The Student Support Centre offered us a pricey solution to under-achieving public education (Distance Learning)

Member Name: Dando83

Product:	Distance Learning
Date:	18/07/06 (9180 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A full structured curriculum delivered on DVD by real teachers

Disadvantages: Pricey, requires parents' full commitment

I have had a few requests to provide an update now that more than 18 months have elapsed since we signed up to the Student Support Centre (SSC).

While I cannot say that my son experienced that massive turnaround in his grades, I think the program continues to keep a challenging and ordered curriculum in his consciousness as this seems lacking from his school. I can count on one hand how much homework he has had this year. If he's purposefully forgetting it, the school hasn't called us about it. The SSC remains the only remedial solution for this near bottom set student.

My initial concerns remain. The cost; we are still making weekly payments toward this, thought we're almost done. From reading others' accounts of the visit from the sales rep, the price seems totally elastic and has more to do with what they think you can pay, rather than a set price per DVD. I do feel however that a cost of a few thousand pounds still outweighs the potential cost of having an uneducated slacker living with me until he's 30. You get my point.

The second hurdle remains my child's attitude. He has never adopted a "learning is fun" attitude. He does get a (very brief) high out of reaching the 90% target for each lesson, but this hasn't caused him to beg to do a lesson. The impetus for getting through the course really has to come from the parent. We have had to find a way to stick through a routine despite all the it's not fair arguments. We have for instance over the Xmas holidays not done one lesson. Our fault entirely, and we must now try to get back into the routine. There was no Xmas homework from the school either by the way.

I have made a few interesting discoveries in the last month. While we have two more Maths topics to cover (geometry and algebra) my son got through all the English. The certificate test reveals he must redo some English, but essentially this is done. I made enquiries about getting more English lessons but I haven't had the quote yet. Should we have bought more English on sign up. I guess so.

More interestingly though is that in my searches I found that Futureschool; www.futureschool.com, now seems to exist on its own. This was/is the supplier of the course material to the SSC. Where you can now sign up to an online edition of Futureschool, previously it seemed only available through a learning group like SSC. Do your research and decide if an online system at 1/10 the Student Support Center price is for you. FYI, SSC now appears to be using new course material called "Simply Maths/English" in the last six months.

My short answer is, yes, the program is still worth it if you can commit the money and time expenses to it.

Summary: Still worth it if you can commit the money and time expenses to it