Family support is an important part of learning, and we are grateful to the parents and guardians of our villagers for all that they do. That said, part of the magic of camp comes when villagers feel they can try out a new, more confident, more courageous self, and a certain amount of independence is valuable for participants in our Virtual Village. To that end, here are some suggested guidelines for parents and guardians:

• Please be supportive of all attempts villagers make to communicate in Finnish, and encourage villagers to practice their language even outside of Virtual Village times. 

• The synchronous “class” sessions and activities are an important opportunity for your villager to connect with their teacher and their classmates. We recommend that parents and guardians do not attend these sessions, and ensure that villagers are free of other obligations (housework, childcare, etc.) during these times. 
• Perhaps encourage your child to set an alarm or print the schedule so they are ready to learn. Our Virtual Village is scheduled for 11:00-1:15 CDT Monday-Friday for one-week villagers, and 10:00-4:00 CDT Monday-Saturday for credit villagers. (Adjust to your time zone!)

• In addition to synchronous “classes,” villagers are expected to complete certain independent activities each day during the scheduled Virtual Village time. This can be a great opportunity to check in with your villager and hear more about what they are learning! 

• If you already speak the Village language, we encourage you to use it with your villager as much as possible, but don’t feel like you have to be their dictionary! An important part of the learning process is cultivating communication strategies; try to engage your villager in conversation or talk about how you remember the word instead of just providing the answer.

• The Virtual Village program is not grade-driven; we care about effort and strategy use, creativity, building confidence, and developing proficiency more than formal correctness. Your villager will make mistakes, and that’s okay—mistakes are a valuable part of the learning process. Rather than correcting every error, focus on celebrating the progress they’re making with the Village language.

• We love feedback! Please tell us how your session is going and send any session-specific questions to salolampi.villager@gmail.com. We check email daily and endeavor to respond within 24 hours; emails outside business hours will likely not be answered until the following day.

For general Virtual High School Credit questions, contact Jennifer Charlotte Speir at speir@cord.edu.