We have added a new feature to our online lessons that will improve learning outcomes for students. Students completing an online lesson will now be presented with a set of correlated worksheets. These printable worksheets provide extra practice and greater depth in the subject matter of the lesson the student just completed.
At the bottom of the student home page your child will now see a set of recommended worksheets:
The worksheets are based on the last completed lesson, so students should click on the refresh button once they have completed a whole lesson.
Why are we doing this?
We are trying to help parents find the right balance between "online" and "offline" learning. An interactive video lesson can focus a child's attention and bring subject matter to life in ways that a worksheet or textbook cannot. At the same time, working with traditional pencil and paper causes students to slow down, think and apply the concepts they have learned. This is especially true in mathematics, where substantial practice is critical to deepening understanding and creating proficiency.
How parents can use the worksheets?
The system is flexible; parents and students may decide to:
- skip the worksheets entirely;
- only do worksheets following lessons which the student found difficult;
- do all the recommended worksheets.
Note that the worksheets have answer sheets appended to them. We recommend that older students get into the practice of printing a worksheet, completing it, and then marking it themselves using the answer sheet. This process helps students to learn to study independently.
Some younger children who are still learning to read will need assistance in understanding the directions on the worksheets.
The worksheets are not included in any of our progress reports.
New feature in action
Here’s an example. Aaron has signed into his student portal and is working on a lesson about spatial relationships:
Once he finishes the quiz, he closes the math and reading lessons page and goes back to the student portal page. He clicks on the refresh button 
.
He sees the following recommended math worksheets:
He clicks on the first worksheet and it opens up as a pdf file in a new tab:
From this page the worksheet can be printed. Each worksheet comes with an answer sheet.
How do we know a lesson has been completed?
Our lessons are segmented into a tutorial, one or more practice sessions and finally a quiz. After each segment, the student sees our 'traffic cop' and is given a chance to stop or continue. This is done to break study sessions into smaller pieces. The lesson is completed after the last segment, the quiz, completes and your child sees a score flash up on the screen for that lesson.
Once the quiz is completed, the student home page can be refreshed to get the new recommended worksheets.
