Tips for Students
28 Things That Matter More Than Getting “Likes”
By Guest Blogger on December 14th, 2015
This article was written and published by a Florida Virtual School student for the FLVS student newspaper, News in a Click.
With all of the social media available to the world today, people tend to forget about the bigger things in life.
Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Instagram, Snapchat and many other social media sites all play an important part in our everyday lives. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that there is more to life than documenting everything and getting likes on pictures and posts.
The average person, age 18-64, spends three hours on social media daily. 16 billion people share photos every day.
It is indeed fun to spend time on social media and everybody deserves time to look at these sites, but, with the amount of time we spend on social media, it would seem that we are missing out on life. Continue reading
Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle While Traveling
By Guest Blogger on December 9th, 2015
This is the eighth post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
Whether you are planning a “stay-cation” or a global yearlong adventure around the world similar to ours, staying healthy, happy, and fit while traveling can present a few obstacles.
Maintaining healthy eating habits at home can be difficult and doing the same on the road requires even more due-diligence. Preplanning is the key, and can mean the difference between completely abandoning your healthy lifestyle or keeping you on track.
Incorporate some or all the following tips we’ve used to ensure you have a healthy, happy trip.
Continue reading
Travel is the Ultimate Education
By Guest Blogger on November 16th, 2015
This is the seventh post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
Recently, friends of ours withdrew their nine-year old daughter from school to take her with them to Washington, D.C. and Iceland.
They planned to tour the nation’s capital before leaving for Iceland for the family’s first trip abroad. To do so, Jennifer (not her real name), would miss approximately a week of school. Jennifer’s mom contacted the school well in advance and completed the necessary paperwork to request an excused absence. She outlined in detail all that Jennifer would experience and see during the trip.
However, the school principal did not respond and after repeated calls asking for an update, it was time to leave. Continue reading
November is National Scholarship Month
By Amy LaGrasta on November 12th, 2015
It’s never too early to start thinking about how to pay for college.
Paying for college is a costly endeavor. Figuring out how to pay for college can be confusing and difficult. While student loans must be paid back, scholarship money can pay for tuition and fees directly and does not have to be paid back. A scholarship reduces the amount of loans and out-of-pocket expenses you must pay. Therefore, scholarships are the best answer for many students.
The good news is that scholarships are easier than ever to find and apply for thanks to online tools that can connect students to billions of dollars’ worth of funds. There are scholarships out there for everyone! You can find scholarships for being left handed, good at soccer, art, or just for being tall! Continue reading
Got Notes? (Part 2)
By Florida Virtual School on November 5th, 2015
sketch – note
/skeCH nōt/
Noun
1. A substantially awesome method for taking notes that is easy, fun, and does not require drawing ability (stick figures welcome!)
Verb
2. Combining doodles and notes and increasing your memory retention by transferring an idea from your head to the paper!
This definition summarizes some of what we learned in part one of this series. Continue reading
What Travel Has Meant to My Career
By Guest Blogger on October 12th, 2015
This is the sixth post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
Traveling has been such an amazing opportunity for me in so many ways.
It’s taught me more than I ever could have learned from solely reading books. It’s showed me how to relate with people and find ways to communicate with others, even if we don’t speak the same language. You begin to realize deep down we’re not all that different.
Traveling has been an extremely liberating experience, though it wasn’t always easy. It pushes you and constantly forces you out of your comfort zone. Early on I had to find a way to be able to continue school while traveling. FLVS was such a great way to be able to do that. There were times when I was in the middle of the jungle in Central America, monkeys were swinging above my head and I was still able to take a test online. Continue reading
Student Articles from News in a Click
By Guest Blogger on September 23rd, 2015
Have you visited the new and improved website for the Florida Virtual School student newspaper, News in a Click, lately?
If not, you’re missing out! News In A Click (NIAC) is an award-winning online student newspaper, created and published completely online by FLVS students. By collaborating weekly in Blackboard, the club’s virtual newsroom, the News in a Click staff is able to brainstorm article ideas, write, edit, and create content.
NIAC and its staff members have won several state and national awards from the Florida Scholastic Press Association and Quill and Scroll for writing, photography, and design. Check out a few recent articles from the paper below! Continue reading
Got Notes?
By Florida Virtual School on September 17th, 2015
Picture this:
You are in front of your screen, you have logged into your live lesson, and your instructor is about to start.
He or she reminds you to “take notes!” You find yourself unprepared, so you either open a Word document (which by the end of the lesson remains basically blank) or you hastily gather a pen and a paper napkin left in your room from last night’s pizza. At the end of the lesson, you barely have a few notes and the main idea of today’s lesson eludes you like the ghost of Christmas past…
Sigh…sound familiar? Continue reading
Never Stop Exploring
By Guest Blogger on September 4th, 2015
This is the fifth post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
In Margret Mitchell’s novel, “Gone with the Wind,” Gerald O’Hara states that, “Land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it’s the only thing that lasts.” While I agree that the preservation of natural places is one of the most important goals, Mitchell’s character is only partly right, in that there are other things in life worth the effort as well. There are non-material events and knowledge, which are incommensurable. Continue reading
5 Ways to Stay Safe While Traveling the World
By Guest Blogger on August 5th, 2015
This is the fourth post in a series by the Cooney family about their world travels, made possible by the flexible learning offered at FLVS.
Travel Safety Awareness Month is the perfect time to address one of the questions we were often asked before leaving on an around-the-world trek.
“Aren’t you afraid to travel to other countries with your family?”
As we all know, there is risk in nearly everything we do. Whether taking a shower, driving to work, walking across the street, shopping at the grocery store, going to the movie theater, or skydiving, there is inherent risk in everything we do. If you don’t think so, just count the number of attorney ads on TV, radio, and social media. Even after our trek, the question of safety continues to be asked when I give talks about our adventure.