Julesnpebbles@suddenlink. Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 I'm asking for a friend whose son wants to homeschool for 11th and 12th grade. They want him to get a high school diploma and you can only get that through an accredited school here in WV. Anyone have any experiences with Keystone? Pros and cons? My kids aren't quite there yet so I'm not sure. Any other suggestions for online high school / accreditation? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilanao Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 After finishing Calvert 8th, we tried Keystone last year for 9th. Cons: There is very little feedback on assignments. Many assignments that need to be submitted are not clear in directions. Unlike Calvert, there are no answer keys for math or any other subject. I bought the teacher's manuals for biology and geography so that I could have answers to the section and chapter questions. We actually did honors courses for English and biology, but it was just a lot of extra work without much feedback. The biology teacher actually gave the most feedback of all the teachers. Usually comments were things like "nice work" or "good job". Also, if the student is in California, the courses are no longer accepted by the UC schools. Pros: It's OK if you are interested in just getting a piece of paper that says you graduated, but I don't know about college prep. Also, it's fairly inexpensive ($1700) compared to schools like Laurel Springs. It might be worth looking into charter schools such as K12 or Connections if you're just looking for accreditation. I don't know what charter schools are available in that state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandigirl Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 I go there full time and its has its pros and cons. Honestly if the kid is not self motivated its going to hurt. I have learned through trial and error what works and what does not but sometimes I mess up which I was tonight I have to pull and all nighter to finish 6 essays. On the plus side it now takes me about 45 min to crank out 3000 words but the funnies aside its not easy. I have learned what to do if you want to see what it looks like check out my blog which is in my sig. Also any questions pm me or post them on my blog because I am going to be up all night and through tomorrow :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 We use Keystone. My oldest dd graduated already. She left public high school at the beginning of her junior year and took her last two years with keystone. My ds16 has been in for 2 years and is now a junior. My youngest dd did her freshman year with them too. Overall, I like the school. It does exactly what I expect of a school program at home like that. Yes, there are vague instructions sometimes but all of our teachers always respond within 24 hrs. , per school rules, so I've taught my son to contact the teacher anytime he needs to. I've never had a teacher refuse to look at an assignment in advance to make certain my children are on track. In fact, nearly all of them have been extremely kind and helpful. If a teacher goes on break, a substitute teacher takes over. In fact, we're losing our Japanese teacher because he's accepted a position in a brick and mortar school. They will have a substitute until a permanent teacher is found. That kind of bums me out because he was really cool. He held Skype open for a few hours every afternoon for kids to just stop by for help. I hope the new teacher also Skypes. Verbal feedback in a foreign language is good. Some classes are better than others. That's probably natural too. IMHO, the absolute best class I've seen is World History. The content was good but the structure really challenged my son. It was the first class that required so much writing and his writing skills improved drastically throughout the course. The most frustrated we've gotten was in math. I'm glad my DH is a math guy because he's had to do a lot of the teaching, or maybe you could call it tutoring. DS completed Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 and is now in Pre-Calc/Trig. The first three classes had traditional textbooks so the student did lessons online and got additional instruction and homework from the textbook. The pre-Calc/trig class does not have a traditional textbook. It's all online and that can be frustrating. The only books they sent were homework helpers that have sample problems worked out. But we haven't found them helpful at all. I'm not sure what else to say. If your friend has any specific questions, let me know and I'll try to answer them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 Our DD (11) will begin 6th grade, Distance Learning, in the Middle School of the Texas Tech University ISD (TTUISD), probably in September. In their High School, the students can take Dual Credit courses. They get credit for those in Texas Tech University ISD High School and in Texas Tech University. Nobody will question a diploma from Texas Tech University ISD High School, or credits from Texas Tech University. TTUISD "Online" courses do require that regular Textbooks be purchased. For us, in South America, getting those books shipped here is a problem (very expensive), but, for him, in the USA, that's a snap. Here's a link: http://www.depts.ttu.edu/uc/k-12/high-school/ GL to him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 We using Clonlara. We are starting this year though, so I don't have any feedback for you yet. Clonlara does not provide cirriculum but only tracks credits and issues a diploma. Kind of pricey for that, but that's what we wanted. They made very clear in our early discussions that they would support, but if we were looking for someone to tell us what to do and how to do it, that was not the way they worked. They seem best for parents who want to retain control of the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 We using Clonlara. We are starting this year though, so I don't have any feedback for you yet. Clonlara does not provide cirriculum but only tracks credits and issues a diploma. Kind of pricey for that, but that's what we wanted. They made very clear in our early discussions that they would support, but if we were looking for someone to tell us what to do and how to do it, that was not the way they worked. They seem best for parents who want to retain control of the process. Are they accredited? There was some posts about them recently and I thought they moved, lost accreditation, started some new service......? There is also University of Missouri High School and Indiana University High School. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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