Online Learning Resources

Committed to providing quality educational choices, HCOS subscribes to a number of online learning resources. Below is a short description of the many educational resources available to our students this year.

United Streaming

Heritage Christian Online School is offering students a subscription to United Streaming at no cost.  This online video library contains more than 5,000 full length educational videos.  It has Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Magic Schoolbus, Bill Nye, and much, much more.  You can search through the library easily to find what you’re looking for.  This is a great supplement to every student’s education.  There are videos covering a huge variety of topics in arts and music, science, language arts, health, and social studies from grades K through 12.   Check out www.unitedstreaming.com for more information.  If you would like a subscription please email your teacher for sign-up information.

Encyclopedia Britannica

http://newsletter.onlineschool.ca/archive/images/eb.gifWe have now subscribed all of our students and families with the Encyclopedia Britannica- Online. Please contact your support teacher for your login and password.

Enchanted Learning

All HCOS students and families have access to Enchanted Learning, a safe, family friendly educational site with over 20,000 pages of resources! Please contact your support teacher for your login and password.

netTrekker

A safe educational search engine is now available from HCOS through netTrekker. This trusted search engine provides peace of mind to families as their child searches the net for online resources. The search engine is organized by readability and grade level and is even aligned to the provincial outcomes. Contact your support teacher for a username and password.

Town-to-Town Canada

HCOS’ subscription with “Town-to-Town Canada” provides middle and high school students with information on Canadian civic and public affairs. It link students to web sites “relating to government, law, education, social economics, current events, public policy, and living and culture.”  Please contact your support teacher for a username and password.

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

WHAT IN THE WORLD? is a Canadian current events resource covering events and issues with geography. It is designed for students in the intermediate grades and is available in English and French. Contact your support teacher to request monthly links and passwords which will connect you to each new issue. 

TeachingBooks

Explore award winning youth books and their authors. HCOS provides you with access to thousands of resources and multimedia programs through its online subscription with TeachingBooks. Short movies, audio book readings, and book discussion guides are some of the rich learning resources available through this subscription. Contact your support teacher for a username and password.

YourTeacher

YourTeacher.com is an online multimedia math resource for Middle and High school students. Each lesson includes video examples, interactive practice, and self tests. Through HCOS school subscription you will receive a year’s access to Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, or Algebra 2 for only $25. Please contact your support teacher to receive a personal username and password, and arrange payment from your curriculum budget.

“Reading A to Z” and “Writing A to Z”

Finding reading and writing learning resources is now just a click away! HCOS is offering access to “Reading A to Z” and “Writing A to Z” resources at a discounted price. “Reading A to Z” has thousands of printable learning resources that support guided reading, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and alphabet and vocabulary learning. These professionally developed resources included downloadable ‘levelled’ books, lesson plans, worksheets, and reading assessment material. The “Writing A to Z” site provides hundreds of downloadable writing resources which include “core writing lessons grouped by genre and text type; mini-lessons targeting key writing skills; and writing tools for organizing and improving writing.” The resources are designed for K-6 learning level. These resources will save you time and money as you search for a resource specific to your child’s reading and writing ability. Through HCOS school subscription you will receive a year’s access to these excellent resources for only $25 each. Please contact your support teacher to arrange payment from your curriculum budget and to receive a username and password.

Volume 3 - Edition 8 - May 2007

Grad Program and Funding

by Ted Gerk

One of the most confusing aspects of the legislative changes that took place last year surround the grad program (Grades 10-12) and the funding they may or may not receive.

While it opened some exciting opportunities for families and students throughout the Province of British Columbia, it has been a source of confusion for many of those same families and students.

Understandably, we were all used to the basic curriculum budget that each student received in the last year. Grade K has access to $500 and Grades 1 through 9 has access to a $1000 curriculum budget.

But that changes in Grades 10 to 12. The reason is that the government no longer funds a school PER student, but PER Course.

Simply put, a school gets funded for each course a student takes. Our Grad Program specialists take great care to determine the courses a student takes to ensure they are getting proper academic credit. The funding covers the cost of the course and the teacher, but barely covers the cost of a rental textbook (which is why we are so adament for Grade 10 to 12 students to return their textbooks).

If a student is taking an individualized course, they work even closer with their teachers to ensure that Learning Outcomes are met, which also ensures there is actual funding that will cover the course. After that, there is about $120 available per individualized course that a student can access - for curriculm or to cover the cost of a lesson. As always we cannot reimburse, but can pay a third party vendor directly. We have some flexibility even in this area, but have to be satisfied that a student is meeting certain PLO's before we entertain funding for additional items.

HCOS's Chris McGrath and his assistant Karen McGrath work hard to determine the course structure and possible acadademic credit for each and every student. Questions can be addressed to Chris to help a student choose what is best for them.

Any questions on funding aspect, please email me!!

Blessings, Ted

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