can you tell us about your family?
I have three kids: 16, 14 and 9. My older two have been doing online school for vii years. My nine-year-old is in her commencement yr of doing online school. She's used Outschool since the early days for holiday break and weekend classes. I work full time. And so she's used to using Outschool on days where school is airtight but I work.
What advantages do your kids have because of their online learning experience?
On a daily basis, we talk nearly how much they accept an advantage considering their school hasn't been uprooted this year. Things oasis't really changed for them.
For my youngest, she had a definitive advantage when everybody else switched over to online learning because she had been doing information technology already. For example, even her dance studio went virtual, and they were laughing because she was the ane that helped everybody with Zoom. She had already been using information technology with Outschool, and then she already had those skills.
What'southward an example of a topic your kids have explored outside of "core" classes?
My 14-year-onetime is a attestation to what Outschool can do for a kid. This summer, we were stuck at habitation, and she took a lot of the entrepreneurship classes on Outschool. Then, she took a few classes on interior design, and each week they did an interior design challenge. She too took a Sketch Up grade to learn 3D modeling.
So all these things together helped her, and she created an Etsy store. I call back that it was, to me, more valuable than whatever math class. These are the tools that are going to make you lot succeed in the futurity.
Tin you explain your philosophy nigh educating your kids?
I wasn't homeschooled. I didn't have friends who homeschooled. Information technology was simply not part of the chat. My kids went to public school, and my husband and I were public schoolhouse educated, too.
Simply that all changed because my kids really did well in school, but they only did non intendance for it at all. My son was an avid reader. He read Harry Potter in kindergarten, but he did not practice well in schoolhouse.
My older two kids are competitive gymnasts, and they travel all over the country. They had some teammates that were doing unlike styles of schoolhouse. At starting time, I said, "You guys - I can't homeschool you! What are you talking about?"
Vii years ago, the aforementioned number of options weren't there, but I saw a commercial for an online public schoolhouse, and I said, "Well, if you guys actually desire to do it. I approximate we could effort something like that." Then that'south what nosotros did.
That first year, information technology was public school at domicile, simply it was at to the lowest degree something different. I saw that I could actually exercise this. It built some confidence that even while working total time, I could do it. Now, seven years later, the options are so crazy amazing that I don't know why anybody would put their kids back in public school.
If I had Outschool back and then, I can simply imagine how much farther along they would be in their development and their overall teaching. I lost a little bit that first yr, and then after that we did a combination of things over the years. Nosotros did Classical Conversations ane yr, and we've used Open Times University.
What'due south your daily routine look like? How does learning fit in?
With COVID, we're non traveling as much for gymnastics competitions. But before COVID, in January and February of this yr, my son spent a week in California. He spent a calendar week in Vegas. And he never had to miss a crush. He was able to continue up with his classes.
That'due south a benefit to having an option of flex or live classes. We prefer alive classes because it keeps u.s. accountable. Merely the option to have flex helped in times similar that because nosotros can change things upwardly a little bit.
We try to practise school Monday through Fri. Well-nigh days we start around eight o'clock in the morning, but we don't have a set schedule, per se. My youngest does well not having a rigid schedule. Nosotros've never been 1 that has been super regimented, but they're able to do competitive sports at a high level, and get rest and eat well, and they would take never been able to do that otherwise.
Can you lot tell me about your piece of work as "Online Homeschool Mom"?
Online Homeschool Mom is a blog I started late last summer because I felt like at that place's not a lot of working professionals who homeschool their kids. Even at our co-op, or whatsoever kind of homeschool events, you're actually an outsider. People just tin can't comprehend the idea that I don't teach my kids. So I'k not actually homeschooling in that way. I assist a little bit, but I'1000 non the teacher. It gets hard to chronicle to that. I felt like there was this gap, and I decided to write about it.
When people call up of online school they remember of kids getting taught past a robot, and they don't realize that there's Outschool and a whole list of resources for parents. Online learning doesn't accept to be a robot educational activity your kids.
Start with classes that are of your kids' interests. And if you start with that, then they buy into it.
Even my nine-year-old, she knows how to use the search role. If there's a petty gap in time, she'll search and look for an Outschool course. If you go with their interests, then it explodes from in that location.
I think if people relax a little bit, and let their kids steadily work on their interests, you lot'll be amazed how quickly they want to read, and want to effigy out math.
I try to look at online learning like an opportunity. Maybe yous tin't connect with your local friends, just you're meeting kids from all over the world. What better socialization opportunity do we accept? At that place'south always a different manner to look at things.
My friends that I talked to on a regular basis aren't necessarily people that are in person here. It'southward on the phone or via text or whatever. So why would nosotros expect our kids to be different?
We only started doing the Outschool Learner Customs, and that'south pretty cool. My girl did that yesterday, and she liked how they asked her questions. She felt she had input into the future.
Online learning allows them to expand and connect with people that have their interests that maybe they wouldn't discover in their middle school or uncomplicated school. For instance, my son does a chess lodge. Yeah, he might be able to practise that in high school, but with his schedule, he wouldn't.
Outschool's Camps are really neat. My girl is nine, and she'due south probably been doing the Camps since she was half-dozen. For case, I remember her doing an American Girl Doll Camp back and so.
As a working mom, it made my life then much easier considering instead of having to send her off every morning or bulldoze her to a summertime campsite, she did Outschool Camps.
I work from home, but I travel extensively normally. I could set my schedule so that if I was home, then I could do something with her. But if I'thou traveling, and my dad was staying with them, she would have Outschool classes and camps. It only made my life and then much easier, and she was learning at the aforementioned time.
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Source: https://blog.outschool.com/how-the-snyders-live-on-their-terms-with-interest-led-online-learning/
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