<p>THis is one that we considered for our Asperger’s child:
[Stanford</a> University Online High School](<a href=“http://ohs.stanford.edu/]Stanford”>http://ohs.stanford.edu/)</p>
<p>Bright but having a hard time socially. At the moment, she’s campaigning to be allowed to go to Early College, which might actually be a better fit for her than high school.</p>
<p>Force out is fuzzy. A girl was “forced out” of our public middle school. She was moody and difficult and unfocused and occasionally disruptive. She spent a lot of time at our house so I know exactly what she was like. It wasn’t terribly serious but it was terribly annoying. So the teacher called in her mom for a bunch of conferences and the mom got defensive and the teacher suggested she look into another environment for her child. Now, I suppose she could have sued but in reality she was forced out and forcing herself back in would probably not have been a successful resolution. Eventually, she was "forced out’ of high school, too and finished up at a continuation school.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that is the OP’s situation at all. Just responding to the whole “forced out” thing. It happened.</p>
<p>Social anxiety is very real and it can take time to deal with or ‘overcome’. I think it may be that a change will give her daughter a chance to rebuild confidence and learn how to cope in these situations. I have seen brilliant children reduced to mush by just a mean glare. Kids can be cruel and frankly the ‘smart’ kids can skewer each other daily with the ‘what did you get on …’ Conversation at lunch. It’s more than getting tougher skin, it has a lot to do with self esteem and removing her from that environment may allow her to slowly recover. Frankly some kids chose to fail just to escape this ‘trap’ they feel they are in. I wish schools would be more proactive but they generally are not. I completely understand the op’s request. It is all about the health and well being of her daughter. Even if the school is non responsive it will not help her daughter if she still suffers while at school.</p>
<p>Our local school system really didn’t have any arrangements that could accommodate a child who needed to go to school less than full-time, with allowances made for extended deadlines or lightened workloads for health reasons. I was surprised this was the case, as surely there are kids with rheumatologic conditions, renal disease, psychiatric illnesses, not to mention kids recovering from serious accidental injuries, cancer treatment, etc…yet, indeed, there really wasn’t anything except a “home and hospital” teacher who would bring by assignments a week at a time and spend an hour per subject. The student was expected to keep up or take the penalty in grades for missing deadlines or being simply unable to complete the volume of busywork assigned. (I understand the value of drills, but if a kid can get an A on a test, shouldn’t all the homework designed to drill the skills tested on that test be forgiven retroactively?)</p>
<p>Anyhow…don’t get me started…“Forced out” could refer to the school simply not offering a situation that would work for the child. Perhaps they are constrained from doing so for some legitimate reason.</p>
<p>Keystone and K12 are commonly-used online curricula. Some are more structured than others in terms of having specific due dates for specific assignments. That might not be a concern if the issue is social anxiety rather than physical illness.</p>
<p>We rejected Keystone and Oak Meadow. Don’t remember why. Might have been a quality issue or maybe to “graduate” my child was starting with their programs too late.</p>
<p>A child with a behavioral issue should not be kicked out, but should receive a placement to an altenrative school designed for children with behavioral disorders, paid by the sending town (including transportation).</p>
<p>As for health issues, there should be accommodations that level the playing field. It is always worth the $150 or so it costs to see a lawyer for an hour to find out what the student’s rights are, or, at the very least, the federal office I mentioned above. Show up to a school meeting with a smile and share the suggestions obtained from the lawyer, and it is surprising how accommodating a school can be.</p>
<p>GED is about to get harder (or has it already?). One of my kids, a performer, got hers, but found it was a problem in some contexts, like job applications. I believe it can be a problem with the military. Some colleges will take the GED, including community colleges, but getting a diploma through an online program might be a lot better. I once read that finishing a year of college (Including community college) automatically means a high school diploma. Something to check out maybe.</p>
<p>For our D, the GED and her college BA are just fine. I am an attorney. Private schools are not required to offer the accommodations state schools are. I do have a friend whose D had home hospital and basically home studied thru HS and earned her HS diploma from her public HS that way. Our D wasn’t interested.</p>
<p>To date, the GED has not posed any barrier for D and at this point is unlikely to. The test was a rather prolonged one, administered at the local school for adults at a nearby public HS in July. D self-studied for it and got a great score, which we feel helped her application to transfer to her dream U.</p>
<p>The GED is changing on Jan. 2nd. [Changes</a> To GED Will Make Test Tougher, More Expensive | WGBH News](<a href=“GBH News”>GBH News)</p>
<p>Going straight to college can work out with the GED. However, while filling applications out for the workplace, my daughter felt employers viewed her differently (she did not head to college after getting her GED; once she did go to college for a year, she could fill out application forms with “some college” and the lack of a diploma no longer mattered.)</p>
<p>The military limits applicants dropouts (including those with GED’s) but will help applicants with a special program [Army</a> GED Plus Enlistment Program](<a href=“http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blgedplus.htm]Army”>http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blgedplus.htm) I think the policy of limiting GED applicants reflects a broader prejudice in our culture against GED holders.</p>
<p>If a student successfully does a year at community college, or with online college courses,whether dual enrollment or not, a diploma should be given for high school. </p>
<p>The student can take classes in a variety of online programs, choosing the best one for each course. Then an outfit like North Atlantic Regional High School can put it all together in one program and give a diploma.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. The nexus is whether the private school receives any federal financial assistance either directly or as a pass through from the school district. It can be money or in-kind assistance. Some private schools do receive such aid, but generally you are right.</p>
<p>See 34 CFR Part 104</p>
<p>104.39 Private education.</p>
<p>(a) A recipient that provides private elementary or secondary education may not, on the basis of handicap, exclude a qualified handicapped person if the person can, with minor adjustments, be provided an appropriate education, as defined in 104.33(b)(1), within that recipients program or activity.</p>
<p>(b) A recipient to which this section applies may not charge more for the provision of an appropriate education to handicapped persons than to nonhandicapped persons except to the extent that any additional charge is justified by a substantial increase in cost to the recipient.</p>
<p>(c) A recipient to which this section applies that provides special education shall do so in accordance with the provisions of 104.35 and 104.36. Each recipient to which this section applies is subject to the provisions of 104.34, 104.37, and 104.38.</p>
<p>The key word is recipient.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the advice. It’s truly appreciated. And complicated. Especially when my kid is in such a state right now that it’s hard to talk rational solutions with her. She insists she has to stay at her school AND most days refuses to go, or ends up in the nurse’s office.</p>
<p>Her school has been incredibly supportive, and I have no complaints with them. They’ve tried and tried with her, but she has missed so much school this year because of her anxiety, and has missed so many assignments, that it’s gone past the point of no return. It’s just not the right environment (type A, very intense) for her at this time. At least if she leaves the school, they will not hold us to the tuition contract.</p>
<p>I think she needs an online school for now as a stopgap measure, with the hope that she can go back to an ultra-supportive high school, because she does need to learn to deal with people. Possibly a boarding school, but she would hate constantly being with people, and it costs so much money . . So I will look at online programs mentioned, and any more recs on online programs are much appreciated. Any recs of boarding schools that could help are appreciated, also, although that’s tricky. </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>Does your district have an alternative high school program? Or a community near you?</p>
<p>If she does need a private school, it is possible that the local school system will pay.</p>
<p>Many athletes are using Laurel Springs School. Supposedly it has a decent reputation.</p>
<p>We talked to Laurel Springs for our gifted D. The program seems very sound and has a good reputation. It is very expensive-at least to me. Someone at a private school probably wouldn’t think so. I would have chosen Clonlara (?) School over Laurel Springs though-they offer several different options, from teacher-guided to entirely student guided online homeschool options, and they were more affordable. As it was, we found a localish alternative program that has worked fine.</p>
<p>That’s the first time I’ve heard of Clonlara, thanks. I just looked them up. It looks very student-based and flexible, so I like that right away. Did someone recommend it to you? I’m not sure how to research these places. Since for-profit companies are usually behind these schools I am always skeptical.</p>
<p>Some of these programs really focus on homeschoolers who are dedicated to graduating from their programs, as I remember. Clonlara, Keystone. We looked at Laurel Springs and Oak Meadow too. I really don’t remember the details, but I do remember we had concerns in using some of these programs for a kid who wanted, ultimately, to return to her regular school and graduate from there.</p>
<p>Virtual High School is used by some of the top schools in our area. The schools themselves join and pay for a certain number of student slots per semester (25). That way, students can take classes like Latin, environmental science, Hispanic literature, music theory etc. etc. not offered by the school, and it also solves scheduling problems (if for instance AP Bio doesn’t fit in student’s schedule).</p>
<p>If a school does not belong, then individual students can take classes. One at a time, four at a time, whatever.</p>
<p>You can get your local high school to approve the class in advance and establish the level, meaning honors, AP, college prep etc.</p>
<p>Using a program like this leaves the future flexible in many states. With NY Regents exam, I am not sure how it works though.</p>
<p>When I homeschooled my older two kids I went to various homeschool events and that is where I found Clonlara and Laural Springs. Clonlara just seemed to be more attentive to a wider variety o students, and had more options, even single courses, I think. We tried Oak Meadow for a single course (7th gr. LA) and it was way below DD’s level. It seems popular with the religious and crunchy homeschoolers I know though.</p>
<p>My D used Mizzou online HS for 1.5 years (IBS, anxiety, etc.) and then went back to brick and mortar for 12th grade. Though we are not in NY which sounds more complicated. In our state, if you request open enrollment the year before, you can attend a state virtual school for free. Some districts have set up nice ones on the side of their regular schools that draw from all over the state and there are also independent for-profit schools. We did not take advantage of that as we were changing to home-school in the middle of a semester, not planning in advance. My D did take advantage of a state rule that allows home-school kids to take up to 2 classes at their local high school so she could still do band and foreign language (back-to-back, luckily) and music ECs too, though technically those were not allowed, but teacher looked the other way.</p>
<p>The quality of the classes is uneven. Overall it was fine and served its purpose for the time she was there, and it’s accredited, so all credits transferred back to her HS. They are stronger in humanities than math/science.The Calc AB teacher was quite good, and started a math club and offering math competition participation toward the end of time D was there, but the book he used- too easy. Good enough for a 5, but going into the tough BC class back at HS in 12th, D had some catching up to do. Also, they don’t offer BC. AB is their highest math offering. </p>
<p>I think the courses may be designed by one person, but then taught by another, who is forced to use the syllabus and materials given to him. That was what we think is the case in physics. Book is way too simple. Teacher would like to be able to teach at a higher level and expected the kids to be able to answer questions they would find impossible with the given book, but did not provide extra materials, so D had to search for info online and use supplemental texts. Or perhaps they changed text, but kept the old tests and quizzes, not sure. In any case, buying lab equipment and performing the labs at home was quite… ah, interesting. Chemistry was somewhat better, but still not AP level stuff, just ordinary chem.</p>
<p>Partly quality depends on the teacher, like everywhere. Some are partly retired and use this to supplement retirement income. These tended to be the best. Others are younger and have job and still use this to supplement their income. Tended not to be as good, just so busy and slow to answer questions and get stuff graded. French teacher is wonderful. Also the AP Lit teacher. My D is not a humanities kid, but this teacher got her a 5 on that test,which is nothing short of miraculous. She gave lots of feedback on many drafts of papers and had interesting reading and quizzes. Always answered any questions quickly and thoroughly. Art history thumbs up also. AP Euro, not so great. Teacher too busy. </p>
<p>They have 2 kinds of courses. The flexible self-paced type, and then the semester courses, including all AP, which have more traditional structure, starting in Sept/Jan. and with fixed due dates for materials. AP starts in mid-August. Her AP classes had online group sessions that were graded. They met at a particular time and you had to attend and contribute to a certain number of them. In general, all their classes have a good %age of grade coming from the 2 proctored exams that are mailed to local proctor, with the rest of grade coming from electronically submitted labs, papers, online quizzes. So it helps if you are a good test-taker.</p>
<p>I hear Stanford EPGY is very good. Expensive too. Starting mid-semester made that a not very viable option for D and then she wanted to continue where she was the following year, not bounce around. </p>
<p>It worked out fine. The time at home gave her time to calm down and collect herself, and she appreciated ‘real school’ and being around people for class discussion a lot more when she went back the last year. I heard no more complaints about lazy or obnoxious group members. She did say that having done both, she realized that so much of time at school (public) is spent on busywork. Getting everyone in their seats and ready to work and stuff.</p>
<p>If there is a chance she may return to a public HS later, then keep track of and try to fulfill graduation requirements, like these Regents that people have mentioned so that it will remain an option. D had to take one more semester gym and fit in APUSH senior year to fulfill some modern US history requirement that she missed in 11th grade, but it was fine because that was all she had to worry about. She had taken one semester ‘online gym’ and in general was on track to graduate from either place.</p>
<p>Redpoint, I am currently using Clonlara for my 10th grader. So far it is working out well for us. Please let me know is you have any specific questions.</p>