December is Writing Month at SCIDES, and we're celebrating writing in all its forms - especially letter writing by hand. (Yes! That's still a thing!)

November is Sports Month at SCIDES, and we want you to get active and celebrate sport in your community!

Sports and play are important for kids and adults alike, and we'll introduce a few amazing programs and opportunities to help you get more active this month.

October is Science month at SCIDES and the Kengard Learning Center! We'll be celebrating, challenging, learning, and having fun with Science all month long. Check out what we have lined up for you...

If you're enrolled with SCIDES full time (meaning SCIDES is your school of record), then you're in for a real treat: you will get access to BrainPOP! BrainPOP is an online platform that engages students through animated movies, learning games, interactive quizzes, primary source activities, concept mapping, and more. There are two versions available, one suitable for Grades K - 3 (Junior BrainPOP) and one for Grades 4 - 10 (BrainPOP). 

BrainPop covers topics within Science, Math, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Music, Health, Reading, and Writing - watch your inbox for the login code. We'll get it out to you soon!

It's Orientation Month at SCIDES, and we hope you settled comfortably into the new school year. To cap off this month of new grades, new courses, and new experiences, we asked our Principal Ms. Colleen Mullin for her best advice for a successful school year. Here's what she had to say:

We hosted Shaw TV at SCIDES a few weeks ago - you can check out the full episode of GoMerritt right here:

The new school year has started and we’re excited for our first “theme of the month”. We had originally planned for September to be Geography Month, but found that in honour of Terry Fox, it would make much more sense to make September “Pay it Forward Month”. Let us explain:

Summer is almost over and we have a confession to make: we're really excited to start the new school year! We have fantastic activities planned - each month will have a different theme - and we're really looking forward to being your sidekicks for another awesome year of online learning.

A great way to start the new year is to get organized, and we want to share our tips for doing just that, with you. Getting back on track after the summer is easier than you think! Here we go:

The team at SCIDES has been working hard to put together a fantastic lineup of activities for the 2015/2016 school year, and of course we want to tell you all about it! 

Starting in September, we'll have themes for each month - here's what you can look forward to:

Summer time is reading time, right? We're open during the summer, if you want to keep learning (we're only closed from July 27 - August 7), but if you want to chill and read - we've put together a great reading list for you. It's not your typical summer reading list filled with bestsellers and light summer entertainment - it's the ultimate distance education / online learning list! 

Parents want a quality education for their children, and starting off on the right foot during the elementary years can often set a path to success. With the busy lives most families are living nowadays, a distance education is often a great option; not only because of the flexible schedule, but also because individual and educational needs of each students are met.

As we had announced in an earlier post and on our Facebook page, the rules for adult upgrading in British Columbia have changed. Up until now, graduated adults were able to upgrade their grades and other prerequisites for college or work at no charge. Unfortunately, the funding has run out, and there are new rules we have to follow.

Starting now, all graduates adults must pay $550 per program for upgrading courses. 

If you have graduated, and are looking to upgrade, we do have a few options for you:

• All graduates of School District #58 will receive a discount.
• If you take and complete one of our Literacy Foundations Skill Building courses, you will also receive a discount on your upgrading classes.

If you have not graduated and are over 19 years of age, you can still take all necessary courses and graduate without any fees! Please get in touch with us if you have any questions at all - we are happy to help and we look forward to connecting with you!

Can you believe it's April already?! Time sure flies when you're having fun - and we are having fun! We want to share some updates with you today, and we'd love to hear what you think about it; of course we hope to have your support. You can leave a comment below, or connect with us on our Facebook page. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Of course there are tons of apps and websites that can help you with your studies, but it's hard to know which ones you should give a try, right? The selection is overwhelming, even for us - so we asked one of our students to check out a few and report back to us... Here's a list of apps and websites he liked - of course we'd also love to hear what you think of these, or if there are any other ones you'd recommend. Just leave us a comment below, or chime in on our Facebook page.

The best way to study is.... 

completely dependent on what works best for you! No, there is no secret magic formula - it really depends on what works best for you. Of course we have a few tips and tricks to inspire you, and we encourage you to try them all; then pick the ones that work best for you and stick to them! And of course we'd love to hear about what works for you... here we go:

Once you're set your schedule and you're ready to tackle your course work, you should create the ideal work space for yourself - just another piece of the puzzle for your learning success!

Getting organized and setting a schedule for yourself is an important part of your distance learning success. In this blog, we have a few tips that might help you with that! Of course you can always contact us at SCIDES if you need any help with getting organized.

At SCIDES, we're committed to giving you all the help and support you need to succeed. You can graduate! You can have the education you want! You can work at your own pace! Maybe you could even do it alone - but there is really no need. There is a great network in place - and it starts with YOU! If you are willing to learn, your education experience can be truly successful and interesting. Today, we want to talk a bit about who can help you with what - of course you can contact us anytime for more information! 

A new year has begun and we think it's the perfect time to set some educational goals - and of course we're here to help you stay on track!

We all know how it goes with resolutions, right? Within a few weeks of enthusiastically plunging into the new year, determined to make it this time, four out of five people get so stressed out about sticking to their plan that giving up seems to be the best option. 

We've had a fantastic year at SCIDES - and we're really excited that so many new students are embracing individualized distance learning. Yes, we're biased - but we think that personalized, flexible education is awesome!

Our year included a new website, new blog, new courses and a new principal - and we want to share the best moments with you!

We are very excited to unveil our newly re-designed website! We wanted our website to be informative, easy to navigate and provide you with all the information you need to sign up with SCIDES and take your education to the next level.

At SCIDES you can get all the courses you need to graduate - and more. We're excited to announce that we have added a variety of new elective courses to our line-up! 

Here's a sneak peek:

We pride ourselves to be the best solution for adult learners, and on this week's blog post we want to tell you a bit about what we have to offer if you are looking to graduate or upgrade.

SCIDES is a free resource to all BC learners, regardless of age. All classes are free if you have not graduated, and even after graduation a selection of classes is free for upgrading!

Here's what you can expect from us if you are an adult learner:

Are you thinking about taking charge of your child's education with online and distributed learning? Do you want to take advantage of having a flexible schedule and individual support?
The answer seems simple - of course! But what about socialization??? How can you make sure your child will develop healthy relationships with other people, and not just with the internet?
 
Here are a few tips from one of our home schooling parents...

Parents play a big role in their children's education - especially with online learning for grades K-9. So how do you know if learning at home / at a distance is the right choice for your child?

Here's what we think:

Of course the team at SCIDES does not have anything against traditional brick & mortar schools, but we are convinced that e-learning offers quite a few unique opportunities to succeed and excel in education.

So we thought it's time to compare the two - check out our brick & mortar vs. DL list!

Last week we shared some advice for parents of DL School kids - and this week we want to let you know what's going on behind the scenes at SCIDES, while the students are learning at home...

Last week we talked about the difference between Distributed Learning and Homeschooling. Especially for parents of elementary-aged children, e-learning or distributed learning means a considerable commitment in time and energy for their kids' education.

We don't want to tell you it's easy-peasy - but we're here to tell you that you are not alone and that the dedicated staff at SCIDES is here to help your kids succeed and to support you as well.

Let's start with 5 things that will make the life of a distance ed parent easier...

Distributed Learning is often referred to as homeschooling, but there are actually a few significant differences between the two. SCIDES is a Distance Education School and while our students do most of their work at home, they are not home-schooled...

So what exactly is the difference?