Virtual Public Schools a Great Option

Rose Fernandez:

I am the mother of 4 children who are excelling with Internet-based learning though a public school in Wisconsin. I am also the President of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families.
Together with our fellow parents, families and friends, we strive to educate policy makers and others on why we chose a virtual public school for our children; how those schools work; about the close, working relationship we have with our teachers and administrators; and much, much more.
Our Coalition strongly support AB 1060, a bill authored by Representative Brett Davis and Senator Luther Olsen, which has passed both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. While public schools do not require additional legislation in order to continue to operate, we appreciate the Legislature reaffirming its intent to keep virtual public education as an option before the parents of Wisconsin.

2 thoughts on “Virtual Public Schools a Great Option”

  1. On the topic of virtual schools? Even though it is a public school, they cannot offer subjects like PE, but require some activity in sports and the like to cover PE without having a school to have it in. How does that work for people who can’t afford to sign their kids up (especially 3 or 4 of them) for several sports teams per year, or private lessons? We have looked into this choice, and are having a hard time imagining how we would cover the demands for supplying our own “PE-like” program. Even if you can do a relatively cheap progarm – like swim lessons through MSCR, for example – if you have kids at various ages and levels, then they cannot take lessons at the same time either, so you are looking at three or more different sets of 2-3 trips per week per child. It would seem to me that you spend so much time driving around that you have less time for the school end of things!

  2. Millie, whenever you look at alternatives, you have to way the pros and cons for your family. No one says that PE has to be “organized” as far as I can tell, so running, playing at the playground, taking walks in our nature areas, playing kickball with friends, would all count as PE. If you talk to kids, most schools if not all, have times where playground time is included in their gym time. Also, things like MSCR do offer financial aid. Also, the homeschoolers and private schoolers – I assume some of the virtual schoolers also, are allowed to take 2 classes in the neighboring schools. My assumption is that PE is required to get kids away from the computer. Going to a local public school is easy. But if you don’t have a close local school (such as up north), don’t like the education that your local school is giving, have a sick child who would be missing alot, family travels alot, virtual schools are a great alternative. No school is perfect for everyone, you just have to decide what you are willing to deal with.

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