UTICA — When Hannah Holtz was about to enter kindergarten, her parents made the decision to enroll her in Ohio Connections Academy. At the time they believed working in an online environment and the curriculum the school offered would be a better fit for their daughter.
According to Hannah’s mother Jennifer, she would attend the online school and the family would re-evaluate the decision year by year. If it no longer worked learning from home, they could easily transfer straight into their traditional school and not be behind.
As it turned out, Hannah remained at Ohio Connections Academy through high school and graduated in 2020. Following in Hannah’s footsteps at the online school are younger brother Matthew, currently a senior at OCA, and sister Brookelyn, a junior.
Jennifer said having the school follow the state guidelines of teachers and curriculum was the first thing they loved about Ohio Connections Academy.
“For our family, what worked was structure,” she said. “Our school day was from 9-3 with 30 minutes for lunch from 12-12:30. We taught them it was intentional to learn, important to get your work finished with pride, and to try their best in each class.”
Having been with Ohio Connections Academy for such a long time, Jennifer has seen how the online platform has evolved over the years with the student engagement going much deeper.
“In the beginning, the lessons were vague and pretty quick,” she said. “About 10 years ago we started to see where the lessons had more depth and dove into the topics to make the students gain more information.
“There are layers now that add more than just one way to understand something. With the improvements of technology along the way, lessons are also more interactive,” she added.
One thing that Jennifer said they stressed with their children was building relationships with their teachers by reaching out to them when they were stuck on an assignment. It teaches the children to be a self-starter and take responsibility for their work inside and out of the classroom.
For those who might be looking to enroll in a school like Ohio Connections Academy, Jennifer said it’s important that parents establish rules for the students to follow and stick with them. In addition:
· Set a schedule to work five days a week, six hours a day and build in time for homework as needed.
· Rely on the teachers — they are the best and are pulling for your child.
· Let your child take responsibility for their grades, late assignments, missing a LiveLesson.
· Identify opportunities for social interaction. This needs to be intentional and is one of the most important commitments for this style of learning. Jennifer said their children were involved in sports, clubs, youth groups – basically any opportunity to connect their children with a large group of kids their age.
“What someone new needs to know is it’s not easy,” Jennifer said. “Your child should not be finished before noon with all their work. If so, the program isn’t being followed correctly.”
Over the years they did discover a few things that didn’t work for their family. One thing was pushing the children to do an assignment when they didn’t want to. Jennifer said sometimes it’s best to put it away until later. Another thing that didn’t work was allowing appointments to disrupt the scheduled school time.
For Hannah, who is currently a junior at Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry, one of her favorite memories about Ohio Connections Academy is the support that she received from her teachers.
Brookelyn’s favorite thing about learning in a virtual classroom is having the ability to work at her own pace. After her LiveLessons, she can move forward or spend more time on her assignments depending on her needs.
Matthew said he enjoys the opportunity to interact with his peers in the virtual classroom while learning something new.
Matthew is taking courses at MVNU through the state’s College Credit Plus program and he’s working toward an Electrical Engineering major with a Physics minor. Brookelyn is also in the CCP program at MVNU studying Exercise Science with a focus on Physical Therapy.
“I love Connections Academy because it gave all of my children the education and the confidence they needed to be successful in college,” Jennifer said.
