Jump to content

Menu

Party of 5

Members
  • Posts

    3
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

3 Neutral
  1. If helpful, I can offer two differing points of view. We tried Laurel Springs School year before last for 9th grade, having a student who is very bright and heavily involved in pursuing a pre-professional career as well as having her sights set on attending a top tier university. The option seemed a great fit with enough flexibility as well as direct teacher involvement, oversight, and accredited reporting. I was excited for what it promised. In short, I do not believe it delivered and we did not continue. Some of the issues we encountered are as described above with work going "missing" (that I had even been sitting next to her while she completed). Though there were some teachers I found to be helpful, the overall model had much less involvement and feedback than I had expected. A couple of the classes were terrible with multiple "broken links" and links that lead to exhaustively long material or material clearly too advanced (i.e.: medical school textbook entries for biology class) or did not actually provide the answer to the questions. After reading and rereading the material several times myself, I contacted the teacher to discuss and the answer back to me was to skip the link and simply "google" the answers. That situation only got worse as the class continued as that became the go-to directive when problems arose. I also found through this "googling" process, the assignments were the same as many other free online public school options like connections academy. The second view I can offer is from our friends who shared a similar schedule and began at the same time. They are currently still pursuing the program. Though I do not believe they would sing praises for the program, it does off them a complete solution with little planning needed from parent. They had some different teachers who were more helpful and engaging that first year as well as a wonderful guidance counselor. This last year however, the counselor has been changed 3 or 4 times and therefor is not of much value in overseeing the progress of the student. Sill, they feel it suits their needs and offers the accreditation and oversight that would seemingly remove some of the need to "prove" educational materials. This student is taking advantage of some honors classes but is intent on pursuing an arts based college experience or directly stepping into a professional environment so perhaps the academic concerns are different, more checking the box. One special note: Laurel Springs School may be an accredited online private school and may tell you that your credits automatically transfer as any other ps would should you return to b&m, this is not the case. In my state/county it is still considered home schooling (needing declaration and oversight) AND none of the credits are accepted for transfer into ps. I asked this direct question of the head of LSS before enrolling and was given incorrect information. I also later learned form our county home school office that LSS tells people that every year and they call them every year and tell them it is not correct- LSS continues to tell people the same incorrect information. I can share more detailed information as to why I would not recommend should you find that helpful, feel free to pm me.
  2. Though I am just now officially joining the conversations, I have gleaned a wealth of information and knowledge over the years from these boards and your generous sharing of experiences. I believe starting with a great big thank you makes the most sense...so THANK YOU ALL! I home schooled when the kids were younger and then came back to it when my youngest was in middle school and now we are finding our way through High school... hopefully joyfully with the same love and heart and excitement of a preschooler whose eyes are wide open to this wonderful learning world.
×
×
  • Create New...