Hello and Bonjour! (I’m attempting to learn French).

I hope this post finds you well and going strong in the teachings of your children. I didn’t think I’d find myself blogging again, but I just couldn’t not share this significant development that’s happening in the homeschooling world.

First, let me say I’m still as nutty as ever. Teaching, researching, taxi-driving, visiting NYC as often as I can and so forth. Side-note, I may need to live in that city with my family at some point. LOVE that place!

I digress..

So here’s the news-

Are you familiar with the International Baccalaureate program? I’ve posted the below links in case you are not so you have a chance to read about this highly esteemed curriculum.

http://ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/

http://www.pamojaeducation.com/IB-online-courses/

http://www.ibo.org/diploma/recognition/guide/slided.cfm

http://www.pamojaeducation.com/schools/open-world-schools.asp

http://privateschool.about.com/od/schoolsny/qt/nyctop.htm

http://www.dwight.edu/about

Well, over the past few months I’ve been corresponding with some of the leaders from the Dwight School in Manhattan. The skinny is the Dwight School is one of 7 schools around the globe involved in a pilot program that’s allowing students who can’t access an actual IB school the opportunity to take IB courses online.
Here’s a summary in an abbreviated form for easier digestion:

* The IB program leaders have been in discussion for years now about extending their curriculum access to non-IB students, but only now are we seeing the change. Homeschoolers have never before had access to the IB curriculum. Now they will, and this is what is so exciting because the IB program is highly regarded by top universities. Universities are very familiar with the IB rigor and college-level preparation.

* Presently, there are several students around the world already enrolled in the pilot program with less than a handful being homeschoolers.

* IB courses are not the equivalent of AP courses. They are an entirely different animal, and each class undergoes a rigorous development, screening, and editing process before it becomes available to a student.

* Pamoja Education is the company that is working with IB to make these classes available online.

* The IB program has been developed for the early years all the way through high school but only the DP program (grades 11/12) will be offered at present through the pilot program.

* There are 15 total online classes available. There is discussion going on to add more.

* The “diploma” is not currently available to an enrolling homeschooler because there are several note-worthy courses missing from the online class selection. You will see that sciences and the Core classes are not yet available. How to complete science labs through distant learning is one challenge. These classes are required for the diploma to be awarded. However, also note-worthy is that a “certificate” will be granted for each class taken and passed along with the exam. These certificates are seen very positively by universities.

*What that means for enrolling homeschoolers for this fall is that you’d be cherry-picking classes from the online class list versus enrolling in the full DP program, but that could even change before the fall term begins. Much discussion happening..

NOW LET ME FOCUS ON THE DWIGHT SCHOOL SPECIFICALLY TO CONTINUE AS THEY ARE ONE OF THE PILOT SCHOOLS AND THE ONE I’M MOST FAMILIAR WITH ON DETAILS:

** Dwight plans to offer a certificate with each class successfully completed along with a grade.

** Dwight is entertaining the possibility of offering a hybrid Diploma program to complete the core, language, and sciences if they have the numbers.

** Each individual class has its own exam at the end of two years. IB scale is 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest) with 3 being pass. The IB exam will be taken at Dwight or whatever IB school is near the student after the two years.

** The class fee is $1350 for one course for one year which means $2700 for 2 years. This includes the exam fee. HOWEVER….Dwight plans to discount these fees to homeschooolers. More details may be obtained by contacting Jaya Bhavnani at Dwight. Of note, the only online course that can be completed in one year is Economics Standard Level.

** Dwight recommends taking 2 classes maximum to show challenging IB courses for college applications.

I hope that helps shed a bit of light on what’s going on for our world and the IB program.

Let me now share some more news regarding specifically the Dwight School in NYC. They will be hosting an informational dinner for homeschoolers on Thursday, June 5 at the school. See the flyer below for further details. The dinner’s purpose is to provide an overview of the pilot program as well as to answer your specific questions. If you live within a decent driving distance to NY and are interested in attending the dinner, please R.S.V.P to Jaya Bhavnani (jbhavnani@dwight.edu). Jaya is Dwight’s online coordinator and will be at the dinner.

My absurd selfie.. I think my nose has gotten bigger!

Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you, but I recommend connecting with Jaya as I’m still learning the details myself and don’t want to provide inaccurate information. I just had to share what’s happening with this. Digital education is rapidly changing how our children are being taught, and I’m glad to see that the highly regarded IB program is on board with the movement. It’s a good time to be homeschooling your children!

Well, now I hope to sleep and am remembering why I had to stop blogging. It takes a great deal of time! But, it was wonderful to have connected with you again and as always I wish you all the best in the organized chaos of homeschooling.

Joy

***David from Taiwan-Did you see this update on IB?