Virtual School Was Real Solution

Susan Lampert Smith:

The schools are virtual, but the children learning from them are very real.

And, sometimes, real kids have real problems.

Brennan Fredericks, 16, had big problems in middle school. His parents, Dan and Donna of Black Earth, said his former school did little to protect him from bullies. He has life-threatening food allergies and, his mother said, other kids would throw peanut butter sandwiches at him and taunt him.

"He 'd sit all alone at a table labeled peanut ' and get picked on, " Donna Fredericks said.

It got so bad that the thought of going to school made him ill.

After home schooling their son through much of eighth grade, the family was delighted to find the Monroe Virtual High School, a charter school run out of the Monroe School District.

To fulfill high school requirements, Brennan can choose between high school and college courses, which arrive with books and online homework. When it 's time to take exams, a teacher from the Monroe school drives to Black Earth and administers the test at the local library.

It has worked well for a kid who struggled in regular school.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 17, 2007 12:00 AM
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