Today is the first day of school for some students. The Oregon Connections Academy is an online, tuition free public education option. Cindy Hovey of Bend says her two children Jett and Gabriel are both enrolled in online classes. Hovey says she has also discovered a lot over the years while being a "Learning Coach" for Gabriel, now in the fourth grade: “Actually it's been kind of a good thing for him and for me. I had no idea how fun it would be watching the little light bulbs turn on every time he learned something new. That really came as a shock to me because, that's just not the kind of person I was, and it’s like ‘let the teacher’s do the teaching and I’ ll just be the mom at home’. But, had I known how much I was missing, I would have done this with my older children too.” Hovey says they appreciate that if the kids learn something easy, they can move on quickly; and things that are tougher, they can spend more time on. Hovey's daughter, Jett begins kindergarten today too.