Education Philosophy:

 

At The Thinking Kid, we believe in stimulating and feeding each student’s natural curiosity and desire for knowledge. We encourage each of our students to develop a love for learning, while fostering their critical thinking skills and abilities to share thoughts and ideas. Ultimately, we strive to help you as you guide your children into becoming persuasive, informed young adults, able to make informed decisions. We believe that these students will become intelligent adults with rich lives, who enjoy the opportunity to think and express themselves with freedom, unbound by conformity of thought.

 

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Expectations:

 

The Thinking Kid is a resource for parents seeking further education for their children. In order to allow for an effective and efficient online experience, we must all agree to the following expectations.

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What You Can Expect from The Thinking Kid:

 

Informed, passionate, and caring teachers. Each teacher has been carefully selected for their abilities to share their subject material in a highly engaging manner, as well as for their ability to bring the best out of others.

 

We believe that each student must play a role in the learning process. Your child will be interacting with their teacher and the other students on a regular basis.

 

Super Learning Packets: Exciting and relevant resources that supplement the material being taught which can become part of a shared family experience. These will include only the best books, movies, and activities, age appropriate, of the highest quality and moral value.

 

Homework: We assign minimal homework. If your student is in a literature-based class, they will be expected to read (or have already read) the literature being discussed. If your child is in a writing class, they will want to write a piece to share with the other class members.

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Transparency. With TTK, you can attend class meetings with your child. You may communicate with your student’s teachers at any time.

 

A steady online platform for class experiences. We use Zoom as our online platform. Using Zoom, your child will be able to meet with their teacher and fellow students; they will be seen and heard, just as one would while video conferencing. Zoom offers the best video, audio, and wireless screen-sharing experience across Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS, Android, Blackberry, Zoom Rooms, and H.323/SIP room systems.

 

Constant quality control. All class meetings will be recorded and archived. At the conclusion of a class, parents and students may be asked to submit an evaluation of the class.

 

A secure online platform for your children. Zoom places security as the highest priority in the lifecycle operations of its public and hybrid cloud networks. Zoom strives to continually provide a robust set of security features to meet the requirements of businesses for safe and secure collaboration.

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What We Expect of Parents:

 

Parents are expected to take full responsibility for their child’s education. TTK is a resource to enable the parent to provide the education they would like for their child. To help TTK effectively assist with the education of your child, we need you to ensure the following:

 

Each class is being used by an individual student.

 

The class is the appropriate level for your child.

 

Your child has their own computer, headset, microphone, and webcam (all in working condition). Devices are connected to consistent strong internet.

 

If more than one child is registered in the same class, they each have their own computer, headset, microphone and webcam.

 

Your child is prepared to type on the keyboard. They do not need to be fluent typists; their proficiency will grow as they attend more classes.

 

All materials/books needed for a class are purchased before they are needed in the class meeting. During class, the student should have all needed books with them.

 

The student is present for as many classes as possible and logs on punctually. Please try to keep the student from being distracted during the class meeting, avoiding background

music, loud noises or conversations, and other distracting background noise. This is particularly important when your child is speaking or presenting during the class.

 

Parents should be open to communication with teachers through email.

 

All tuition and payments are made.

 

What we expect of TTK Students:

 

To allow everybody to grow and learn, we must respect our fellow students and our teacher. We want everyone to feel welcome and accepted so they can develop to be the best they can be.

 

We must focus on the teacher when they are sharing. This means that we must be quiet and listen when the teacher is speaking. If you have a question, please use the “raise hand” option so your teacher can call on you to speak.

 

We must always use kind words when commenting during class meetings and when texting in the chat box. We do not use strong or hurtful language.

 

We should make every effort to come to classes rested and nourished. It is difficult to focus when we are tired and hungry.

 

We encourage others to keep trying, and when we can, help them along. We are all learning together.

 

We always try our best. Some days are better than others, but we always put forth our absolute best effort.

 

When we are away from class, we think about what we learned and work on our new skills. We must complete any outside work and take time to explore our Super Learning packet. This will help us absorb all the information that your teacher is sharing. Also, this will allow you to share more during the class meetings.

 

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Texting:

 

Texting is a part of our world. And texting in the chat box during classes is a large part of our online class experience, but we need to follow certain guidelines to keep our chatting from becoming a distraction. Here are a few Do’s and Don’ts:

 

DO’s

 

Do use the chat box to answer a teacher’s question.

 

Do use the chat box when your teacher allows you to, by answering discussion questions or commenting on the class material.

Do stay on topic in the text box.

 

Do ask questions during class.

 

Do use private chat to ask for permission from the teacher to be excused from class.

 

Do encourage or compliment fellow students before or after their presentations.

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DON’TS

 

DO NOT ever use inappropriate or abusive language in the text box. All our words are kind.

Do not go off topic.

 

Do not use excessive emoticons or text slang.

 

Do not “hog” the chat box. Take turns. Give everyone a chance to participate. Remember, not everyone needs to comment and not everything needs to be commented on. Think before you text. If in question, don’t text.

 

Do not text with other students during the class. All texting should be relevant to the class discussion.

Do not text during a student presentation.

 

Do not ask text if a question can be asked later through an email to your teacher. Excessive questions take time from teaching time (or game time!).

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Cancellations and Refunds:

 

We do our best to keep the schedule that is posted, but sometimes class offerings and teachers are subject to change without notice. We will contact you by email if your child is affected. If the change causes you to want to withdraw your child from the class, you have ten days to do so, and any deposit or paid tuition will be refunded.

 

Class Refund Policy:

 

If you choose to withdraw your child from a class:

 

If the withdrawal happens two weeks in advance of the class start date, you may receive a full refund of cash.

 

Once the class starts, no credits or refunds will be given.

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Regarding Technology:

 

Logging on:

 

Your teacher will have posted a Zoom link in your Showbie classroom.

 

Click the link and you will join the Zoom meeting.

 

A white screen should appear with the text: “Your meeting should start in a few seconds…”

 

Enjoy the class!

 

 

How to Have a Great Online Class Experience:

 

All these tips are important! If your child is not having a great connection to their class, please review this list and make every effort to follow each of these tips.

Your child’s headset should be directly plugged into their computer via USB.

 

Your child’s computer should be wired directly into the router. It is possible to work with a wi-fi or cellular signal, but if this is not providing a consistent connection, you may have to  

opt for a stronger wi-fi service or plug directly into your router.

 

 

Last, but not least:

 

In case there is a change:

 

The Thinking Kid may make some changes to this handbook throughout the year, and we will notate those changes here.