SPANISH SPRINGS, NV - While their friends head back to class, the three Frankovich kids will be logging on and learning from the loft in their Spanish Springs home.

Ryan, Justin and Sean are all enrolled in the Nevada Connections Academy. Their home classroom is outfitted with a computer for each, along with text books and other course materials.

Their daily work monitored here by mom, online by their teacher.

Nevada Connections is a charter school without the bricks and mortar building. There's no traditional classroom experience, but there are frequent phone conversations and periodic field trips and meetings with other students and families.

There are a number of reasons families choose this approach. For the Frankovich family it was Ryan's juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Medical visits were interrupting his school work.

"He started to get behind and he started to get really stressed," says his mother, Danine Frankovich.

So, through a friend she found Nevada Connections Academy.

The approach worked. Ryan's grade rebounded. He's been getting straight A's for two years no.

Impressed, she enrolled Ryan's younger brothers into the school as well. Now nine year old Justin and seven year old Sean learn alongside him.

All are doing well. "They've really progressed,"says Danine. "It's changed their whole learning."

It should come as no surprise they like it as well. The flexible schedule lets Ryan keep up with school work and the swim team activity suggested by his doctors..

That activity means some early morning pool time that ends about the time he would need to be in a traditional school.

"Here I can come home, get something to eat and I can start anytime," says Ryan, "and if I finish early I have some time to play before my afternoon session."

Teacher Alison Osmond says without all the distractions, teacher and student can cover more material.

"Our whole day is focused on the student."

She admits her students don't get the daily face-to-face time with her, but says regular checkups by phone allow her to get to know the student better and she can monitor their progress on a daily basis.

Are the kids missing out on the school experience? They don't think so.

"There's always some kid messing around in class," says Ryan. "I don't have that distraction here."

Besides he says his neighborhood friends are usually in school the same time he is, so there's plenty of time to get together afterward.

The family also gets to meet other Academy students at frequent field trips and other get-togethers.

Osmond admits though her school is not for every family. In fact it requires a dedicated stay at home family member like Danine Frankovich, a former teacher herself, to make it work.

"If you follow the system, the kids learn," Danine Frankovich says. "So you really have to buy into it."

The Nevada Connections Academy is a public charter school so it's free as are the computers and other materials.

The school is hosting an online information session for families wanting to know more. It's scheduled for 6:30 Thursday evening.

To register, log on to: http://www.connectionsacademy.com/nevada-school/events.aspx