I am looking for a good, reputable, accredited online HS where my DD, who is on the verge of dropping out of her regular school, can get a decent education. She falls under the “gifted perfectionist” banner and would like to work at her own pace without the constant pressure of in-class performance. We live overseas, so state online programs won’t work for her.
There are so many options out there, but it’s hard to tell from a website whether the programs actually deliver. Laurel Springs seems to have a good university placement rate, but is that because the courses are good, or because it attracts a lot of talented athletes who get good offers regardless of their high schools? Indiana University High School looks solid, but not as many of the “fun” – forensic science; mythology etc. – electives. All suggestions welcome!
We liked Virtual High School. In fact our local high school became a member allowing 25 students per semester to take classes. The course choices were great. www.vhslearning.org (not sure why this link isn’t working, but google it under The Virtual High School)
At the time, and this was several years ago, the difference was that VHS had a weekly deadline for work, whereas Aventa required work to be done by the semester end but was flexible about when it was done.
So, for instance, for a performing artist Aventa was better. For a kid who needs structure, VHS was better.
Overall we found VHS to be of higher quality. There are courses in almost any subject you can think of.
K12 offers an “international academy” that is for students living overseas. They claim to have content for gifted children as well.
Does the country you live in allow homeschooling? If so, I would advise you to officially become homeschoolers and allow your DD to piece together online classes individually. There are a ton of choices if you go this way, including things like AOPS (Art of Problem Solving) which will offer more challenging math for a gifted student. There are even online AP classes taught through BYU. Most, if not all, of the online schools that grant a US Diploma operate like brick and mortar schools. You must be “in class” a minimum number of hours/week and work with their schedule - no matter how gifted a student is and how easily they master the material. Some may be more flexible than others, but make sure you understand how pricing works and whether they will charge you more if your child completes a course quickly and wants to move on to the next level.
Ironically, maybe anxiety is about getting ready for collegen rather than being in college. You may want to look at Bard Simon’s Rock or another early college program. She would see that college isn’t that big of a deal.
If you scroll down, you can see a list of early college programs in the US.
Talk to the homeschool people at your state DOE. Or contact homeschool assoc. in your state. There probably are high quality options that are free. Another source of information could come from admissions office at your state flagship university. There will be someone on the staff who deals with homeschool applications.
Stanford Online High School has an excellent reputation and is aimed at gifted kids. Tuition is over $20K. Their classes are given at specific times, so they might not mesh with your local time zone. The application deadline is in 6 weeks and like other selective schools, a standardized test is required.
Is your daughter just starting high school? Does the program need to be accredited? Look at the admission requirements for colleges she might apply to. You can build your own program to fulfill those basic requirements with textbooks and on-line material, and still have time for other interests and activities. (Perhaps your D has opportunities for advanced foreign language/history/art studies since you are overseas?)
My two oldest kids were homeschooled (mostly unschooled) during high school. We moved several times. Make sure your daughter keeps up with math (I recommend Saxon Math, which is popular among homeschoolers), and reads novels (AP English literature list ). And, above all, have her prepare well for the SAT/ACT, because test scores are even more important for homeschoolers.
Hi there. We used Brigham Young Online High School. It is secular. It is accredited by same agency as our big urban HS. You can take a typical or gifted track or start on one switch to the other. Huge course catalog.
Instead of worrying about school, it may make best sense to focus on the anxiety aspect. Is there a legal obligation for children her age to be attending achool full time? If not, then a year off to just enjoy and explore the country where you currently live could be in order. She can go back to school when she has the anxiety under control.
Thanks all. In terms of what she’s reading, analytical skills etc, she’d be fine in college; in terms of getting it out of her head and onto paper, she isn’t. I think she’s missing some of the basic “scaffolding” from having jumped around school systems, and having missed all of 10th grade. The Stanford program looks good, but is too much of a pressure cooker. She wants some time away from the pressure to fill some gaps and build her confidence.
Compmom, how did the Virtual High School work? Did your DC just take individual courses? I like the look of Clonlara, but I’ve read that they’ve recently had a change in administration and that it isn’t working as well as it did.
I like the idea of weaving the best courses together, but think DD would find it overwhelming. She like structure and would probably prefer to just have everything under one big umbrella.
I have a few friends who have been very happy with Oak Meadow. You can choose to use the curriculum independently, or as an “enrolled” student, where you have 10-months to complete each 1 credit course. It is primarily a print based curriculum that uses online resources for communication and collaboration.
We first learned about The Virtual High School when we saw a poster about it on the bulletin board of the most excellent public school in our area. One of my kids has health issues and another is a performer, so they both used VHS as individual students. We were so pleased that we got our local education foundation to fund membership for the high school as a whole, as I mentioned. I was on the board of the foundation and participated in evaluating the program in a formal way. The results were stellar and I would also add the some of the students who disliked school absolutely loved doing the online courses, which left more room for their own ideas via discussion, involved an international community of students in discussions, and was generally more relaxed while being more participatory.
If I were you I would start by engaging your daughter in one or two online classes while she works on her health. Along with that if she could do some volunteering or other activity, we have found that can help balance things out and can also help with mental health issues. Also exercise, things like Tai Chi or yoga, and be very useful.
In terms of packaging the academics eventually for college admissions, there are many ways to do that. Functioning as a homeschooling family can involve structured online (or otherwise) classes that are not under any kind of umbrella. You can also look at places like North Atlantic Regional High School, which will package everything on one transcript.
In the US, we made sure any online courses were accepted by out local public high school before signing up, because my kids wanted to graduate from their local high school at the end.
So there are many ways to go.
Oak Meadow, Clonlara and Laurel Springs were all programs we looked into and we know people who have used them, but we liked the diversity and quality of offerings at VHS and the structure. I am sure you have looked at the course selections. One reason our small public school signed on was the ability of VHS to expand course offerings in general, everything from environmental science to Latin to philosophy and many many more. The core subjects were also excellent. Biased poster here!
ps I think you are doing the right thing: a break in stress can do wonders…and please know that many US colleges love “outliers” with interesting stories, so no need to worry about not meeting cookie cutter expectations
When I was seriously considering homeschooling I considered unschooling. In the end, my kid preferred complaining about school, but remaining with his friends. He was younger then as well. We did EPGY for math which was a precursor for the Stanford High School program. At any rate, you may already be doing this, but I think by high school, it’s good to get the kid’s input as well.
I began homeschooling when S18 was in 7th grade. By 11th grade he supplemented with Georgia Virtual. GAVS provides the Precalculus, foreign language, and AP courses. He loves the challenge and the course rigor and necessary self-discipline will help with college, I’m sure.
Not a recommendation, but: I’ve had many friends complain about Connections Academy. I’m homeschooled but never used a program, so I have no first-hand experience.
Florida Virtual School has a Global School. https://www.flvs.net/global-school. My kid only took one class through FLVS (Latin 2) but it was a good experience.