Personal+Narrative+OJ2

Personal Narrative OJ2

Last year, I completed a whole school year at a Virtual School. I had the same number of days to complete as regular students, but everything was on the computer, in the browser. Even though it was a basic seventh grade year on the computer, it was completely different than regular school. It didn't feel like the regular school I had been at for the past seven years or so, as there was no human interaction outside of my home. The hours in the day you had to complete were totally different from the six-ish hours you complete at a normal school. Not only that, but my daily life had entirely changed from what I had usually done everyday.

My daily life, first of all, had changed right before my eyes. Instead of getting up at 6:45, getting ready and out the door at 7:10, it changed to waking up at around 10 and then eating breakfast, maybe get a couple of minutes of some show, then get straight to work. Even though I enjoyed waking up late and eating a good breakfast, I still could not finish all the work they piled on me each day, leaving me with a couple of lessons from the previous day. Each lesson ranged from an hour to a full two and a half hours, whether it'd be lessons, tests, or quizzes, there was always too much for me to handle. I had used time on the weekends, using up to three, maybe four hours of non-stop catching up. I had spent so much time secluded in my room, huddled around my laptop, that I had no time to spend with my family. Whenever I would finish a lesson or something of the matter, I had to check in with my dad to get some human interaction. My sister had a similar predicament, but she was allowed to get up and start working later. Then, after the weekend was filled with endless catching up, I'd go right back to square one. It would range from nine to maybe seven at night, each day, for 180 days, non-stop. I felt so separated from the outside world and friends from the school I attended before. I had no time to hang-out, let alone call them.

Virtual school is entirely different than a normal school. At a normal school, you can interact with classmates, ask teachers questions right away, and you were able to talk and socialize between classes. Virtual school, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. You couldn't talk or ask questions to the teachers, you couldn't meet your classmates, and you never got that 'school' feeling. The point of teachers there were kind of useless, you did absolutely everything on your own. Sometimes, your parents would help out, only if it was something you could not get. There was also way too many tests given to you, there were about ten tests a week, two quizzes a day, and a review every other class. There was no indication of a test coming, not even a "test upcoming in x lesson(s)". We never learned anything that interesting, honestly. It was a total and utter repeat of sixth grade. It was literally word-for-word repeat of the year before, yet still nothing was truly learned.

Finally, the number of days and hours you have to complete at a virtual school. You had to complete about 180 days, but you must complete about thirty hours a week. It was five hours a day, on average, but in my situation, it was seven hours a day. The reason of all the laborious days and nights was because I had registered late about twenty days. We had to do so many things at the doctor such as shots I've never heard of, physicals and a ton of other tests. To make everything better, I found out I had been developing scoliosis! My sister and I entered the website and we were told all the rules and regulations and then we were told to do the forty lessons by the end of the month, even though it was, I believe, the last week of the month. I felt from the start I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Virtual school wasn't the absolute best year for me. Even though my daily life somewhat improved, it turned into working laboriously day and night. The curriculum was entirely different than normal school, due to the fact of the repeat of the previous year and no interaction with teachers nor students. And the days and hours we had to complete was way overwhelming. I love the fact that I'm back to regular school, with students and teachers I'm able to talk to and questions I can ask up front.