A third-grader at Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School in Alexandria, Va., Ahmed Hamdi hasn’t seen much of his class in the past few months. That’s because he was diagnosed with leukemia and only goes to school two days a week. To keep him connected to his classroom and his schoolmates, the Lombardi Cancer Center has given Ahmed and his teacher, Lynda Decker Gallagher, laptop computers, so Ahmed can "attend" school while he’s recovering, CNN reports. On a day Ahmed is home, he sets up the laptop, hits a few buttons, and he’s transported by satellite into his homeroom. Gallagher and Ahmed’s friends are able to talk to him by computer, and he to them. It gives Ahmed an opportunity to catch up on homework and interact with schoolmates he would otherwise see less often. Gallagher believes the arrangement is working. "I think it will help him connect with his classmates and it will help him stay involved in school; he’ll know what’s going on when he’s not here," she says. "He currently comes two mornings a week, and [on] those other days he would be at a loss as to what we were doing."