Policies for Using Odyssey Academy's CD-Based Program

1. Follow the directions in the Reference Guide or other manual for installing SOS.

2. Read through the Reference Guide to acquaint myself with the program’s features.

3. Create a school calendar that contains no more than 200 school days, ends in May, and that excludes holidays and family vacation days. 

4. Follow the directions for installing the subjects and assigning them to the respective students (if I have more than one), and will create a Lesson Plan for the school year for each student.

5. Understand that if the student misses school days due to illness, etc., follow the directions in the Reference Guide to change assignment due dates, or even to regenerate his Lesson Plan for the rest of the school year so that he finishes on time.

6. Never allow a student to learn the Teacher Password or to use the SOS installation CD. (Call Odyssey immediately if this happens despite your best efforts.)

7. Although you can customize most “Assignment Settings,” do not allow “Open Book” testing. Understand that allowing the child to take a “shortcut” in order to “get through” a subject will result in learning less, and is likely to compound learning difficulties in the future.

8. Sit at the student’s computer each school day and use the SOS Teacher program to check on the student’s progress, to look for messages, and to review any “Teacher Graded” assignments.

9. Do not allow the student to take a Test unless you are able to observe that he/she is not using any improper helps, such as notes previously entered in a computer document or on paper.

10. Use the SOS Teacher program to preview the student’s lessons, so as to gain familiarity with what he will be taught.

11. Do not allow the student to skip any units unless he/she tested out of these areas during diagnostic testing.  Do not allow the student to skip research/writing assignments, and do everything in your power to enable him to complete all science projects.  Understand that you may “Clear” lessons so that the student can have the benefit of doing them over.

12. Require breaks away from the computer in order to prevent eyestrain, stiffness, and headaches, and provide the student with the most “vision-friendly” computer monitor that you can afford.

13. Follow the directions for backing up the student’s work on a removable medium (such as on 3.5 floppy disks, a ZIP drive, or a CD) at least weekly, if not daily. Understand that if records of the student’s work are permanently lost because you did not make timely backups, the student will have to REDO ALL THE WORK that was lost.

14. Do not lower the default settings for “Grade Calculations”, but will follow Odyssey policy.

15. At the end of each quarter, print and send Odyssey the Grade Report choosing to print completed units with percentage grades. Sent the report either by e-mail, snail mail, or fax.