The normal spring/summer uptick in families wanting more information about VHSG classes is starting. I am seeing an increase in e-mail asking how to enroll, how much do the classes cost, when will classes start next year, what classes will we have, etc.

This means it is a very good time to get the site tweaked up to try to make it that much easier on new families. Yesterday and today, I have worked on graphical elements to lower home page clutter and try to make it easier to know the steps to get the information new families need. We now have a graphical instead of text-based left sidebar 'welcome' to open office hours. Directly opposite that one in the right sidebar is a matching graphic inviting visitors to view the FAQ video (the video is mobile friendly too). The center section has steps 1, 2, and 3 graphics directing them to register, watch the FAQ, and peruse the courses. I also updated the site here to match the VHSG colors (the colors were brown and tan). The header now has a blue neuron background instead of the green chalkboard which clashed a bit with the new blue theme colors.

Work yet to go:
Here at the Weebly side of VHSG, I am still working on a few tweaks. I have a few white edges showing that will need some tweaking on the graphics a tad. I made a favicon file of our globe logo, but alas the site doesn't yet seem to want to accept it. I will keep at it.

At the Moodle. our learner management system, side of VHSG I want to update the Tool Tips graphics, Course Category graphics,  Course Description graphics, and check the FAQ video for what may be needed to make it better for new families.

This project will probably still be on my weekend to-do list for a few more weekends, but I am excited to see the progress as everything is shaping up.

:0) 
Tammy Moore

We now have our old Facebook page migrated to the new Facebook Groups. I like groups and it does have an advantage over the blog here in that everyone can jump in to post, pictures, and more. When I first set this blog up we didn't really have many people accustomed to Facebook groups, but now many of our volunteer instructors, students, and parents are quite comfortable with Facebook groups. If you 'do' FB, join on in at VHSG Discussions on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/141433042565491/

Today is the day. The Aug 1 enrollment newsletter will be hitting inboxes today at 12pm Central. We are timing the release so that the families in Hawaii are not disadvantaged by a mail out that arrives before the sun is even up. Be watching for the e-mail. :0)

Elluminate is the online classroom that we use for live classes. Last year, Elluminate was bought by Blackboard along with Wimba. The three teams blended together in the product development cycle and we now have a new release. It isn't called Elluminate anymore. It is called Collaborate. It has hit vRooms at LearnCentral already (many of our students will know what I am talking about) and it will arrive in our classroom next Monday.

If you want to get a sneak peek, here is a recording of the Collaborate demo presentation that ran this week to introduce the new product to teachers, universities, schools, and non-profit organization like ours.

Link to the recording:
https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2011-07-19.0628.M.7E33CDE1C1D63E42E24F899AA0E4AA.vcr&sid=39

The recording will give you access to many of the tools, so try 'tearing out' the various windows so that they are free floating, re-size them by grabbing a corner and pulling, and change their locations. Enjoy the show. :0)

We ask our volunteers to give us an official yea or nay about teaching before we send out the early or general newsletters announcing enrollments. We are less than 24-hours away from commit day and then the next day the early announcements will be going out so that the children of volunteers and the donors can get their seats. We are thankful to them for keeping the program free for everyone else - no time commitments or costs. The general enrollment announcement goes out on Aug

OK, the new Spanish course is a go now that we have publisher copyright clearance. Woohoo! We will start building the course page today. We will be using the Destinos Spanish curriculum. The course is built with a series of novelas that tell a story of an old man that thought he lost his first wife. He finds out in old age that she may have survived and the students get taken off on a multimedia adventure as the family lawyer seeks to find his long lost family. Take a look at the novelas at http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html. The VHSG course will have a live classroom teacher and a Moodle course page to support the student's mastery of the spoken and written language. More information coming soon. We are off to start kicking up some construction dust!

I spent the holiday weekend on a project that I have been wanting to do for a long time: give the Moodle site an updated look. The site has had a Roman columns, autumn leaf, and brown theme for years. It was a little dull and just didn't quite fit us I really liked a theme available called Aardvark because of the log-in avatar up in the upper-right, the menu bar, the my Moodle is easier to discover and access, and other nifty features. Though I liked the theme a lot, I had some ideas that I wanted to run with such as giving the color and design a bluer, more intense color, update the the sidebar wings with a more rounded design that looked like it was a clip holding on to the edge. I have a few more touches to add yet and we need to make a few adjustments to the course pages since this theme is fixed width and our old one was fluid width. Take it for a spin at the Moodle site - http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/

by Tammy Moore

Lori Davis has gotten all the arrangements with publishers regarding use for her classes. IEW asked that she take official training to become an accredited instructor. Summit Ministries and the associated publisher have agreed to let us convert their courses over to online format for a $5.student fee which we will pay out of our general fund to keep the course itself free (students will still need to get the curriculum from the publisher of course). Lori's family will be moving to a new state next month, so be in prayer that all goes smooth Considering how much work she has ahead of her in building three courses.

NROC has given us permission (got the word yesterday) to begin working on our use of their Open Algebra 1. They were not planning to work on how they wanted to answer the many requests local home school co-ops until January, but we have permission to get a start until they decide what their 2012/13 policy will be. The NROC Open Algebra has a lot of multimedia and interactivity in it which i think students will love.

Today, besides teaching my three classes of biology that runs through the summer, I have been working on converting the physics course over to the computer-scored format. It will be another day or two before that task is finished up.

Yesterday, I worked on the Advanced Biology quiz conversions. Most of the questions were already in the computer-scored format, so it didn't take terribly long. I have a querry out to Michele who has built the course if it would be reasonable to bring computer scorable lab practicals in for families where students do not have a direct supervising adult for their live lab exams. Moodle quizzes may do or perhaps I can build some Flash interactive quizzes.

Lori Moffat reports that she has the Physical Science and General Science course quizzes converted.

I got the Advanced Chemistry (AP level) text in the mail yesterday. I am toying with the idea of building a course for it. I haven't decided for sure as of yet though. Tim still needs one last year of science for his senior year and I am leaning toward the adv chem for him. I figure that we will build it as we go through the course this year and if all goes well, it can be offered next year. I would like to get him involved with helping me build a Chemicus-like chemistry course. He is learning C++, has years of experience with Blender 3-D modeling tools, and knows how to design game levels. For my students that have taken general chem with me, you know how much fun a whole chem course build around a mysterious world filled with chemistry puzzles to solve to save a friend can be.

I am sure that I am forgetting several tidbits of news to tell you all about, but my brain seems to know that it is nearly 9pm and is beginning to unwind for the upcoming bedtime. Goodnight

by Tammy Moore:
The biology course took merely a day to get switched over to the new quiz format.I was really glad. Chemistry took a full week of pretty tedious updating. I decided to take a break from the quiz updating this evening to do something more creative for a bit ...

I started working on the html modifications that will be under-girding the new theme for the Moodle site and this one so that the themes and menus work nicely together. Tonight I worked on building the drop down menu for the Moodle site so that it matches the menu here. Some of the new theme's features are an avatar in the top right, collapsible sidebar blocks, and 'winged' block headings. If you want a bit of a peek at those features, take a look at http://vle.newbury-college.ac.uk/ which is built on the same base html as what I am modifying. Until I give it some solid testing, it will stay on my local host test Moodle. Once it passes muster though, I will lgive everyone a chance to vote of what specific modification of the theme we should use. After 5 years of the Roman columns, it will be nice to get a fresh face-lift.