<p>I was interested in taking a math course for high school online (preferably honors) but I was wondering if colleges do look at online courses too. Also, are there any recommendations for online courses that run through the summer for high school students? Thank you.</p>
<p>I’ve just compiled this info for someone else, so it’s long. I hope it’s helpful as well. My son homeschooled, and got almost all his highschool math from aleks.com and some of it from ArtOfProblemSolving.com. He was accepted to Caltech, so it didn’t hurt him too badly (although he’s got a lot of other goodies as well - aleks certainly didn’t get him in!)</p>
<p>ArtOfProblemSolving.com for almost-classroom experience in online classes aimed at gifted students. My son took a couple classes and enjoyed them. They have a nice class-finder to help you choose your appropriate level. They offer various classes throughout the year; I don’t know what’s available this summer.</p>
<p>Aleks.com My son used Aleks.com for essentially all of his high school math as a
homeschooler. Aleks is a superb, beautifully implemented, fantastic
example of an… automated workbook. It lacks beauty and joy of math,
but is fantastic at what it does:
- explains how to do each topic,
- keeps track of what the student knows and doesn’t know,
- allows the student to choose from several topics to work on,
- is almost entirely word problems, so there’s no multiple choice
guessing and the problems are somewhat in context, and - has occasional assessments to make sure the student retains the information.</p>
<p>I was just showing it to a friend last week and she was terribly
excited by its possibilities. (Apparently many schools use Aleks as
their math-teaching method, but I’m not sure about this.) It is
inexpensive - $20 / month with no contract - and offers a free trial
(only a few hours).</p>
<p>The assessments of knowledge are the heart of this wonderful system.
It determines what the student a) knows, b) is ready to learn, and c)
isn’t ready to learn yet. If it determines that you know something, it
doesn’t make you repeat the topic, but only teaches what you don’t
know. It gives the student the choice of several topics that can be
learned at any moment, yet keeps track of the entire body of
knowledge.</p>
<p>This is not a program that grants credit, but a product for working
independently that is more dynamic and interactive than working your
way through a printed textbook. It will make lovely printable copies
of assessments that the school can use if they are so inclined.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>