What Curriculum Would You Choose?

[milkchocolate]

To make a long story short, my mother and I are looking at homeschooling me. We want a program that is flexible, because I am a gymnast and have to train many hours a week, and will allow us to add in and receive credit for courses taken at my local high school and community college later. We would be starting for the second semester of ninth grade, or the first of tenth, and are looking at various curriculum options. We want it to be accredited, and keep track of grades and transscripts, etc, etc.

 

So, the places we have considered are as followed: Bridgeway Academy, University of Indiana High School, Keystone High School, Laurel Springs, North Dakota Center for Distance Education, MU High School, Northstar, and CMA of Arts and Sciences.

 

Has anyone heard of or used these schools before? Do you have any opinions or recommendations??

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

[MomsintheGarden]

I have not used any of the programs you listed, but you might want to put American School on your list. It's accredited, easy to complete with limited time, and friends of our used it with several of their children.

 

http://www.americanschoolofcorr.com/

 

Best wishes in your studies,

GardenMom

[milkchocolate]

Thanks, I'll look into it! :)

 

Does anyone else know of any good programs/ have reviews of the programs I have mentioned?

[Ellie]

Of the ones you mentioned, my choice would be between Bridgeway and Laurel Springs. IMHO, those two are really more homeschool-y. Don't know if I can explain that or not, lol.

 

You should understand that schools are accredited; curriculum is not. It's a fine point, but it is one that you should still understand.

 

Another choice would be Clonlara. It was an actual campus school, but its homebased program is infintely flexible, moreso than Bridgeway and Laurel Springs. Both of those are flexible in the sense that you have a choice of textbooks and whatnot; Clonlara if flexible in the sense that you plan your high school experience and earn credit which may or may not use textbooks at all.

[milkchocolate]

We did look at Clonlara, but the fact that we would have to plan out the curriculum made it a no-go. We want something planned for us, with a little bit of room to move around (AKA the textbook choices), but not have to log on at certain times during the day, or submit lessons at a certain time everyday, etc, because it has to work around my training schedule, and be asynchronous in that sense.

We would be using the curriculum through the school - teacher-led, transcripts recorded by them, so that I can end up with a diploma.

My only concern with Bridgeway is the Christian element, because that definitely seems to be a really good option. Would the biology be based off of creation and such? I want to work in medicine, and am concerned that that is going to hinder the process.

 

Thanks for your help! :)

Edited October 23, 2011 by milkchocolate
spelling error

[Ellie]

We did look at Clonlara, but the fact that we would have to plan out the curriculum made it a no-go. We want something planned for us, with a little bit of room to move around (AKA the textbook choices), but not have to log on at certain times during the day, or submit lessons at a certain time everyday, etc, because it has to work around my training schedule, and be asynchronous in that sense.

We would be using the curriculum through the school - teacher-led, transcripts recorded by them, so that I can end up with a diploma.

My only concern with Bridgeway is the Christian element, because that definitely seems to be a really good option. Would the biology be based off of creation and such? I want to work in medicine, and am concerned that that is going to hinder the process.

 

Thanks for your help! :)

You might want to define your terms a little more to help your search.

 

What you're looking for is an accredited distance-learning or correspondence school, not an accredited curriculum (curriculum is never accredited; schools are).

 

Yes, it is probable that Bridgeway's science will be creation versus evolution; thousands of Christian doctors have not found that to be a hindrance to their professions. However, if it is problematic for you, then you'll probably not want any distance-learning school that is faith-based.

 

Laurel Springs is not faith-based. It has textbook-based as well as on-line options.

[daveswife]

Hello Milkchocolate,

 

You may want to take a look at http://www.oakmeadow.com/school/courses.php. I've not enrolled my children in their school, but have used a couple of their syllabi. The tution for full-time high school enrollment is fairly steep, but if money is not an issue, I believe that this school could provide exactly the type of education you're looking for.

 

Carrie

Edited October 24, 2011 by daveswife
correct link

[cbollin]

My only concern with Bridgeway is the Christian element, because that definitely seems to be a really good option. Would the biology be based off of creation and such? I want to work in medicine, and am concerned that that is going to hinder the process.

 

Thanks for your help! :)

 

I would contact Bridgeway and ask them how they encourage a student to handle that situation. They do seem to be interested in student athletes. It does look like it fits your needs.

 

This is a guess. Most medical biology has little to do with age of earth issues or if it was created or just randomly happened. As long as the texts are giving information how the body functions, has the genetics information, etc. I wouldn't think it hinder a college application to a pre med program. They seem to offer several biology with honors/AP prep going on. But even if you score high on AP exam for pre med, some universities still want their students who are majoring in pre med or biology to still take the freshman level courses. The AP credit sometimes gets applied to general electives for majors. It will vary by university of course. I'm just thinking out loud that it probably won't matter that much for high school text?

 

Contact Bridgeway's admissions and ask them how others have experienced it.

 

-crystal

[milkchocolate]

Thanks all for so much help! I'll definitely be looking at these websites and taking your information into my decision! :)

[Candid]

I'd also encourage you to evaluate carefully if you need an accredited school. Most colleges accept home schoolers and I suspect those who have hoops will still except anyone doing distance learning whether with an accredited program or not to jump through those hoops.

 

If you find you can remove this stipulation, you'll find a lot more flexibility.

[In The Great White North]

I'd also encourage you to evaluate carefully if you need an accredited school.

 

Why do you want an accredited school? Is it for your state? college applications? the NCAA?

 

I ask because each has different requirements (with the NCAA usually being the most picky.) It would be a good idea to sit down and look at:

 

- the NCAA requirements (if you plan to do gymnastics in college,)

- the entrance requirements for a couple of colleges that sound interesting (most don't actually require accreditation) and

- your state's minimum requirements before finalizing your decision.

 

You might also want to investigate other subjects, like you are doing with biology.

[Nan in Mass]

You might want to post here specifically asking about different programs. For example, I know some people here have done Keystone courses (because I remember hearing them mentioned). You could post a title saying "Keystone?" Then in the message, you could ask things like:

"What do you like or not like about Keystone courses?"

"How much time did they require daily?"

"Were they easy to contact? Did they aswer questions quickly?"

"What format were the tests? Multiple choice? Short answer? Essay? Was partial credit given?"

"Were there textbooks or was it online?"

"Did you feel the grading was fair?"

"What sort of feedback on your work were you given? Were there lots of teacher comments?"

"What happens if you get stuck? Is it easy to get help right away?"

"How is the work turned in?"

"Were the courses interesting?"

"Does the school do guidance counciling, things like advising which AP or SAT2s to take, help applying to colleges, and letters of recommendation?"

Etc.

It is hard to answer very general questions on this board. You are more apt to get answers if you ask more specific questions.

 

The other thing you might want to do is check to see if there are boards or discussion groups associated with each curriculum. Just as this board was set up to help people who are doing The Well Trained Mind curriculum (although lots of other people post too), other curriculums also have their own boards. You will find more people using each of those curriculums on those boards.

 

My children did gymnastics. I think you are wise to look for something that is all planned out for you.

 

If you are non-religious, you may have trouble with some of the religious-based curriculums. I did not realize how much religion influences the perspective, the bias of history texts, and literature choices, and other things. We have found some of the conservative Christian curriculums unusable. I wouldn't have minded a few bible quotes here and there, but it went much deeper than that. Some have political agendas. We are coming from an especially liberal point of view, religiously, though. You may be just fine. You just have to investigate carefully.

 

You will want to look at the different tracks of the program and what they require. If you want to go to college, you will need to be careful to do a college prep track, not just the minimum track. Balancing gymnastics and college prep will be a challenge, but homeschooling should help you to work on school more efficiently.

 

HTH

Nan

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Have you looked at your state laws for homeschooling and for if high school work done at home will be accepted? Some states we lived in would take no homeschool credits for students after 8th grade.

 

If this is the case where you live it might narrow the choices. You may need to concentrate on correspondence schools or distance education for high school rather than "homeschooling". Does your state have any charter schools that are cyber schools or that incorporate homeschooling.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Sebastian (a lady)

[Jaybee]

I have twin daughters who used all online classes for their freshman year (5 classes each). One used Keystone, and the other used North Dakota. They both enjoyed their respective programs in general. We moved and they are attending a small private international school now. However, if we had continued to homeschool them for high school, one says she would have stayed with Keystone, and the other says she would have switched to Keystone. And they would have done full online rather than any correspondence (we did a mixture that first year to get a feel for both). Our oldest child did one year of Northstar.

 

Northstar would be hard to do if you have a busy travel and training schedule. It was very intensive, and at least at that time, was more time-oriented. If you get behind with Northstar, it is very hard to catch up. The administration and faculty were great to work with, and the teachers really sought to build a relationship with the students. But the system was more cumbersome. There was no busywork--all the assignments were good. But it was a very heavy load, at least for my son, who admittedly had some organizational challenges. This was in 2001, so things may have changed, but I believe it is still very heavy. The positive (and negative for our son because he spent too much time with it) of Northstar is the online interaction with the other students in your classes; but you have to have students at close to the same place in the courses to do that (i.e., class "discussions"), hence the time-orientation. It is important with Northstar for you to be very well organized and on top of things at all times.

 

The daughter who used North Dakota says there was a lot of memorization at times, and she would have preferred more thinking through things as an approach rather than the rote.

 

I preferred Keystone because it is so well organized, and is not more complicated computer-system-wise than it needs to be to get the job done. My daughter did the honors English for 9th grade, and I thought it was an excellent course with interesting assignments. She really enjoyed that class as well as the art and music appreciation class. When she didn't understand something her English teacher kept asking her to do in her writing, she finally wrote and just told her, "I don't know what you are wanting. Could you please explain more what you are looking for?" The teacher did so, and was very supportive. DD learned a lot. Tests are all open book, but require work and are not easy. This did not hinder DD in later test-taking. Rather, the tests themselves were learning activities. Keystone is a secular school; I would have loved to have something like Northstar in Keystone form. DD was not really interested in online relationships, so I do not know what kind of online interaction they have between students. But you can start a course at any time of the year, and have one full year in which to finish it. You can also finish one quickly, but must take at least 8 weeks to do so.

 

I know this is long, but I hope it helps. Oh, and as you probably know, all three of these are accredited.

[milkchocolate]

Wow, Jaybee, thanks for such a great response! Thanks for so much information, it was definitely helpful, and really will help me with my decision.

 

Thanks to everyone else, too, really, this is all great information for me. :)