Virtual Classes - Berrien Springs Partnership Program

Virtual Classes (Column B)

Virtual classes are a great way to round out your student’s education. Although all are educational, many elementary choices are entertaining as well, and many parents use time spent on their class as a reward for completing their regular core school work.   Our middle school and high school e2020 and Plato options have excellent, rigorous content which, when completed, can be added to the student’s homeschool transcript. Foreign language exposure is now required for HS graduation, so we have several choices from which to choose. Although virtuals are designed to be done from home or anywhere, please be sure to note the availability of our Virtual Lab at the bottom of the page.

Elementary and Middle School students enrolled in the Partnership are required to take two virtual classes. HS students are required to take only one virtual.

Ambitious students who complete an entire course will have the option of adding any another course, core or non-core, from the many virtual options and may continue to take as many courses as they wish with a limit of two at a time. The only requirement is the first two courses, those listed at the time of registration, must be electives (non-core), and both semesters' work (those beginning fall semester) must be completed before the core class is assigned. All classes listed on the registration form are non-core, but there are many within Plato and e2020 available for students to select in order to brush up on remedial skills or move ahead early in a subject. Classes are available during Christmas break and continue through the summer.

All classes are semester-based. Classes vary in the length of time they take to complete. Longer, more intense classes have been divided in order to facilitate completion within a semester while averaging 1.5 hours of work per week.   Some are divided in half, while others are in quarters. For example, a high school student may register for e2020 Career Skills A. If part A is finished within the semester, the student notifies us and may request part B immediately. When part B is complete, and if Career Skills only has two parts, that student has finished not only the semester's, but a year's worth of virtual classes and is eligible to choose any other class, core or non-core. The same student, when finished with part A, may elect to wait until spring semester to register for and begin part B, or may choose another non-core class. If that student does not finish part A by the start of spring semester, he or she has not fulfilled Partnership requirements (see below).

Virtual Class Policy:

Virtual Class Requirements as of Fall 2011

Virtual Class Policy: Completion or meeting a min. number of hours of non-core virtual classes by the end of the school year is necessary to meet the minimum requirements of the Partnership's virtual section. The Parent Commitment Letter states that students will complete or attend 80% of classes for which they are registered.

Grades are not assigned, but progress will be monitored by our staff every month to address issues as they arise and help students resume activity. If a family has logon or computer or internet issues should notify us immediately so we can help. Students who do not meet the minimum non-core virtual requirements by consistent progress and have poor semester-end results will be placed on a probationary status for the next semester. A student on probationary status needs to complete 80% of the previous semester’s work plus 80% of the current semester’s work in order to return to good standing. If the student still demonstrates poor compliance during the probationary period, the student is at risk for not being able to continue in the Partnership the semester thereafter.

80% of the following goals needs to be achieved:
- Rosetta Stone Languages: 24 hours as determined by Rosetta Stone
(= approx. 30 hours of time spent)
- Powerspeak Languages:   Completion of 45 lessons
- BrainPOP/jr: Completion of 211 short videos and quizzes
- WebRangers:   Completion of 50 out of 56 activities.
- KidsHealth (moodle): Dealing with Feelings: Completion
- Moodle class: Health and Nutrition: Completion
- Moodle class: Safety and Environment: Completion
- Typing Master Jr/Typing Master:
Completion of all regular keystroke lessons, not special keys/games
- Elementary Music Theory: 78 lessons (this would complete level 1, or 78 of another level)
- Kahn Academy: Art History: 30 hours, Finance:   all videos
- Plato: one level (A, B, C, etc.) of any class: Completion
- E2020: one level of any class (A, B, C, etc.): Completion
- YDACS (all except HS Visual Art): completion within 60 day period
(one 30-day extension allowed)
NOTE: If a student fails to meet the 80% requirement, they will not be able to take future YDACS courses. In this case, the student would have to substitute a different course altogether and meet that 80% requirement to return to good standing. Grades are not assigned, but progress will be monitored by our staff every month to address issues as they arise and help students resume activity. If a family has logon or computer or internet issues should notify us immediately so we can help. Students who do not meet the minimum non-core virtual requirements by consistent progress and have poor year-end results jeopardize their continuation in the Partnership the following semester.

Conversational Spanish - Bonus Class!
Mon 3:30-4:30 OR Wed 4:00-5:00
Conversational Spanish is available for all grade levels for all students who take Spanish through one of our virtual programs: Rosetta Stone, PowerSpeaK12 or e2020. If you want to use the Spanish you're learning, this class is for you! It doesn't qualify as a seated class, nor does it count toward your 2 community classes - you can take it in addition to everything else! The class is taught by a fun, energetic Certified Spanish teacher in our Sylvester classroom and will include songs and cultural discussions.

Visit the following links for more information:

- Rosetta Stone Languages

- k12 Power Speak Languages Spanish, French, German, Latin, Chinese

- e2020

- Plato

- YDACS (Youth Digital Arts CyberSchool)
- Health and Nutrition. A virtual class designed specifically for the Parent Partnership offered to students in grades 1-5. Health and Nutrition content can be read by the student or use the audio function for more independent learning. Questions and short quizzes are incorporated to ensure the student understood the material. It is a 2 semester class. Semester 1 covers health and nutrition. Semester2 covers Personal Safety and Environmental Health. It incorporates educational craft projects, tracking and analyzing one's behavior, parent involvement and fun, educational web links to games such as the food pyramid game.   Level 2 for grades 3-5 encourages students to be a little more independent and contemplative than the counterpart for grades 1-2

- TypingMasterOnline - available in Jr. and regular versions, appropriate for all grade levels! TypeMaster incorporates fun drills and games designed to teach beginners and improve anyone's typing skills! Semester long class. View sample of Typing Master. Although the course will remain the same, you may take Typing Master every year to practice and improve your typing skills. This is a one semester course that can be repeated yearly. Typing Master login.

- Brain Pop. grades 1-5. Students watch animated videos and answer questions about art, music, health, technology, nature, and more.   Try one of Brain Pop's free animated videos at http://www.brainpop.com/free_stuff/ This course requires completion of 211 qualifying videos (average 3 minutes each) and corresponding quizzes (younger children may need help reading the quizzes).   Don't worry if you can't keep track of how many videos you watched- email Laura at lhollister@homeoftheshamrocks.org anytime to find out where you stand. For families with multiple children: you may have your children watch the video together. Brain Pop offers over 400 videos so you can choose videos that interest you. For details on qualifying topics, please see Brain Pop chart with links. This is a one semester course.

- Web Rangers. The National Park's online junior ranger program. Learn about your National Parks, monuments, historical sites, and more. Earn trophies by completing an entire category like nature, parks, people, puzzles, animals or science. Requires reading skills or a parent to help with reading. Available for grades 1-5. Requires completion of 50 out of 56 activities. This is a one semester course.

NEW for SPRING 2012

- Music Learning Community Music Learning Community is available for all grades 1-5and all levels of music ability. There are 4 levels of instruction and many fun games to practice music theory, note reading, rhythm, keyboard elements, pitch and more. Try some free samples of their games. This is a one semester course and needs to be worked on independently.

- Khan Academy is geared toward older students. Two classes will be offered- Art History and Finance. Khan Academy tracks which videos you watch so there will not be any required quizzes. You will be given a list of required lessons to watch. You will need a google or facebook login to access this class. Preview the video lectures to see if this would be a good fit for you. Students may work together.

- Dealing with Feelings is a kidshealth.com based class in moodle. It is similar to the previous health classes, listen to lessons, do activities and take quizzes. Grades 1-7

Computer Requirements
All virtual classes work best with a high speed internet connection. Some dial up connections and air cards will not permit the programs to function properly. If you have a slow connection, you may want to plan on attending the open hours at the computer lab available at the Berrien Springs Virtual Learning Academy or plan on using a high speed connection at your local library for your virtual classes.

Computer Lab
The new computer lab at BS Virtual Learning Academy, across from the MS, is now available for our use after school hours and supervised by Partnership (homeschool) staff. The hours are Monday -Friday from 2:30 - 7:30.   The lab is available to anyone in the Partnership for accessing your virtual classes. All supervisors on staff 2:30-7:30 are trained in the basic navigation of all of our virtual classes, frequently asked virtual questions, and troubleshooting.   Please feel free to take advantage of these times when your internet or computer might be acting up, or if you don't have access to high-speed internet at home. If the afternoon hours do not work for you, the Virtual Academy has graciously allowed partnership families to use the free wireless in the lobby at the Virtual Academy on a trial basis. If you choose to bring your laptop to the Virtual Academy lobby, remember this is a school in session, be quiet and respectful, parental supervision is required, and quietly enjoy this wonderful opportunity for day time internet access.

Access to Virtuals
Access to virtual classes will begin as soon as you receive your usernames and passwords shortly after the semester begins.

Class descriptions:

Seated Classes

Virtual (online) Classes

Community Resource Classes