A new twist...

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My 9rh grader announced he would really like all his school to be in one place next year. After looking at all his options he loves the idea of Laurel Springs.

 

My plan was 3-4 online or self paced online courses and one in depth in person course that would cover several subjects.

 

I'm fine with LS both financially and academically. It would mostly solve all our A-G issues.

 

He is too young to DE and I'm not thrilled with our local CC.

 

But I worry about social time. My son swims every day and he has friends there but there isn't really any engaging discussing going on. At church he does Audio visual and the youth group but he doesn't really come home thrilled after youth group. He may do Botball again but that's up in the air becusde of distance. And it's only 3 months of the year.

 

He has REALLY enjoyed his two in person classes this year and always comes home excited and talking about it.

 

Am I right to think we should just plug away hodge lodge even if it's a little annoying schedule wise rather than take away his in person classes that are so enriching to him?

[katilac]

Yes, I would probably want to plan on at least one in-person course, even if it's for an elective or just enrichment. That would still keep the majority of his courses in one place, rather than scattered online courses. I wouldn't consider one or two in-person classes with all the rest Laurel Springs to be a hodge podge schedule at all.  

 

Is there any way your son could start now with one course from Laurel Springs? See how it really is in practice? The reality can be different from what it looks like on paper, and it would be tough if he scheduled a ton of courses and then didn't like the whole setup. 

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Hi Katilac,

 

Well after reading all the reviews online for LS, I think it's really just a dream that it would make anything easier for my son.  If anything, it sounds like he would have less interaction with teachers, less oversight, and for what?  

 

I guess you are right about trying to sign up for one LS course, but he's swamped for this year already. :)

 

Maybe what I can do, is think about how to streamline as much as possible, so that he doesn't have so many different schedules and passwords.  Or, maybe I can do more self paced online courses, so that at least he doesn't have to worry about live classes overlapping.  This year he has 5 different classes with 4 different schedules, passwords, uploads/dropbox rules, and some of them are in-person classes he needs to bike to, once in a while they overlap with swimming, and sometimes when a class is rescheduled they overlap with each other.   :mellow: not to mention the coursework itself.  He's just feeling a little bit harried because of it :)  It's kind of like my life, as a mom  :lol:

 

One thing we are going to do is try Monarch Online, which he could use for a lot of electives and Bible going forward.  If that works out this year that would be a real boon.

[yvonne]

Why not pick the best local, live course that he would like to do live and then do everything else at Laurel Springs?  Or does LS require all courses to be done through them?

I'd put a high priority on getting at least one live local class. Being in a live, face-to-face class has become increasingly important to my two boys the further along they've gotten in high school. One is enough, and we picked lab science since that can be done best live, imo.  The other subject I think I'd look for a live class is English since the discussion element can be better in a face-to-face environment.

 

And, as a pp mentioned, jumping in to LS full throttle might be a little dicey if you haven't taken any of their classes before, unless you can get word of mouth recommendations on specific teachers/classes.

[Ms Brooks]

FWIW-My oldest DD graduated from LS in 2014. She did one year of K12 online and did not learn a thing, so I switched her to LS Gifted Academy. At the time, LS science did not meet UC science requirements, so she took an in person summer biology class and the rest her science were AP with the exams. If I could afford to go all LS with my youngest DD I would, but we just don't have the money to have my youngest DD enroll full-time.

 

Overall, LS was an excellent academic experience for my oldest DD. She went to the in person graduation ceremony and prom dance with students she met and talked with online through her LS classes. She also went on a school sponsored trip to Costa Rica as part of a student environmental summit program-A great in person experience.  As a college student, she was well prepared for independent coursework. Many of her peers floundered because they did not master time management before college.

 

For my youngest DD I am going to do a blend of individual LS classes for math and English (these classes are too impacted to get a seat at the local JC), electives through our local JC, and classes I know that I can teach well. 

 

If you have any specific questions about LS ask.

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Thank you ms Brooks!

 

Yes, I do have a few questions. For your youngest dd, since you are only taking some courses, who is going to make your final transcript? With your older dd I assume it was LS but I assume you'll have to do your own or use a PSP for the final transcript?

 

2. Did LS online classes have a live weekly component with other kids and a teacher? If so could they see and hear the teacher?

 

3. Did your dd feel like she had teachers that really cared about her? Did she get weekly feedback and grading of her work? Some reviews online say that the student never heard from the teacher literally the entire year. With Calvert we heard monthly. With online classes he hears every week plus grading and comments On work submitted and the teachers usually copy me as well so the parent is aware if the student is struggling.

[Ms Brooks]

Thank you ms Brooks!

 

Yes, I do have a few questions. For your youngest dd, since you are only taking some courses, who is going to make your final transcript? With your older dd I assume it was LS but I assume you'll have to do your own or use a PSP for the final transcript?

 

For oldest DD, LS provided the final transcript with transcripts from outside science classes added to LS transcript.

I am not sure how I am going to cobble together a transcript for my younger DD.

 

2. Did LS online classes have a live weekly component with other kids and a teacher?  If so could they see and hear the teacher?

 

Yes, there were live classes with a teacher and other students, but DD never plugged into these sessions. She watched or listened to the recorded sessions and contacted the teacher if she had questions. DD never complained about teacher contact. Teachers always responded quickly to her questions. She did participate in the monthly guest lecture classes, discussing the lecture with other students in a live online chat. 

 

3. Did your dd feel like she had teachers that really cared about her? Did she get weekly feedback and grading of her work? Some reviews online say that the student never heard from the teacher literally the entire year. With Calvert we heard monthly. With online classes he hears every week plus grading and comments On work submitted and the teachers usually copy me as well so the parent is aware if the student is struggling.

 

My oldest DD is a very independent learner, so she did not feel it necessary to have constant contact. Yes, she did feel like the teachers cared about her and her work. The feedback she received was constructive and grading was prompt. When DD did not check into a class, Chinese, for many months the teacher did contact me about DD's progress. Because DD had the option to control her schedule, she did classes in a block type format completing entire classes in a short period of time as she did with Chinese, and paced other classes to ensure she was well prepared for AP exams. When DD took her AP exams she felt much better prepared than the students who sat the exam with her. Many of those students never read the text or worked on essay responses the way she had through her Laurel Springs classes. My DD never struggled with the academic aspect of high school. I rarely checked in on her work or progress. She is a driven person with goals and is very responsible. She was a member of the National Honors Society and graduated with a GPA well above a 4.0.

 

The downside of online learning is how it is viewed by colleges. Even with a stellar GPA,  an excellent ACT score, and 4s and 5s on her AP exams many top US colleges turned her away--Very frustrating when another person got into a university with lesser grades and scores. My oldest DD is now on track to graduate with top honors from a non US university. With my youngest DD I am looking at colleges and universities globally. I am also looking at smaller universities where students interact with their professors rather than being one of 35,000 student body.

 

I hope this helps. 

 

[Ellie]

Dear Ms Brooks :-) Most people make their own transcripts, which are not "cobbled together." Once the courses and credits and grades are on the transcript the you create yourself, it will look just like any other transcript. In fact, most homeschoolers do their own transcripts. :001_smile:

[Ms Brooks]

Dear Ms Brooks :-) Most people make their own transcripts, which are not "cobbled together." Once the courses and credits and grades are on the transcript the you create yourself, it will look just like any other transcript. In fact, most homeschoolers do their own transcripts. :001_smile:

 

About transcripts-I just haven't gotten that far yet. I am still investigating how to write a course description if I am going to teach a class, and trying to figure out how schooling from various different sources coalesce in a single transcript or a bunch of individual transcripts. I am just not sure how all of this is going to work yet.

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Thank you Ms. Brooks!

 

Another option for you is to join an inexpensive psp - they will help you with grading and record keeping and make your transcript :) the transcript is really the easiest part- the harder part is course descriptions, record keeping and the UC issues :)

 

If your daughter did that well and still didn't get into UCs then I don't think my son would either! Where was she applying? Did she have high SAT scores?