Online schools are a great alternative to campus colleges. They are particularly helpful to students with busy schedules or families. They are also much cheaper than regular universities and yet they still manage to give students a high- quality education. Despite the rumored lack of social interaction, they offer chat room discussions with teachers and peers on a frequent basis. Online schools have something to interest everyone.
An aspect of online school that normal universities lack is the chat room environment. In online schools, classes take place in chat rooms and preceding every class is a discussion period. Here the professor introduces a topic to the students and prepares them for the upcoming class. Thus the teacher can tailor his or her lecture to fit the students' needs and interests. Chat rooms are also a great way for students to interact with each other and with their professor. During discussion sessions, students can ask their fellow peers questions about their homework and classes; they can also question their teachers, possibly more so than in normal university. This format is particularly helpful to students who lack self confidence, because they find it easier to state their questions in a chat room rather than face to face with others in a classroom. There's also the opportunity to write down questions and edit them on the computer before asking the teacher during discussion sessions. Without a doubt, online schools are a great help to students who are easily intimidated.
Online school is the perfect match for students with other obligations, such as families and careers. Working parents can't move their entire family to the location of a school and they can't afford to quit their jobs in order to devote the time and energy to attending a full time university. Online schools enable people to study and learn in their homes and keep up with their schedules and jobs, all while obtaining a degree.
Another positive characteristic of online schools is their affordable price. With public and private schools becoming more and more expensive, online schools are an economical alternative for students who want a great education without going bankrupt. Online tuition costs can range from $60 to $400 per semester credit, a reasonable price when compared to the $12,000 to $60,000 semester tuition costs for regular colleges. This makes higher education possible for those who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford it.
It's easy to see why online schools are becoming more and more popular. Not only are they the perfect match for parents and students with jobs, but they are also less expensive than colleges with campuses. Online universities have yet to be fully appreciated, but I feel that this form of education will only get better as time progresses.
About this student: Bellisant, a 10th grade student, is a life-long homeschooler who is enrolled in Royal Academy. She lives in New York City and among her many activities, enjoys writing and theater arts.
Family (& Autumn) Traditions by Veronica Flynn
Apparently autumn is a pretty popular season in Maine. People come up here from all over America to take a look at the leaves. Personally, I wouldn’t drive from Texas or wherever all the way up to Maine just to look at dying foliage…. (Although I admit if I ever move away I’ll miss the yearly tradition of looking at dead leaves.) But that’s the tourists’ choice and wallet.
In my family, autumn has always been the most popular season; with leaf peeping, hiking, and Thanksgiving as the main attractions. Every September my family and I pack up a lunch, binoculars, and a camera, head out to the car, and drive up to Rangeley. I guess I should tell you what Rangeley is because you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. Rangeley is a town in Maine, but we rarely drive into the town itself. The place we usually go to is a park; it has hiking trails and spots to pull over and admire the fiery looking foliage.
Although leaf peeping is a yearly tradition we love; Thanksgiving is the most precious to us. It’s basically the only time that we get to see the rest of the family. The only family we see is from my mom’s side; never has anyone from my dad’s side visited for Thanksgiving. There are so many of them and ninety percent of them are complete strangers. More often than not, it’s just me, my parents, Grampie, and my cousins, Tea (12), Kyle (10), Mike (16), and Chad (18). And usually, after work Beth will come a little later after our meal is finished. (Beth is the mother of Tea, Kyle, and Mike.)
Sometimes if she can make it, my Auntie Heather will come. My Uncle Randy used to come up for Thanksgiving, but he hasn’t in years; he now usually spends it in Virginia, where he lives. Another relative that used to come on Thanksgiving is Uncle Frankie, who is now in jail and I won’t go into the details on why. My Auntie Nancy has never come up for Thanksgiving, and my Auntie Charlene only came up once with Uncle Bruce and her three boys. When she was alive, Grammy came up for a few Thanksgivings. I don’t really remember, but apparently she did. The two people I wish would come to our Thanksgiving dinners would be Auntie “Charlie” (Charlene), and Auntie Nancy; but I highly doubt that they ever will. It’s too bad really; they’re the two jokers of the family, they would make Thanksgiving even more fun.
Ours is the traditional, huge dinner: turkey and gravy, squash, potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. We always have five types of pies for dessert: cherry, pumpkin, apple, blueberry, and custard. We can’t leave out the pickles, dates, olives, candy, yogurt raisins and coconut dates for snacking. Drinks are whatever we happen to have in the fridge: soda, juice, apple cider, and Gatorade. Usually Mom will carve the turkey, set up and fill the plates which seem to take up every inch of counter space.
We have to add the middle section to the table to make it bigger, and find at least five more chairs. Even then we’re all squished together, and the table is covered with dishes, silverware, and glasses. As if being jammed together isn’t bad enough, my cousins will fight over who sits next to me. The two older boys - because they want to annoy me while I eat - playing with my hair and generally teasing. It gets really bad when I have one on either side. And the two youngest…well I don’t know why they insist on sitting next to me. Thankfully, they usually win out and I sit next to one of them.
Other than eating the meal we don’t do anything special; we basically just sit around and talk. Actually, the adults talk and my cousins entertain themselves by annoying me. For example: my oldest cousin Chad will mess with my hair and call me a “munchkin,” and Mike will use me as an armrest. Tea randomly hugs and tickles me and my youngest cousin Kyle…well… Kyle doesn’t really annoy me. Along with the annoyances, my cousins and I usually play a few games of Skip-Bo and Uno, watch movies (unless there is nothing new to watch, then Kyle usually watches Sponge Bob). Sometimes they’ll play games on the Internet, like Diner Dash (a restaurant game; Tea’s favorite), and Stickicide (a game where you have to kill this stick figure as many times as you can within a time limit; Kyle loves this one). The two older boys either nap, watch whatever Kyle’s watching, or play first person shooters on Dad’s computer.
Unless the basketball hoop is up we rarely ever go outside anymore, save to the front porch. My two youngest cousins love to sit on our swing,especially when we play the “kicking game”. Two of us sit on the swing, and push it back as far as we can and wait to swing forward, while the third tries to run through without getting hit by the swing and our feet. Usually Kyle is the unfortunate third, but then again, he’s the first one to volunteer.
Visiting with all, and feeding the family are my mother’s reasons for loving Thanksgiving traditions the most. But for me, even though they can be rather irritating,and they never seem to change, my cousins are the reason Thanksgiving is precious to me.
About this student: Veronica is an 11th grader and has been enrolled in Royal Academy since the first grade. Living on a small mountain in Maine, enjoying the New England scenery year-round, she likes to write stories, read, and has just finished helping her father build a new computer.
