Anyone used Seton Home Study?

[iluvmy4blessings]

I am seriously considering this for my 10th grade daughter because she wants something self paced. She would like to finish high school early but she also wants to apply to a Pre-Pharmacy program at the University of Incarnate Word. So it's imperative that her high school program give her the boost she needs for this. I'm a bit worried that they don't offer any AP classes. If anyone has used them, do you know if they let you take AP classes and transfer them in? Also do you have any opinions in general?

[Guest VillageJen]

Do not trust my answer to be accurate but every time I look into Seton I do not get the impression that they are very flexible. That is the main reason we enrolled with Kolbe Academy for our 9th grader this year.

 

Kolbe is extremely flexible and offers three different "types" of diplomas. A student can strive for the Summa Cum Laude diploma, the Magna Cum Laude diploma or the standard diploma, depending upon his post-high school plans.

 

You can also tweak their courses to suit your needs... doing them at your prefered level, a college-prep level or an Honors level.

 

Good luck to you! I'm still trying to get this all sorted out, myself! My oldest child (16) began dual enrollment at a community college at age 14 and just progressed to full-time this year. He basically skipped high school, so I'm having to do something entirely different for our current 9th grader.

[Susan C.]

I know a family that has used Seton for all four of their children. All are graduated. All are very academic, the youngest got a perfect score on his SAT. All got into the Catholic colleges they wanted. I know of another (more liberal arts oriented) in our group that did Seton and she had a hard time keeping up. Her mom told me a few things about her history, and it seemed like a lot to me. But, I didn't look at it closely.

 

I don't think it would be hard to have Seton tell you the texts you would be using and give a sample of assignments so you know the workload.

[ClassicCole]

I've been leaning towards this program as well. Don't have anything to add but will be watching the thread.

[Murphy101]

Seton has booklists and samples from books and lesson plans on their webiste.

 

We did fill enrollment for 9th grade with my oldest 2 years ago and I was horribly disappointed. I didn't feel the lesson plans were cohesive or well laid out, their wasn't much support or feedback from advisors, not very flexible at all, and grading was very slow.

 

I was completely I unprepared for that because I have used them from just buying books, to single courses, to full enrollment for grades k to 8 with very positive experiences.

 

Just my .02 of experience of disappointment.

[higginszoo]

My neighbor uses Seton for her 4 boys. The oldest is a senior, trying to get into some competitive engineering programs. He has augmented last year and this year with courses at our local CC. I don't know how the logistics work, but my understanding is that Seton will include these dual credit courses on his transcript.

[iluvmy4blessings]

My neighbor uses Seton for her 4 boys. The oldest is a senior, trying to get into some competitive engineering programs. He has augmented last year and this year with courses at our local CC. I don't know how the logistics work, but my understanding is that Seton will include these dual credit courses on his transcript.

 

If you find out more specifically how they are handling this with Seton, I would LOVE to know. The main issue I am having with them is that they are telling me they will not count any dual credit. They said she can take it in addition to everything else and they will tack it onto her transcript as extra but it will not count for their high school credit or towards their GPA.

[higginszoo]

If you find out more specifically how they are handling this with Seton, I would LOVE to know. The main issue I am having with them is that they are telling me they will not count any dual credit. They said she can take it in addition to everything else and they will tack it onto her transcript as extra but it will not count for their high school credit or towards their GPA.

 

Ok, I'm not sure if it counts in his GPA. I'll ask.

[Teachin'Mine]

If you find out more specifically how they are handling this with Seton, I would LOVE to know. The main issue I am having with them is that they are telling me they will not count any dual credit. They said she can take it in addition to everything else and they will tack it onto her transcript as extra but it will not count for their high school credit or towards their GPA.

 

If you ask to do the course as independent study and pay a fee of about $30, the course will be added onto the transcript and count towards the credits needed for graduation, and the grade will be listed on the transcript, but it will not be averaged into the GPA. It's common for Seton students to do some courses as independent study. We've been very pleased with Seton and highly recommend their high school program.

 

Just wanted to add that dd follows the lesson plans herself. When you get the materials, the lesson plans, quarter report forms, tests and answer keys are all together for each course, so you separate them in whatever way works best for you. With the lesson plans in a separate binder, dd has found it easy to follow as each is broken down by week and then day within the week being 1 through 5. There's also a function online whereby you can print each day's lesson plan if you or your students prefer.

Edited September 10, 2011 by Teachin'Mine

[iluvmy4blessings]

Thanks so much for that feedback. I think I better understand how Seton handles the dual credit. I realize that they will allow you to substitute a class for high school credit so long as it's from foreign language, math or science. They just won't factor it into the GPA. I guess that's not a big deal to me in the end. I've definitely driven myself kind of crazy these past few days looking for something comparable to Seton but I really can't find it. Kolbe was very tempting but having to pay extra for all the books was more than doubling the price. Maybe even tripling it. With Seton they will send me everything. I realize that I'm not going to get my first pick in every subject but the majority of it is pretty close to what I would have chosen anyway. Looks like I can use Apologia Science for Chemistry if I want to as well since they have it listed in their bookstore. I feel really relieved to have finally made this decision. Thanks so much for your help!! This past week has been pretty crazy for me trying to figure it out. I finally have peace!

[butterflymommy]

I am seriously considering this for my 10th grade daughter because she wants something self paced. She would like to finish high school early but she also wants to apply to a Pre-Pharmacy program at the University of Incarnate Word. So it's imperative that her high school program give her the boost she needs for this. I'm a bit worried that they don't offer any AP classes. If anyone has used them, do you know if they let you take AP classes and transfer them in? Also do you have any opinions in general?

 

We used Seton homestudy... I did not like it at all unfortunately. I don't believe they have AP classes but they do have a fairly rigorous program.

 

I found them to be very inflexible and the workload was either way too hard or way too easy for my kids. It could just be that my kids are a bit quirky and need something more customized.

 

I also found their grading to be haphazard. My son submitted some excellent book reports (and yes, we followed their very, very strict guidelines) and got a C... another was repeatedly rejected without explanation. Yet my daughter submitted a pretty lame book report and got an A. Other time my son would get an A+ for a short essay and then have more Cs and rejection for other essays. I don't know how they do their grading but it is not consistent.

 

The curriculum is very strict and doesn't allow for much leeway. I found myself stressing in the same way as when they were in school.

 

I don't know if they do this on purpose but they have two different payment plans, and it wasn't clear to me that one costs more than the other... so we inadvertently ended up spending more to enroll one child. Maybe I just didn't read the fine print carefully. Also, we were sent used textbooks for math even though we were paying full price. This was never said to us upfront.

 

The program does have its positives if you are willing to follow the curriculum and if you child is highly motivated and diligent. They are accredited too, which is a plus. hth

Edited September 10, 2011 by butterflymommy

[langfam]

I posted this a couple of years ago. Things may have changed with Seton, but these were my issues then:

 

I had problems with Seton grading. Often I would get very frustrated because I wouldn't know how to guide my dc to write their papers because I didn't know what the graders were looking for. I would do my best and sometimes we'd be way off.

 

It would also take forever to make study guides for tests because I didn't have the answer key, I would have to search for the answers myself (and sometimes I got it wrong).

 

At the time, we were also doing Saxon Algebra 1 and Seton had their own multiple choice questions tests which drove me nuts because there were sometimes mistakes in the tests. Had I not gone though the tests myself and pointed mistakes out. They would have been marked wrong. Also, I felt it was unfair that were not given partial credit for getting most of the math problem right.

My dc were enrolled in Seton for 3 years. By the time we reached 10th grade, we were experiencing severe burnout and high levels of anxiety. The only courses that we found effective were the English courses. Their religion and history courses rely too heavily on memorization of facts rather than an understanding of the overarching themes. Sometimes my kids would spend days memorizing for a test, which often could take up to four hours to complete. A week later they would have forgotten everything. Another complaint I had with Seton was the lack of advice regarding the courses my high schoolers should take to make their transcripts look good to colleges.

 

We finally left Seton and have been enrolled with MODG over 4 years now and it's been so wonderful. I especially love the learning support classes they offer. It takes the workload off me for courses that are challenging and require lots of discussion.

Edited September 10, 2011 by langfam
typo

[Teachin'Mine]

Langfam, sorry to hear that your experience wasn't a good one. Just like any one program, it doesn't work for everyone. Glad to hear that you've found one which does. :)

 

Regarding the tests for algebra 1, the student has the option of doing them online - multiple choice and computer graded instantly. For this, as with all multiple choice tests, there is no partial credit. The other option is to take the test on paper and submit it, either by mail or scanning, to be graded by a grader. On these tests the student receives partial credit. It's up to the student and/or parent which way they want to take each of the tests.

 

Regarding the papers, I don't even get to read them until after dd has submitted them to grading. :tongue_smilie: As she knows, she should slow down and take more time to proofread before submitting them. IMO, it's all part of learning which will benefit her in college.