Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (PA) - No slacking in this cyber family

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (PA)
No slacking in this cyber family

Sunday, July 01, 2007

ROSS TWP. – Their school desks may be within eyesight of a freezer bearing ice cream and cupboards hiding cookies, and outdoor recess may include a dip in the family pool or some bouncing on the yard trampoline, but Dawn Lubetski’s cyber student sons spend just as much time as any other school-age kids studying. Maybe more.

“We start at 6 a.m.,” 13-year-old Ian, the oldest, claimed proudly – and without a hint of bitterness. He and his brother Aaron, 11, begin their lessons first, joined later by Ryan, 7, and eventually by 5-year-old Abigail, who won’t be enrolled in cyber kindergarten until next year, but gets pre-school lessons when mom’s not helping the others.

During the school year, all five gather at least five times a week in a single room with an upright vacuum cleaner in the corner, neatly disguised with an old-fashioned dress. Call it the Oreck mannequin.

The three who are enrolled in the cyber charter must log on separately. It’s one way the school tracks attendance. Like traditional schools, state law requires cyber charters to have at least a 95 percent attendance rate or face consequences. The school these boys attend – Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School – tracks truancy and starts taking action after three unexcused absences, communications director Joe Lyons said.

Interaction with teachers through a computer microphone and work done in real time on a sophisticated, two-way “white board” on the computer screen also help the school know students are really at their desks. In fact the technology has advanced to the point where students have gone online together and staged audio plays, something Lyons likens to “old time radio programs.”

How long do the Lubetski kids stay at “school?”

“We have really long days,” Aaron said without a hint of disdain at the thought, “Sometimes 10 hours.”

Of course, since they are home, there is no real line between class work and out of class efforts. “We don’t have homework,” Dawn said, “We do this all the time.”

The children download the day’s lesson plans, then Dawn gets each started on some specific work, one after another, pacing the day so she can always help one while the others work independently. The scope is wide. The boys study music with a program that converts the computer key strokes into notes. They construct detailed PowerPoint presentations, complete with pictures and music, based on lessons and research. They have boxes of materials for art class, science and other subjects.

The cyber school teachers are “strict” in making sure the students get through all their materials by the end of the year, and that means Dawn puts a lot of time in supervising her students.

“I have a job,” the 35-year-old mother said, “I just don’t get in a car and drive to it. This is my job.”

Yet Dawn says she is sure to distinguish between her two roles with her kids, and demonstrated by stepping across the line dividing study room and kitchen.

“When I’m in here I’m teacher, When I’m out here I’m mom.”

“Yeah,” Ian smiled, “and when she’s mom, we get extra ice cream!”

http://www.timesleader.com/news/20070701_01cyber_side_mg_ART.html