Online High Schools

Pre-College Issues Home Schooling and College
1

My child will need to switch to online HS next year for health reasons. Does anyone have experience with the different types of schools? It looks like places like Laurel Springs or Conlara provide a lot of extras, while courses affiliated with universities are offering a single class, with no bells or whistles. How helpful are those extras?

My daughter would like to take AP classes if possible. If her health is better, she might transfer back to her old school for senior year. We are worried about the isolation that might happen next year.

We have a bit of experience with our state’s online charter, which was frustrating to use. We would like to avoid doing that again.

If anyone has any experience with the various online schools, we would really appreciate hearing about it!

Thanks!

2

Have you verified that the school will accept the courses toward graduation requirements? A lot of schools will not accept any courses, accredited or otherwise, completed at home as credits toward graduation.

The providers you listed would not be my first choice. Oak Meadow, Kolbe (Catholic but can be used secularly), or OHS would be some of the options I would investigate. Many of the more popular providers may not have any open enrollment for courses at this late date. (For example, PAH’s AP chem is one of the best online chem options.)

Another approach might be to look at programs like TX Tech’s online highnschool courses. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/k12/

3

We used Keystone Online High School. My daughter took health, phys ed and a .5 credit fine arts class (“Fine Arts Online” which prepared her for AP Art History at our high school) through Keystone with permission from her school. She was able to finish the class at her own pace (within limits). Keystone offers AP classes. Tuition was reasonable, and they also offer a tuition payment plan.

4

The school says that they will take credits from an online school that is accredited, but I am double checking that now… Unfortunately, this is a difficult time of year to get answers from counselors.

We will have to find courses that don’t have a fall start, since she is not able to handle a full course load right now, so I guess that will eliminate several choices.

Thank you both for your suggestions. I haven’t looked at several of those, so I will take a look now!

5

In case you’re still wanting to hear…
I attend GWUOHS (George Washington University Online High School.) I left my top-ranked, academically-rigorous brick-and-mortar school because I wanted flexibility and choice to be a larger part of my education. I loved my old school and my friends–I wasn’t being bullied or doing poorly academically or anything like that–but I felt like something was missing and that I needed to take control of my education in a way. I’ll be graduating in DC this school year with a fully-accredited HS diploma. (We walk on the stage and everything :slight_smile: ) If you’re concerned about college admissions, none of my already-graduated friends have had trouble getting into their top choices. I won’t say this definitively, but I think that graduating from an online school may even help your chances at admission since there is less competition with other kids from your local HS (which probably has more kids than OHS) and since it’s sort of unique. I’ve heard this from a few college consultants as well, so hopefully I’m not just spouting nonsense.

The curriculum at GWUOHS is pretty awesome (tons of APs and honors courses.) It’s very comprehensive, and there are a bunch of electives offered. The teachers are very accessible and supportive, and I’ve actually become close with a few of them, which was a surprise to me since I thought I would’ve left that aspect of school behind after leaving my old school. There are also a ton of clubs, which I know may seem strange to people who don’t know about online school. We have photography, National Honors Society, yearbook, newspaper, Writing Center, book club, pre-law club, service club, Medical Team, and a lot more. When I first switched over, my first thought was, wow, these are probably super lame, but I was wrong! They’re really fun and I’m really glad I didn’t cast them off completely.

Your concern about isolation is definitely understandable, and honestly, I was really worried about that after switching from my old school. I haven’t really felt that at all though. Sometimes, frankly, I’m grateful to be away from the whole HS scene where there can be friend-stress/drama. But, of course, being social is so important so I make sure to see my friends from my old school at least 3-4 times a week, and I’ve made plenty of new friends from my online school that I FaceTime/text every day. I also do a lot of extracurriculars, though, and have friends I see through that. I don’t know if your daughter would be able to keep up with all that with her health, but even if she isn’t, online school friends and having brick-and-mortar school friends visit would hopefully be enough!

Overall, online school has some drawbacks. You may sometimes feel like you’re missing out on some things. For me, I can’t stand missing out on things so I’m making sure I get to go to my old school’s prom and still help decorate the school for homecoming :slight_smile: You don’t HAVE to feel like this is what I’m saying, I guess. And, you meet so many incredible new people and benefit immensely from the independence you learn and the self-drive you develop. I’ve gotten an excellent education, made tons of new friends, had the opportunity to do more meaningful things outside of the classroom, and learn more about the real world because of OHS.

I hope everything works out for your daughter!