<p>At this point my bright sophomore is not going to be able to finish high school because she is too anxious to go in one or two days a week. She has a therapist, psychiatrist, tutor, etc. so we are working on helping her from all directions. Still, at this point she is being forced to leave her beloved high school. Until she is in a state where she can go back to school (social anxiety, etc) I need to find her an accredited online high school. She needs to be working at her own pace, without a full course load. I have asked at her current school, and they say they are looking into it, but I think they only have spotty information as it's not their thing. </p>
<p>When I look up online high schools, I get plenty of hits, but I have no idea which one of these are really any good. I see George Washington, and I think Univ of Miami and Univ of Missouri have programs, but I don't want for her to start anything randomly. Any help and advice will be appreciated.</p>
<p>Has the guidance counselor at her high school offered any suggestions? I have a friend whose son had similar issues and if I remember correctly, the high school helped identify a good online curriculum that allowed her son to work at home, at his own pace.</p>
<p>Unfortunately and oddly, I don’t think my state does (NY). A friend in GA recommended K-12, which doesn’t instantly have a public connection here. I’m new to all this. My kids’ school (a private) isn’t in the loop about all this, and try to talk to someone at the DOE here . . .</p>
<p>Is the goal to someday return to her current school? If that’s the case, working with the school now to find a program that will count toward their graduation requirements will probably be best and create the least amount of confusion and red tape down the line. Get their approval in writing , if possible. You may want to also post this on the homeschooling sub-forum. Posters there are familiar with a lot of online resources. Good luck.</p>
<p>I know people who have used BYU, K-12 and one based in Florida (but I can’t recall the name) with success. K12 in particular worked for a friend whose daughter also suffered from severe anxiety. I would suggest the homeschool route too. In my district, there is a homeschool building where students can take classes from other parents as desired or a tutor comes in to teach a specific course. Or you could unschool, which is non-structured, or let your D design her course of study. I homeschooled my two older kids for several years and there are many, many options. Good luck.</p>
<p>Unfortunately she won’t be able to return there, so that’s not an option. Plus, she has been at private school so she hasn’t been taking the Regent’s Exams required of public students here for graduation. Not that she can’t do them, just that that’s another hurdle, especially because they only offer them at certain times of the year, and the curriculum isn’t the same as her classes now (which are more writing based, less multiple choice)</p>
<p>Contact your local public high school. Most states have free on-line options through which she could fulfill all her graduation requirements.
Any chance she would prefer to get a GED and/or start going to community college? Was the school itself or particular people at that school the source of her anxiety? Maybe she would feel better in a different school environment.</p>
<p>We used Virtual High School and Aventa Learning for one of our kids who had health issues.Our school joined Virtual High School so students there can now take classes for free- all kinds of classes. Work is due at the end of a week; Aventa is more flexible with deadlines and our dancer kid used that because on weeks of performance she could not do as much work.</p>
<p>Many community colleges and universities now have online courses that might work.</p>
<p>Check out North Atlantic Regional High School for a diploma plan.</p>
<p>That said, I am used to a school providing for kids with health or psychiatric issues. If she was “forced” out, it may be illegal. Our public school sent info home every day, from every class, for what work was done in class, homework, tests, grades missing, notes, etc. etc. so our student with health issues could keep up.</p>
<p>The federal dept.of education, Office for Civil Rights can be really helpful in a positive way: it doesn’t have to be a matter of filing a complaint. They will advise and educate the school as well as you.</p>
<p>Public schools would provide tutoring if needed, if the child is out a certain amount of time.</p>
<p>School nurses’ offices are full of kids with anxiety these days. Public schools have services in-house to help, if you are willing to use their people. Some prefer to go private.</p>
<p>“If she was “forced” out, it may be illegal.”</p>
<p>I was wondering about that, myself. Not that I would necessarily want to return to a school that only took me back because I sued…but it might be worth looking into this if she would really like to go back.</p>
<p>Didn’t the OP say this was a private school? And, that enrolling in the local public would be additionally problematic as the private has not been following the NYS Regents curriculum?</p>
<p>I believe the public would need to take her, but does the family want to subject her to struggling through the public long enough for them to support her on-line education?</p>
<p>Redpoing—will your local district provide any guidance? I can see the predicament in that even if they had dealt with trying to find on-line HS, they would have their students following NYS Regents courses instead of your D’s private school curriculum. Sorry that I do not have any advice.</p>
<p>I just glanced over my shoulder to see what my son was doing on this snow day, and he had open a site called Keystone. His AP Programming teacher was ummm…‘let go’ a couple of months into the school year and since the school no longer has anyone capable of teaching AP Programming, they have adopted a course via Keystone. He says it is an on-line high school but says that ‘it is not very good’. (This from a rather discriminating 9th grader, so take that evaluation with a grain of salt!)</p>
<p>But wouldn’t a private school be able to “force out” unlike a public K-12 system? But I would not want any of mine back at a private school that would squeeze out a student, yet have “no options” or suggestions.</p>
<p>My child was at a private HS that forced D to leave after JR year, with no suggestions on how she could complete HS, other than going to her public HS, which wouldn’t have been helpful with her chronic health issues either. </p>
<p>I found three options–public HS, online public school in HI, or pass GED and begin CC. All three were explored and D ended up choosing the last option, which worked out great for her. She was 17 at the time and ready to be done with HS anyway. She would have taken a very long time meeting HS grad requirements, especially PE.</p>
<p>Oak Meadow is another option. They offer a distance learning school, as well as the opportunity to purchase and use the curriculum independently. Independent curriculum would most likely make you a homeschooler in New York, so you will have to look into that if it is something you are interested in. </p>
<p>Best wishes for a successful transition for your daughter and family.</p>
<p>My son chose the univ. of missouri high school because of athletic commitments and he was very happy with the program. He would work at his own speed, and our public librarian was the proctor for his tests (sent to her, administered by her, returned by her) and we always found the counselor and admin. Staff kind and helpful. He is now full time in college and all records transferred perfectly. No problems with classes or transcripts. Teachers were always helpful when he emailed them. The only thing, does she get test anxiety? Because the classes had only two tests, midterm and final and all other work-homework and projects and quizzes are done online. The two tests were all we ever had to arrange with the librarian. On their website thre was a huge list of available proctors, some in schools, others like this librarian. My son actually finished early and started college a semester early. Price wise they were okay, not cheap, but I did find buying the books online thru amazon used often found them for 1/3 the price when possible. Good luck!</p>
<p>If your goal is to get her back into a school, I would think seriously about doing the Regents material. You say it’s not what she has been doing, but you know she is not going back to that school, so nothing she does at this point will be what she has been doing. Doing the Regents should ease her transition into another NY school. You have a lot of time before spring to adjust what she’s learning to what she needs for the Regents exam. And if she takes Regents exams, I doubt any future school she might go to in NY is going to give you any trouble about her preparation, which might be an issue for alternative programs.</p>
<p>I’d check out your local homeschooling charters. We have a ton in our area. Some offer optional classes. Some require a student to check in with a teacher at least once a month to check progress. Some are largely online. We know many kids doing this for a variety of reasons (including mental health issues.) Some go in a couple times a week. Some go in once every other week.</p>
<p>I will say we’ve seen issues with kids trying to move back into traditional schools after online schooling though. Retention seems to be an issue. When you are whipping through an online class where you can read a chapter and test on it 30 minutes later, you can get “A’s” pretty easy. Moving back into a traditional school where you have to learn and retain information over several months can be tricky. Kids can adapt but it’s not easy for all.</p>
<p>“But wouldn’t a private school be able to “force out” unlike a public K-12 system?”</p>
<p>Sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s always legal to do it. The ADA should apply. A private school can kick you out because they don’t like you, but they are not supposed to do that because you are disabled.</p>