I am hoping that someone has some advice for me. My daughter, who is a HS sophomore, recently found out that she will be studying in Japan starting in March 2017 through the first month of February 2018. She is “over the moon” excited at this opportunity. My joy is slightly tempered by the fact that my daughter will be gone for almost 11 months.
On the downside, we thought that we had her school/credit requirements solved through the district online public school program. We were told by her HS that was the route to go. Yesterday, we found out that online school will probably not work. So now, we are back to the drawing board. Basically, my daughter is looking to start and finish the second semester of Precalc, Civics, English and possibly one other class before she leaves in March. Her HS has already stated that she cannot get credit for any classes in Spring semester as she is leaving in March. While she would probably be able to still graduate without Spring semester credits, it would be tight. Furthermore, I don’t want her to not be in school for several months. That is just not an option. The only option that I have seen is BYU online which is fairly expensive. Has anyone been through this or are there homeschoolers out there who might have some suggestions?
Your hs should have a list of online schools whose credits transfer. It depends on your school district, so start there. My DD took the second semester of AP Psych online at BYU and the credit transferred. Is there a chance to enroll her at the British/American school in Japan? How about community college online classes?
Florida Virtual does offer those classes but OOS students are charged tuition. It would certainly be possible to complete the courses in Jan/Feb/March as you can work at your own pace.
University of Missouri has online high school courses that are at your own pace. DS took a semester of US history through that and credits transfered to his high school in Illinois.
Connection Academy? http://www.connectionsacademy.com
Another option, though you may not like it, is to completely go with homeschool options, but she would most likely not be able to re-enroll in a ps and graduate with her graduating class.
If you are at all open to homeschooling through graduation, let me know and I can direct you to numerous options.
Will she attend Japanese high school? The Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March, so melds with the schedule that you describe. Can Japanese high school work be considered equivalent?
Thanks for the responses. Yes, she will attend a full year of Japanese HS and should be able to get some credit. I already checked with the powers that be about receiving credit for study abroad and she will be able to receive some credit. In all likelihood, these credits will be elective credits. My daughter already knows that she will have to double up on English and Math her senior year. We are more concerned about her being able to finish Precalc, American Lit and Chem. She is in AP World and is not going to take the 2nd semester online as she said that she wouldn’t be able to successfully do that in several months. In place of AP World, she is going to fulfill her Civics requirement before leaving.
Yesterday, I was also told that she would have to reenroll in her public HS upon her return. I am trying to work through these details as she doesn’t want to homeschool when she comes back. She is a very social person and likes being around other kids.
I don’t know if this makes a difference, but the reason my daughter is able to go to Japan is because she was awarded a national scholarship. As a single mother, I would not be able to afford the tuition. Do you think this might influence the Principal of her school to work with us to make this happen? My impression so far is that the counselors see this as a major pain.
I remember seeing an ad for free online high school. It was specific to CA, but I googled and found this site where you can find ones that are credentialed for your state.
http://www.k12.com/schoolfinder.html
I don’t know much about this option but it may be worth looking into for you. I’m guessing it would be like her transferring to another HS and then transferring back to her local HS.
I would discuss your situation with the school district. It could be you’re not getting completely accurate information if your high school isn’t used to having its students do a year abroad.
This is a big honor for your daughter, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The school, and the district, should be doing everything possible to allow her to take advantage of it.
Good luck! (I think it will work out.)
I think you need to sit down with some school official and work out what her high school plan would look like. If she returns in February, what will happen upon her re-enrolling that late in the yr?
It seems to me you need to have a plan in place for both yrs.
I hope you can work something out! It sounds like an amazing opportunity.
I agree that you need to escalate this to the district level. Also ensure you get EVERYTHING IN WRITING. Students studying abroad are a huge pain to schools/districts–they don’t like it at all. You’re not imagining that they’re annoyed. They are. And they’re not going to bend over backwards to help you, so you’ll have to push. Come up with a workable plan, get the agreement in writing (including about those elective credits transferring).
I speak from experience. I also received a (government) scholarship to study abroad for a year, though mine was on a more standard schedule as I was going to Germany. My school could. not. care. less that I got this prestigious scholarship and a once in a lifetime opportunity. They thought I was weird for leaving (they also thought I was weird for going to college out of state two years later. So.), and made things as difficult as possible. We got a verbal promise from the Vice Principal that I would get junior year credit (pass/fail) and graduate on time (provided I made up my junior year American Lit and AP US History credits as a senior, which I did). Well: he left the school while I was gone, it wasn’t in writing. When I came back, a) they really didn’t want me to become a senior and graduate on time. My mom had to fight them hard. In subsequent years, the students who got the same scholarship had to repeat their junior year. b) the district was AWFUL about transferring credit. They converted all my pass/fails (all passes) to Cs. I was a straight A student. My mom negotiated them up to Bs, and it tanked my GPA (I wrote an addendum to all my college apps explaining the situation; my GPA based on actual courses taken in the US for grades was a 4.0 UW). It was just unpleasant all around, and I’m thankful my mom is kind of a bulldog about this kind of stuff (the one and only time in my entire life she acted like a “helicopter,” before that term existed). I also had a single mom, so I can really relate to your daughter 
So: push hard! Set everything up before she goes and get everything in writing. Basically schools/districts are so snowed under dealing with the students they do have (and in public high schools, it’s often too many students, not enough teachers/counselors/admin), that throwing a wrench in the works like this sends them into “no” mode. They’ll tell you no until you offer a workable solution they can live with, and hold them to it. (I worked on the other side, too, finding home & high school placements for exchange students–many many many districts have a blanket “no” policy on exchange students b/c it’s just too much extra work outside the American HS norm)
Schools work with transferring students all the time. Military families, kids switching from one parent to another. My kids transferred on March 1 of their sophomore year, and basically lost a month of school since the school they left had just finished the 2nd semester and the new school was most of the way through the 3rd quarter. They worked hard to catch up but it did show in their grades. I should have been more involved and asked for more time for make up work, but I was starting a job and getting settled in a new home. We all survived. If a military family transferred from Japan in March, the school would have to allow them to transfer in and finish the year. They make adjustments for classes they don’t offer, may have them take a gym class or art class where they can just pick up where the rest of the class is.
Your daughter might be able to take some classes in the summer when she comes back, either online or at a community college, to make up the credits. I don’t see why the school wouldn’t accept homeschool credits It seems like she could get the courses done in Jan/Feb before she goes, finishing her sophomore (?) year.
I suggest you do what you can and then just have her enjoy the experience.
@twoinanddone it is not at all unusual for public high schools to not accept homeschool courses. In some areas the decision to homeschool for high school is either a 4 yr commitment or being willing to have to repeat a grade. Other public schools are willing to work with homeschooers. There is no simple answer.
@momofmusician17 Stanford Online High School might be another option. I think they offer financial aid.
I would like to thank everyone for their contributions. I had already told my daughter not to worry and that I would help facilitate the US side of everything. To be perfectly honest, she is a little in the clouds and not really focused on the US logistics.
I wanted to let everyone know that I e-mailed the Vice Principal of our public online school asking for and she responded that the online school administration had changed their minds and decided to go ahead and let my daughter enroll for classes!! She told me that she wanted to help my daughter. YAY!!! My daughter is going to start Civics next week and finish before the end of the term. She will then take 3 or 4 core classes starting at the end of January and finish them before she leaves. This is such a huge relief because the online school is in the same district and all the credits will count towards graduation. Even better, they aren’t going to charge us a dime. Now my daughter can finish up precalc, american lit, and/or chemistry and French III and get her civics credit out of the way. This leaves her in a much better position as far as meeting graduation requirements.
@proudterrier - Your experience with the school system sounds awful. I am glad that you had your mom in your corner!! 
Thanks for the advice about getting everything that is agreed to in writing. I am going to pop up to the school tomorrow to talk about the logistics of my daughter returning at the beginning of February 2018 with the school counselors. After speaking with the counselor, I am going to send an e-mail that lays out everything that we spoke about so that I have it in writing.