...And Legos Save the Learning Coach!
I do not think I have ever been so excited to see the UPS man. Then again, I rarely order things that UPS delivers to my home. As soon as the brown truck pulled up and stopped in front of my driveway, I jumped up from my patio chair and set my laptop down. I think I even squealed. Alexander of course muttered, "Oh great!" in an 'I want to roll my eyes and groan' manner, but I was so excited to get those text books and supplies. The children are not excited about this new adventure, yet around every bend in this journey, I keep getting more and more excited. I'm bubbling over with a sense of adventure and curiosity.
We will probably regret the decision, but I picked up an old computer we gave to my Pop to put in Victoria's room and my desktop will go in Alexander's along with my desk. Before anyone says, "but children should not have their own computers in their rooms like that! The online predators and bullies! Oh no!" I have precautions I am setting in place.
No. 1 The VNC program I mentioned a while back will be installed on all computers so that no matter what computer the adults are on, the children's computers will be accessible and monitored. We can tap into their computer and verify they are working on what they are supposed to and can exit out without the children even noticing.
No. 2 The computers will be password protected as well as their screensavers. Only parents will know the password. When they start working on their Narrow Path or Connexus for the day, a parent or "Learning Coach" will input the password. If they let the computer idle for longer than 30 minutes, the password will need to be reentered.
No. 3 I have set up supervised accounts in Google Chrome, which will be the only browser installed on the computers. I can super restrict the web sites they are able to navigate down to the schooling websites only, or when more trusted, allow them free reign and block inappropriate websites they may stumble into. Either way, we the Learning Coaches can log into the supervisor account and look at what websites they go to, blocking whichever ones we see fit to block.
No. 4 When it boils down to it, because they will connect to the internet via a wireless password protected USB fob and wireless password protected router, we have the ability to change the passwords whenever we wish and also remove the fob to prevent any unauthorized access to the net. These are not stupid or dumb children by any stretch. If they figure out how to circumvent my restrictions, the Wrath of Khan had nothing on me. We will resort to lock-down measures.
No. 5 The locks on their bedroom doors are on the outside. They have no way of locking us out for privacy or for doing things they are not supposed to behind our backs. These two will not be able to hide much from us at all. We will be able to log in and control their computer at any time and check up on what they are doing. I agree this shows a complete and utter lack of the right to privacy. There is a good reason for that.
There is no trust. No parent should have to not trust their children, but these two have lost our trust many times, and yet we keep giving them opportunities to earn it back. As parents we are supposed to guide, teach, and forgive. We do not have to forget and we do not have to be stupid. We can set up precautions like what I have laid out above. I wish I trusted them enough to not have to resort to these measures. But it is what it is. If all goes well, the restrictions will relax. Until then however, they have to do some major attitude adjusting and a lot of interest displayed in bettering themselves.
Alexander is getting excited though. It probably has to do with the headphones with mic Connections supplied for them to be able to talk to their teachers and classmates. But either way, he is getting into the idea of learning in the comfort of his own room and having his Learning Coach (me) get into it. I have not played with his Legos with him in a long time. Yesterday though, we drew out a map of ancient Greece, shaded, colored, and labeled it. Then we got the Lego dudes out and used them to explain the movements of key figures during the Trojan War and the Legend of Odysseus in Homer's The Odyssey.
Proud Mama moment: When my entering-the-fourth-grade son relayed back to me how King Menelaus of the city-state Sparta (played by heat visioned General Zod) had a beautiful wife named Helen (played by Lois Lane). He was tired of fighting wars for his brother King Agamemnon (played by a heat visioned angry Superman), who already controlled most of Greece. So he tried to set up a peace treaty with Priam, the king of Troy (played by a bald and weaponless red/black Ninjago ninja). Priam sent his two sons, Hector (played by a red/black dual katana wielding ninja) and Paris (a red/black crossbow holding ninja) to a party King Menelaus was throwing in honor of their treaty. Paris thought he had fallen in love with Helen, and so kidnapped her. As the story went on, a blue Ninjago played Odysseus, a white Ninjago played Achilles, a bearded sailor played Ajax and we made the Lego men move across the map we had made. After the war, we cleared the board of all the Lego men (and Lois) and picked a Legoman to play Telemachus, Odysseus' son, and played out the Odyssey. He got it, he really got it. Score one for learning with Legos!
~Mom on a Narrow Path
