Celebrate Financial Literacy Month
By Guest Blogger on April 22nd, 2016
Too often, parents wait until their kids are teens to begin teaching financial skills.
However, kids as early as preschool can begin to learn proper financial literacy.
As parents, we tend to focus on ensuring our kids get a proper education in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. We sometimes forget that financial literacy is just as important to learn.
It’s never too early to start teaching your children about financial literacy. Continue reading
FLVS Elementary Opens Registration
By Guest Blogger on April 21st, 2016
Elementary students at FLVS enjoy a unique approach to virtual education.
Do you have a student, sibling, friend or family member in Kindergarten through 5th grade?
For families seeking a nontraditional or homeschool-friendly approach to elementary education, FLVS Elementary is an innovative program offering the added benefits of regular instruction from certified teachers, peer interaction, and online curriculum in core subject areas, including Reading, Social Studies, Math, Science, and Technology. Continue reading
A Life-Changing Experience
By Guest Blogger on April 20th, 2016
This is the final post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
For the past 12 months, my family and I have been recounting our trek around the world and sharing what it meant to each of us.
Although it’s been nearly seven years since we returned in September 2009, there is not a day that goes by we don’t think about what the trek meant to us individually and collectively. Needless to say, it was a life-changing experience for each of us. My wife Catrell and I set several goals before leaving on our trek and they were all met. Continue reading
Digital Information Technology
By Guest Blogger on April 15th, 2016
Have you ever thought about what kind of technology skills you will need to be successful?
Tech skills are essential – not only in school, but in almost any career field you can think of. Sure, you can probably use a computer, surf the web, type up your report, and operate a ton of apps, but do you really have the skills you need for success?
Digital Information Technology will be releasing very soon and provides students with hundreds of fundamental skills in technology, ranging from web page design to using spreadsheets as a tool to display and calculate data. Continue reading
National Volunteer Week
By Guest Blogger on April 11th, 2016
National Volunteer Week is being celebrated from April 10-16th this year.
What a great time to reflect and to take action! Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best, “Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Eleven years ago, our dog died, leaving a big impact on our family. My children were young and the whole family was devastated. Concurrently, I was the Principal of Winter Park High School. I had developed a close friendship with a parent who was a volunteer puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence. Continue reading
Let Freedom to Choose…Ring
By Guest Blogger on March 29th, 2016
Choice.
It’s a beautiful word. It means having options and being able to select an alternative for something that works for you.
Whether you’re male or female, if you live in the United States, you have a choice—where to live, what to eat, and what to do with your life.
Opportunities exist in this country like none other. We can choose our religion, our education, our life partner, our president, and what livelihood we wish to pursue. In many other countries around the world, these choices are made for you. Continue reading
Every Student Succeeds
By Guest Blogger on March 21st, 2016
On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
The ESSA will replace the familiar No Child Left Behind Act as the federal government’s comprehensive legislation which governs education and, famously, accountability for schools, teachers, districts, and states.
This new collection of laws will certainly usher in a period of change for American schools – but just how much does it change, and when (and how) will that change occur? Continue reading
Staying Positive In Spite of Illness
By Guest Blogger on March 18th, 2016
This post was written by FLVS student Aislinn and originally published on her blog offering support for individuals with chronic pain.
Without a doubt, pain changes people.
However, that does not require it to be a negative change. Chronic pain can be defined as a pain that persists or progresses over a long period of time and is often resistant to medical treatments. Pain can be a brutal teacher, but it has the ability to teach life lessons that will go unforgotten.
Chronic pain teaches you how life changes in a moment; we truly have to live each day like it is our last, because life can change any second.
When a chronic condition hits, it can lead you into a world of frustration and uncertainty. Helplessness and hopelessness are incredibly common with chronic pain and various chronic conditions. Continue reading
A Narrow Piece of Geography
By Guest Blogger on March 16th, 2016
This is the 11th post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
Our around the world trek was accomplished in two stages.
The first lasted four months and we backpacked through Central and South America. After returning home for a short visit, we resumed our trek, which lasted seven months. During our odyssey, we traveled to six continents, visited 22 countries and covered more than 61,000 miles. Although we did circumnavigate the globe, the fact is we only traveled a narrow piece of geography.
No matter how well-traveled someone is, they tend to stay within the lines – back roads, hiking trails, plane routes and highways. We were no different. Through Central and South America, we traveled almost entirely by bus – from “chicken buses” packed with 30 people when there should have only been 15, to a luxury motor coach that had its equivalent of a flight attendant onboard. Continue reading
Are We Teaching Girls to Fear Failure?
By Guest Blogger on March 14th, 2016
March is Women’s History month, so what better time than now to ask a very important question:
Are we teaching our girls to fear failure?
Several months ago, my colleague Amy who teaches French for Florida Virtual School sent me an article on this very topic.
Of course Amy knew how passionate I am about fostering a growth mindset in all of our students, but when she sent me this article, the idea that maybe we need to look deeper into what we are teaching our girls really lit a fire inside me.
We have been researching the idea that we are teaching our girls to fear failure ever since – and the research is hard-hitting, significant, and extremely eye-opening. Continue reading