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While my 7th grader loves his textbooks my 6th grader is much more of an online kind of guy. He’s very visual and can be found creating in Minecraft online during most of his free time. For those reasons we chose to use Bridgeway Academy’s online program for all of his homeschooling curriculum this year.
Their online program is quite a bit different from a lot of others that are out there. They feature engaging lessons, immediate feedback, and individual online learning paths. There are over 200 courses to choose from so you can choose what’s best for your child. As I’ve mentioned before, you get a personal Bridgeway Academic Advisor to help you every step of the way. And my favorite way it’s different, they have one of a kind note-taking guides which allow your student to learn online while also preparing for college level note taking. This also allows me to know what he did each day and really helps him to see how writing down a few notes helps him remember that much more. You even have the option of choosing a few textbook courses if needed as a break to everything being online.
All quizzes and test are done online as well and the lessons can be re-visited if needed for review. Any writing assignments are submitted to certified academic advisors for review and returned with real feedback they can use to improve their writing and their grade by re-submitting the assignment as many times as they wish.
It was a bit of a change for him at first but he adjusted quickly and loves being able to have all his classes online. He likes doing little projects here and there and being able to turn them in for someone (besides me) to look at and provide feedback. I like that it’s still customized for him and not a “one size fits all” type of program. Another bonus is it’s teaching him a bit more independence and how to have more ownership of his learning.
Obviously a big plus is that he can easily take his classes anywhere. We still bring the Bridgeway exclusive notebooks with us, but other than that, all he needs is his computer and some headphones. We’ve done some days at coffee shops or outside of the house just for a change of pace. Sometimes it helps to get out of your usual environment and get a bit of a change in scenery.