<p>Hello. I'm considering homeschooling for my last two years of high school. If I decide to do this, I would be enrolled in a church school, or umbrella school. I need some advice on online curriculum. I need something affordable, but also credible. Could anyone name a few programs or sites?</p>
<p>I can recommend the following online programs based on using them. All are great, but if you have to purchase directly, I found them too expensive (I have had access to state-sponsored virtual schools in California, Pennsylvania, and Florida, so no out of pocket except the property taxes I already pay every year.)</p>
<p>That said, here are some online programs:</p>
<p>Florida Virtual School Global (for non-Florida students, which I assume you are given that you have to homeschool using a church school or umbrella - not a requirement in Florida)</p>
<p>[FLVS</a> Global - Global School](<a href=“http://www.flvs.net/global/Pages/Products/GlobalSchool.aspx]FLVS”>http://www.flvs.net/global/Pages/Products/GlobalSchool.aspx)</p>
<p>Florida Virtual School offers wonderful flexibility, teacher support, and lots of Honors and AP classes. I am not sure what it costs to buy directly, but the program is accredited and courses are challenging and well-designed. We’ve only had a couple of duds (we access the in-state, free version.)</p>
<p>Connections Academy
[Free</a> Online School from Home: Connections Academy](<a href=“http://www.connectionsacademy.com/home.aspx]Free”>Online Public School for K-12 Students - Connections Academy)</p>
<p>Similar to Florida Virtual as far as course selection.</p>
<p>K12
[K12</a> | Online Public School, Online High School, Online Private School, Homeschooling, and Online Courses options](<a href=“http://www.k12.com/]K12”>http://www.k12.com/)</p>
<p>Excellent, challenging curriculum, but buying directly is pricey. My kids were enrolled in K12 virtual charter schools in California and Pennsylvania. I realize a lot of homeschoolers don’t consider enrollment in these virtual charters as “homeschooling” but we were at home, I was overseeing the program, and the worst thing was that I had to take attendance. Not that big a deal to me. It worked for us at the time, and was never the entirety of what we did anyway.</p>
<p>Other programs I researched in the past but never used:</p>
<p>The Keystone High School Keystone Plus
[Online</a> High School and Middle School | The Keystone School](<a href=“http://keystoneschoolonline.com/]Online”>http://keystoneschoolonline.com/)</p>
<p>Now owned by K12, but it has been around a long time and has flexibility and a lot of courses</p>
<p>I would recommend that you get in touch with some of the umbrella schools or church schools in your state and see what their homeschoolers are doing for high school. They may offer co-op classes, and offer opportunities to take national standardized exams. The most economical option would be to design your home education program to meet and exceed your state’s standards, and choose your own curricula (whether textbooks or software) and then get involved with your church school/umbrella school.</p>
<p>The various online high schools are great, but, at least for my family, they busted our budget 
Best wishes as you explore your options.</p>
<p>@chesterton would you suggest Connections Academy or K12? What are the differences between the two?</p>
<p>Hey, there are a few things about K12 and Connections. Between the two of them, K12 is probably better, but both similar to public school in that you may have some good teachers and some who are downright awful. You also have an insane amount of homework once you get to high-school age, and do have to follow the public school laws of your state. (I never did this, but several of my friends did.) It sucked for some friends and worked out really well for others, so it’ll depend on how you are. I personally would recommend looking at colleges in your area. Most of them will offer college classes for a huge discount, so you can do that in addition to other high school classes. </p>
<p>We used Connections Academy when we were in Ohio. It was fairly rigorous and I was basically pleased with it. In our area, many K12 families are switching to Connections. There is quite a bit of instructor involvement and scheduling, though. So if you are the type that wants to be left to your own schedule to complete things, it would not be a good fit.</p>
<p>Remember if you homeschool, you can take summer classes too, so look for that option.</p>
<p>If you have decent PSAT scores, you could get into Johns Hopkins CTY online, and we’ve found that even their courses that aren’t self-paced only have deadlines and no “face-time” scheduled. They are more expensive than K12 though.</p>
<p>Connections Academy is not in every state, so that matters if you want it to be free. Check for free online public schools in your state, if you are lucky, they’ll have both K12 and Connections available. We have neither 
and we were supposed to have our first free online public school statewide starting up this month, but they pulled accreditation from them at the last minute, apparently for unknown reasons (the company put up the letter refusing approval).</p>
<p>Thanks for the above mentioned comments. Seems very helpful. If I were to choose which one to undergo, I’d probably consider the most number of good reviews from this forum and of course we should be considering the availability as well. First hand information matters rather than the cost and everything else.</p>
<p>PA Homeschoolers for AP classes and Thinkwell for online self paced stuff (esp math and science)</p>
<p>Aleks is a good supplement also.</p>
<p>I agree with raregroove regarding PA Homeschoolers for AP classes. Most of the teachers have been flexible with scheduling around specific events so that has never really been a problem for us when we travel, etc. They also do a fantastic job covering the material necessary AND their students tend to do very well on the exams. That has been true for us personally, but their website also shows this. One specific anecdote to share is regarding AP Chem. I know of 3 students who are/were excellent students in our public school system. All 3 of them took AP Chem at their local schools and all 3 scored ones on the exam. My son who took AP Chem through PA Homeschoolers had little chemistry background and scored a 5 on the exam. I honestly don’t believe my son is any (ok, not much lol) smarter than these other students. One of those 3 is attending dental school, one 4.0 in college on scholarship, and the other is valedictorian of her high school class. They are all smart kids, but PA Homeschoolers does such a great job in their classes. For the record, the ONLY affiliation I have with this organization is that my kids took classes through them. Last, and this is a big bonus as my son is completing the common app at the moment, the teachers are VERY willing to write strong letters of recommendation for you. I have heard good things about Thinkwell and Alexs as well, but after using PA Homeschoolers they did not like the Thinkwell. We never tried Alexs, but as with Thinkwell I have heard good things about them as well. Sorry if I’m a little biased toward PA Homeschoolers, it’s just been such a good experience for us. Not sure if I’m allowed to post this link for you to see more about PA Homeschoolers, but I’m going to try.
<a href=“http://www.aphomeschoolers.com/readmore.shtml#howdoour”>http://www.aphomeschoolers.com/readmore.shtml#howdoour</a></p>
<p>@davenmame I had the same experience. 
I took AP chem last year with NO prior chemistry background…and got a 5 on the AP test and an 800 on the SATII subject test. I’ve taken/am taking 6 AP classes with them – and so far, every single one has been quite good. </p>