Helping Your Student

Most work and higher-education opportunities are open to students who have been educated at home, but some opportunities still require proof of educational competency. For example, the military will accept students with a homeschool diploma, but all students entering the military must also be able to score well on the ASVAB, a multi-aptitude test. To be prepared for career and college, students need good instruction and the discipline (time and effort) to master the lesson material.

Incorporating Acellus into your homeschooling instruction brings online video-based lessons with cutting-edge technology to accelerate learning and motivate students. To get the most out of these resources, you need to make sure your student spends the time necessary each day in their courses. We cannot stress strongly enough how much difference an interested and involved parent makes in student success.

Homeschool laws and guidelines differ from state to state. Be sure to be aware of the homeschool laws in the area where you live. If you are not familiar with the laws for where you reside, be sure to review the information provided on the state homeschooling requirements page.

Keep in mind that you are the teacher. It is up to you to make sure your students are in the appropriate courses and making the progress you expect. It is wise to start out with a more simple course so the student can build confidence and become familiar with the online learning environment.

We strongly suggest that you set up a daily study schedule. The schedule should include when your student will study along with measurable goals, such as “Complete at least one Acellus lesson in each core subject area.” You’ll find several study suggestions under How to Effectively Homeschool Online.

Acellus shows students weekly goals for each of their courses, and their daily progress on these goals. You can adjust goals as needed through the Acellus Parent Interface to help students complete courses within your scheduled school year.  Make sure the goal is attainable so students don’t get discouraged.

The Live Class Monitor tool lets you monitor students in real-time with alerts when a student is guessing or retaking lessons.  Acellus allows you to see the problems your student is struggling with, time spent, and the answers they are entering so you can step in with the right help at the right time. Just as important, you can see when your student is succeeding, to provide positive reinforcement to keep up the good work.

If a student is not making progress, go back to a more basic course. Once students are in their “success zone,” they will start moving forward. Don’t leave them in a course they can’t handle. (To change the course a student is taking, sign into the Parent Interface and go to Manage Account.)

Note: The Parent Interface provides you with help and support to administer your students in the program. To keep the cost of the program affordable, we request that you use these online support tools whenever possible.

You may move your student forward to a more advanced course if the material seems too basic, but keep in mind that while a student may be competent in some concepts, there may be others that they have not yet mastered that are prerequisite for success in higher level courses.  Acellus detects when students know the material and allows them to move quickly through the course until it identifies an area where they need more instruction and practice. Then Acellus will slow down and dig in deeper to make sure they have the foundational skills (and confidence) needed before moving on.

Acellus has extensive resources to help students when they become stuck. After delivering a short video lesson, Acellus gives students assessment problems to test their understanding of the concept taught. If students get stuck trying to work the problems, they can access help videos showing how to work similar problems. Specialized videos are also built into Acellus to teach missing concepts revealed by specific wrong answers students enter. Vectored Instruction™ may be triggered if students are missing a foundational concept, providing them with instruction from a previous course to fill in a gap in their knowledge so they can move forward.

Often the most effective help that can be provided by a parent consists of getting the students to try — to watch the lessons and then to do their very best to tackle the problems. In this way, the system learns the needs of the students. This feedback is integrated into lesson materials to make Acellus courses even more effective.

Make sure your high school student is prepared for his or her desired career or continuing education. Sometimes homeschooled students transfer to an accredited online school, like Acellus Academy, during the last one or two years of their high school studies. An accredited high school diploma can open doors to certain job opportunities and college scholarships. To transition into accredited school programs in the 11th and 12th grade, students need to have built the learning foundation in their prior years. This takes very good courseware plus a diligent daily effort to master the material.