When Chabad Shluchim travel to obscure locations around the world as emissaries of the Jewish people, setting up shop near college campuses, large cities, and even tiny rural towns to share the vibrancy of our religion with just one more Jew, they must confront the logistical challenges of providing their children with a traditional Lubavitch education and interactions with Orthodox children their age. Until recently, Shluchim had only two options: adding homeschooling duties to parents' already busy schedules, or sending their young children off to board on their own at out-of-state schools.
However, in September 2006, about a year after Skype added video-calling to their list of features, another method of Lubavitch education was introduced, one which has opened the doors to a whole new level of worldwide Chabad connection.
Through an organization known as "The Shluchim Online School," shluchim are able to enroll their children in virtual classes, connecting them via webcam to teachers and classmates often located hundreds of miles away. A project of the Connecting Yaldei Shluchim [children of shluchim] program (a division of The Shluchim Office, the international resource center for Chabad Lubavitch), the Online School connects teachers from places as varied as Omaha, New York, and Maryland, with children living anywhere from Texas to Vermont, South America to Australia. The children are able to see their teacher on their monitors, as well as any child in their class whose mike registers that he is speaking.
Combined, the Meyer and Lillian Nigri School for Boys and the Shluchim Online School for Girls enroll over 500 students between ages 4-13. The Online School expects a high level of commitment: no slacking off is tolerated despite the school's unusual design. Absences and latenesses are recorded (excluding latenesses resulting from technical difficulties,) homework is assigned on a daily basis, tests are printed, filled in, and faxed in to teachers by students, and report cards are sent out regularly. Students are encouraged to exercise outside during their recess as they would in a typical school, and the student handbook explains that in order to maintain a certain level of respect for the Torah learning that goes on in their classes, the school dress code is to be followed during school time. Girls must wear polos or button-down shirts in pink, blue, or white, and boys are required to wear button-down shirts of white or blue. Students have the option to purchase school vests and sweatshirts as well, giving the students a feeling of solidarity.
Children in the Online School learn to read Hebrew as well as Yiddish. They learn Tanya and other Chassidic thought in addition to Chumash and Navi, halakha, and (for boys) Mishnayiot and Gemara. "The level of learning is phenomenal," attests Rabbi Avremel Blesofsky, a shaliach at the University of Iowa who has several children enrolled in the Online School. "It's well organized, has a good curriculum… [and] is constantly improving." CONTINUE @ YU OBSERVER...
