<p>In order to get around the garekeeping policy at my son's high school, I am considering having him take Honors Biology and/or Honors World History at an online high school this summer before entering freshman year at a public high school. He already placed into Honors English and Honors Geometry. There is no way I am going to have him sit in College Prep Earth Science and College Prep Wolrd History when the colleges are looking for Honors level courses. Also, Honors Science track is Honors Bio. as a freshman, than Honors Chem as a soph. and then AP Chem as a junior which is where my daughter is now. Anyone actually taken any online high school courses? It looks like you can finish a course in about 10 weeks over the summer (imagine all that unwasted time you can eliminate that most schools do!!!). Then, he could actually learn Biology. If the school does not accept the credits, that is fine. Then, I will demand to have him tested to place into Chem as a freshman, as he will have completed Biology. I am so sick of the garekeeping policies at high schools!!</p>
<p>If I were you, I would get this approved before I had my child take the class. There may already be a precendent at your school with a certain on-line school. How would you feel if you found out there were other options available and yours was not allowed AFTER your child spent their summer working on your choice?</p>
<p>Our school is very strict about outside classes. Only a few college classes from certain colleges are allowed and only one on-line company is approved. The reason for that is that the outside classes have to cover the same material as the in-house classes. </p>
<p>I too don't always understand the policies at our HS but often there is a reason for them. If your child has not been placed in the right level of a class that's one thing but it's another if you just want your child in a higher level and perhaps he's not supposed to be there. I'm not trying to be unkind but I have learned this lesson first hand. </p>
<p>I have been on a couple of committees that involve mostly teachers and just a few parents and one of the biggest complaints of the teachers is parents over-riding the teachers recommendations and placing their child in a higher level class then the student is capable of doing. I'm not saying this is the case with your son, but you can imagine how hard it is for a teacher trying to go at a good pace in an honors class when 1/2 the class can't keep up.</p>
<p>If you think your son is being incorrectly placed, then I would go to the guidance counselor and see what options are available including taking an on-line class.</p>
<p>Mel-
Funny you should mention Earth Science. At my Ds HS the basic Earth Science class is known for the breaking up those straight As that many kids have been collecting for years! The teacher is really tough and the class has a heavy workload. My D says it is the hardest she has worked in HS to get an A. I doubt the course content was tough but the demanding teacher taught many kids a valuable lesson. I know a lot of kids who like a challenge who took this particular teacher just to prove they could make the grade.</p>
<p>Colleges may not recognize on-line coursework...better check it.</p>
<p>Mel5140, here's a cautionary tale from my school, take it for what it is worth.</p>
<p>A boy in my grade was not placed in honors math (geometry) freshman year, instead he was placed in algebra, which he had taken in 8th grade and done quite well in. The parents made a big fuss, said it was a huge mistake. They had meetings with the principal, gc, and math teacher. He took some sort of math class during the summer, took the placement test again at the end of the summer and was placed in honors math after all.</p>
<p>Sounds like a happy ending, right? It wasn't. It was obvious from the first day of school that the teacher resented him being in the class and went out of her way to make things harder for him. Now I am certainly not saying that most teachers would be so unprofessional, but I think the point to take away is that if you step on people's toes, don't be surprised if they kick you back a bit. You may be making your child's life more difficult than you realize.</p>
<p>Coldcomfort has a good point. There are more teachers at my son's small-town HS who are defensive and cliquish and would have a huge chip on their shoulders over something like this than not. It's been a real trial these four years. I'm so relieved it's almost over.</p>
<p>Most public secondary schools recognize and grant credit to courses taken at accredited institutions. Check to see if the institutions are accredited. Also, an online student has to be independent and motivated, and able to set a schedule. There's no teacher making her or him turn something in on time. I ended up in the situation of taking 2 years to do 1 year of Latin online because I didn't keep up with it. Other than that, it was a positive experience.</p>
<p>Do not take advice from random people on bulletin boards - even me! Find out what your HS will accept.</p>
<p>I agree with the other posters who suggest you check with your high school before you embark on this course of action. (And do be careful with your tone when you speak to your school officials/teachers..it does have kind of an edge to it that I think perhaps others have picked up on here). My daughter took an online/correspondence course in PreCalculus from Berkeley Extension. She did the course over the summer and it was quite a bit easier than the course offered at her IB high school. I don't think it would have adequately prepared her for Calculus (which she is not planning to take). The quality of the online courses can vary quite a bit, and some of the college admissions people don't look favorably on many of the online courses unless they are offered by well-known institutions. Wash U. admissions officer told me that unless the online/correspondence course was from either Berkeley or Stanford, they were not particularily favorably dispossed toward it because they couldn't trust the quality of the course. My D's high school put the online course on her transcript along with the grade she was given in it, but the course did not enter into her high school GPA. It is the school district policy that no online course will be entered into the GPA. The school itself leaves it to the individual department heads to determine whether the course is sufficient to meet the criteria for the next level of course offered. In my D's case, the math department head agreed to let her on to Calculus after her correspondence course, but, as I said, she decided against it.</p>
<p>Maybe change to a different high school??? Worked for us!</p>