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Um, wow. Blown away by snarky email from hs educational provider


prim*rose
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Goodness, that sounds frustrating.

 

And I agree, it is really unfortunate that on-line teachers are not held to the same standard as a real life teacher.  Life happens but IRL teachers get substitutes or quit.  They don't just check out for a month or more.

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Thank you! It sounds like this school is having administration issues, also, which concerns me. I understand one teacher not being great, but I think I'll stay away from providers that have bad reviews of the administration. 

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I can understand why the school would stand by the teacher (and I think it's inappropriate for a PP to accuse the teacher of lying based purely on speculation), but that's a rather rude, unprofessional way for the director to handle the situation.

 

It wasn't speculation; the OP's daughter has been blacklisted by this provider based on her alleged inability to handle the workload in a previous class.  The OP says that wasn't the case at all, that the problem was with the teacher.  It is pretty obvious here that the director heard a different story from the teacher than the OP has told here.  So either the OP is lying (and she has no motive to do so) or the first teacher was lying (and she had every incentive to do so).  Not speculation at all unless you assume the OP is lying, which seems unlikely.

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Fwiw, I *think* there have been administrative issues with Veritas Press too. I don't know the details, but most of the favorite teachers moved over to Wilson-Hill Academy instead.

 

Interesting! Thanks for the heads up. I just checked, and Wilson Hill doesn't offer French. Dangit.

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Definitely let us know how that goes! I would love to hear some positive science reviews.

 

So far, I'm impressed with the administration - I registered and for whatever reason, my pre-registration fee didn't get deducted. I didn't even notice it, but within 24 hours, I received an email from the director apologizing and saying they're mailing me a check for the refund. Hopefully the teacher is just as good!

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To th OP- I am curious if you had already paid for the course in full? Did you receive a refund?

 

I'm trying to remember the exact details; I know we paid the bulk of the tuition, I believe one more payment was due before we dropped the class. I did not pay that, and they agreed to refund me something like $115 (but they took a fee from this for doing so). I did not expect any refunds, and did not ask for them, and I was surprised when they offered to refund anything.

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I agree it was over the line, but having researched online classes extensively this week, I have seen equally rude comments or reviews about equally bad comments from the directors of multiple different providers. Maybe I'm just exhausted, but I'm starting to feel like any time you decide to outsource, you risk that something negative might occur whether from the teacher or director. If I eliminated every provider I read about this week, there would be nowhere to take classes. And honestly, I've had snarky interactions in real life in PS with teachers, principals, counselors and at co-op too. While it is disappointing and rude, this school is well known for being extremely picky about fit and denying access to their classes for various reasons. I guess I'm just not ready to throw out the entire experience for any one school yet.

 

I agree that I'm not willing to dismiss the school and as I said up thread, my daughter is signed up next will and will stay signed up. But it's good to have a heads up not to expect to be able to maturely discuss issues with classes with the administration and obviously don't tell them why you dropped a class. :)

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I agree that I'm not willing to dismiss the school and as I said up thread, my daughter is signed up next will and will stay signed up. But it's good to have a heads up not to expect to be able to maturely discuss issues with classes with the administration and obviously don't tell them why you dropped a class. :)

 

Totally agree! Forwarned is forearmed. :)

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Anyone have suggestions for other online schools?

 

for spanish, we really like Sr. Gamache and his funclase (high school level live classes), but he also has a video series the girls did when they were younger.

 

and we continue to be impressed with AIM Academy (debra bell), and with AP pennsylvania homeschoolers for other things.

 

hth,

ann

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Definitely let us know how that goes! I would love to hear some positive science reviews.

 

dd#4 is studying with Vicki Dincher this year (intro to physics) thru AIM.  I am impressed.  She is learning a lot, and is inspired to learn a lot.  I like the once a week live class, and so does dd.  the text book is thorough, and accessible.  (a neat trick).  and the labs are well designed.

 

Next year, I think dd will do Bio and Physics with her, prepping for APs.

 

hth,

ann 

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I guess as long as you have no complaints or concerns they are all sweetness and light, but if anyone has a complaint or concern they turn snarky and unprofessional instead of genuinely wanting to address any possible problems.  That sounds like customer service at Verizon....

 

Totally agree. And good customer service (and character)is shown not by how people are treated when things go well, but by how they are treated when there is a problem.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. They will never get my business. One bad teacher is one thing, but this kind of response from admin is in another category entirely.

 

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Please think about looking at Wilson Hill.  In all honesty, most of these online classes cost basically the same, so it is worth your time to find the right one.   I have contacted Wilson Hill this year with questions about 2 different classes (Great Conversations and Science).  Within 24 hours, the teachers personally contacted me by email and phone to answer any questions I might have.  A friend of mine has had the same response with another teacher altogether.  They really have their act together.  I can't speak to the quality of the classes, but as far as customer service goes, I am very, very impressed.

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If anyone finds a *great* secular, science provider, I would love to hear about it! It seems like many of the issues are with science classes.

 

Wilson Hill has secular science for high school including AP options.  I think they are slanted young earth, but from what I was told, they try not to interfere with what students are taught at home.  The teacher I talked with said the online classes had a wide range of beliefs.  This is as balanced as I have found.  Not totally secular, but better than nothing.

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Wilson Hill has secular science for high school including AP options.  I think they are slanted young earth, but from what I was told, they try not to interfere with what students are taught at home.  The teacher I talked with said the online classes had a wide range of beliefs.  This is as balanced as I have found.  Not totally secular, but better than nothing.

 

I can't get a single Wilson Hill Academy class to work with our schedule even though several interest me. Being that they are Eastern times, twice a week, and all clustered during the middle of the day/lunch makes it really difficult for us to take classes. Hopefully they will offer more options time wise as they grow.

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I can't get a single Wilson Hill Academy class to work with our schedule even though several interest me. Being that they are Eastern times, twice a week, and all clustered during the middle of the day/lunch makes it really difficult for us to take classes. Hopefully they will offer more options time wise as they grow.

We've had some of the same problems.  Like almost all the Latin 2s are on a Tuesday which is a no go or very early in the morning which doesn't work for us either because we are central time.  I know they are a slave to the teacher's schedule, though.  I would love some MW options on the Latin, though.  I hear their Latin teacher is fantastic.

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Please think about looking at Wilson Hill.  In all honesty, most of these online classes cost basically the same, so it is worth your time to find the right one.   I have contacted Wilson Hill this year with questions about 2 different classes (Great Conversations and Science).  Within 24 hours, the teachers personally contacted me by email and phone to answer any questions I might have.  A friend of mine has had the same response with another teacher altogether.  They really have their act together.  I can't speak to the quality of the classes, but as far as customer service goes, I am very, very impressed.

 

I checked out Wilson Hill yesterday, and didn't see any French classes offered :( They sound great, but we need to start French this next year.

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Please think about looking at Wilson Hill.  In all honesty, most of these online classes cost basically the same, so it is worth your time to find the right one.   I have contacted Wilson Hill this year with questions about 2 different classes (Great Conversations and Science).  Within 24 hours, the teachers personally contacted me by email and phone to answer any questions I might have.  A friend of mine has had the same response with another teacher altogether.  They really have their act together.  I can't speak to the quality of the classes, but as far as customer service goes, I am very, very impressed.

 

:iagree:  I have been very impressed with Wilson Hill (we've only taken math).  Any admin issues have been taken care of, and I always get a call from the director to make sure everything's gone smoothly.  The teachers have been very easy to get in touch with if we needed to

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

THANK YOU. I very much appreciate the feedback. Looks like we'll be going with AIM.

 

For what it is worth we also had a snarky email from the admin at Potters School a couple of years ago.

 

My ds just finished an English class at AIM Academy, taught by the executive director Debra Bell, and we had a very positive experience. I wouldn't hesitate to take classes with AIM again. And they offer French. 

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For what it is worth we also had a snarky email from the admin at Potters School a couple of years ago.

 

My ds just finished an English class at AIM Academy, taught by the executive director Debra Bell, and we had a very positive experience. I wouldn't hesitate to take classes with AIM again. And they offer French. 

 

Geesh, sorry you also got a snarky email, but glad I'm not alone. 

 

And thanks for the feedback about AIM. I signed dd up for French there, and have been in contact with the teacher (Debra Bell's daughter, I believe), and she has been phenomenal. So far, very happy with them.

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Wow. I am so glad my first experience with online class has been good ..attuneup. But had bad luck getting started with cybershalla for math....flaky flaky. Never showed up online at our appt to get things set up. Had way too many requirements for set up. Ended going with a private tutor through skype.

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Wow. I am so glad my first experience with online class has been good ..attuneup. But had bad luck getting started with cybershalla for math....flaky flaky. Never showed up online at our appt to get things set up. Had way too many requirements for set up. Ended going with a private tutor through skype.

 

Yikes, glad to know about cybershalla. 

 

I will look into attuneup for future classes, though. Thanks!

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Thanks, everyone. I was so upset and needed some validation. And Jean ,we were hoping that the bio teacher was an exception since we'd heard such great things about the foreign language classes.

 

I was trying not to mention the name, but I will say the name rhymes with the hotter school.

 

I was thinking of classes from a school whose name rhymes with otter for next year.

And I will have zero time to deal with any of the three that might do something like this.

Thanks for the heads up. I will stay away from all of them now.

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