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Does anyone know anything about Laurel Springs School?


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Thank you for the link. I have read through those reviews before but did so again. However most of those reviews are from 10 years ago and I guess I was just hoping for more recent experiences. Surely a school that claims to have somewhere in between 2-3 thousand students would have more people commenting on the Internet. Anyway thanks for taking the time to post the link, I appreciate it.

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Many of their students are very busy people. They actively market to high level gymnasts, dancers, and kids doing other intensive sports and also actors, singers, etc. They are designed to be able to take your kids out of public school and allow them to be educated in a few hours so they can spend the rest of their time working on whatever it is that takes the majority of their time. I think that might be one reason why you don't see a lot of reviews.

 

Anyway, my cousin was a high level gymnast and by 7th grade being in school and working out at the gym so many hours just wasn't working. So they recommended my cousins pull her out and use Laurel Springs. That was the gyms *only* recommendation and pretty much all the high level girls were using (or soon started to use) Laurel Springs. They had no problem with it. My cousin did her work very quickly and it actually allowed her to take up a hobby other than gymnastics for the first time in her life (knitting). She used it for 2 or 3 years and then went back into public school at some point in high school. The high school schedule worked fine with her gynastics schedule. She's in her second year of college now so it was a bit ago she was Laurel Springs. Their only complaint was they used Saxon Math and for some reason it confused my cousin completely and she struggled with math (a subject she had previously been strong on) from then until the end of high school when she got it figured out.

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I haven't used it but I know 2 families who do/have and liked it. I think both were doing the gifted program so I don't know if that makes it a lot different or not. One family had been unschooler/delight directed and, initially, the mom and daughter had to adjust to "having to do the work" and "checking in". They made the adjustment, however, and are as happy as unschoolers can be with such a program. (In this case, the Dad was insisting on an accredited high school program.) The other family only did one year but the mom told me that she didn't leave bc she thought there was a problem with the program itself. She is a Charlotte Mason homeschooler and decided that she was confident enough now to plan her own program for her very self-directed daughter.

 

I have not heard anything bad about Laurel Springs from either family.

 

HTH,

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We are currently using Laurel Springs and like it. We are Americans living in Australia. Laurel Springs is giving us the opportunity for my DD to obtain a US diploma, in case she decides to attend university in the US. It also gives us some credibility if she goes to university here.

 

My daughter is also a competitive athlete (equestrian). There is no way she could attend a B&M school and school three horses, take lessons and compete as much as she does.

 

DD struggles with math and the school has been brilliant in helping us find a program that best suits her.

 

We struggled along with me teaching her through her freshman year and decided it wasn't working because we weren't getting the work done. Mostly my fault!

 

So, for us, it's been a very positive experience.

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I have no experience with them, but through them discovered Oak Meadow curriculum. That got me wondering why I should go with them and not with OM for accreditation (if I went that route.) I didn't see any problem with their program but do notice from the emails the push of "look what our students do,"

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  • 6 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

DD goes to Laurel Springs online school. She is in their gifted program. She is in her 2nd year with them. It is expensive, but I think the school is worth the price. The teachers are very responsive to me when I have a question or if they have a concern. The administration is weak. Last year they pulled a class from DD's class list before she completed it which complicated her enrollment for the next year, and consequently she has to repeat a class she almost completed. Fortunately, it was just a college goals class and a minor detail. I would highly recommend this school, just pay attention to the administration and you're going to be OK. I plan to send my youngest though this program as well. I chose this school because DD wants to go to a "Good" college, and I knew I wasn't up to the task.

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  • 5 weeks later...
Guest la2austin

TRUSTING LAUREL SPRINGS WITH MY SON'S EDUCATION WAS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE.  My son needed one course to graduate and was referred by Beverly Hills High School to complete the class at Laurel Springs.  My son worked day and night, and the entire family monitored him closely.  He was on the last lesson before the final, his completion bar was at 84%, and we were all very excited about it.  About a week before the deadline and as he was preparing to take the final, his LS counselor reached out to me for the first time ever to say he was only 13% complete.  In shock, we rushed to the computer to find everything had changed.  Instead of 8 lessons, there were 18, and nearly all the grades he received for his work which I had seen with my own eyes, were almost wiped clean except for two lessons.  My son had no choice but to start again from the beginning after I begged the school district to extend the deadline to finish the course.  Unbelievably, when he was almost finished, it happened again.  He was on lesson 15, two lessons to go, then the final and 10 days before the new deadline.  They said he was only 21% complete and hadn't logged on in several weeks, while I saw him working on their website everyday, often 14 hours a day.  The school was very dismissive and refused to give a refund, even though my son will not receive his diploma because of their flawed system.  The most laughable thing, even though I could cry, is that they claim that they were monitoring him very closely.  The only time his counselor ever reached out to me is just days before his target deadline to say he was on the beginning lessons, WHICH HE WAS NOT.  I wish I had never heard of Laurel Springs, and now, my son's life will be impacted by it forever.  

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Having not been on the forums for months, I thought this thread would have been buried! However since it is still going I thought I would give an update.

My dd10 has now been attending Laurel Springs for 5 months. She is enrolled in a mix of 6th and 7th grade courses. I can not say enough about how wonderful Laurel Springs is. My daughter is thriving. It definitely is doing school at home but that suits her. She is doing the online program, was placed in courses based on her ability, has constant contact with teachers, gets written feedback on assignments, has a choice of assessment options so she can chose one to suit her learning style. I could go on and on with all the positive things about Laurel Springs.

I'm sorry the previous poster had a bad experience but we think laurel Springs is fantastic for our needs and situation. If anyone wants any more information please feel free to get in touch!

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  • 2 months later...

My dc's have attended Laurel Springs for the last two years (7th and 8th) and will continue to the high school. Keep in mind that LSS has two divisions: Laurel Springs School and Laurel Springs Academy for the Gifted and Talented. The Academy is more expensive but offers additional services: they have a dedicated (and, in our experience, excellent) faculty and -- amazingly! -- will customize curriculum to enrich or tailor to students' intellectual interests or learning style, as long as the customized program meets their standards for rigor and doesn't conflict with accreditation rules. So, for instance, we were able to substitute Jacobs' Geometry for the standard textbook. On another occasion, we abandoned the English 8th grade textbook for creative assignments (created by the teacher) on novels, plays, and poetry. The teachers have been excellent and have real time to devote to the students. The work (at least in the courses we have chosen) is primarily written, and only rarely multiple-choice; the assignments (at least in HS Honors classes) involve quite a lot of lengthy and fairly complex essays and outstanding readings. My dc's work above grade level in many subjects, and that increases the rigor as well: as a 7th grader, ds read "The Odyssey" in full, and as an 8th grader, he read Kafka's "Metamorphosis" among other things.

 

For all these reasons, the school is VERY different than other online providers we used: K12.com, Apex, and (shudder) Aventa. That said, it IS a homeschooling model -- you have to be prepared to teach mostly on your own (IME). The teachers definitely can teach, but they fill more of a supervisory role than a daily role, if that makes sense. LSS does permit unlimited acceleration (whether in the regular or Academy division): if your 7th grade dc is ready for 10th grade math, s/he can take it.

 

The negative comment above about the computer assignments does not reflect our experience. Still, we do back up any substantial work rather than relying entirely on the online platform.

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  • 1 month later...
 
 

With the exception of math, my daughter is a full time student at LS. Honestly, if you are good with homeschooling I would not recommend it. We chose it because we were new to homeschooling and liked the idea of an accredited diploma being that we were starting in High School. I do think it is necessary for us - I doubt I would be good at assigning things and making her do them if she didn't like them, so having outside teachers and things she must complete for her to finish the course is really good for us. If you are looking for a rigorous HS curriculum that you don't have to design and you want HS counselors and teachers that aren't you, then it is a good option. But if you are fine with being a full-fledged homeschooler and you can do that, then it probably isn't worth the money. For the record, my kid is currently feeling 'screwed over' by LS, because they are going back on their word of allowing her to take outside courses and having them put on her transcript. Because it is a school, there are graduation requirements and she currently is behind on the requirements because they won't transfer her courses on to her transcript.. :cursing:  Sigh..

 
 
 
 
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Is there anywhere to see what materials are actually used in each grade? 

 

 

I am assuming you mean the LS courses, and in that case, you can see what textbooks and books they use for each course. You just have to go to their website course descriptions. DD is currently taking a science course that is online, and it is the keystone layout... I also know that their AP bio is k12, so they use a lot of other online school courses, apparently!

 
 
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Thinking of using them for Biology next year for DD.  Any comments about holding the student's interest?

 

I was also looking at Elemental Science's new Biology offering.  A little worried since it is the first year though.

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Thinking of using them for Biology next year for DD.  Any comments about holding the student's interest?

 

I was also looking at Elemental Science's new Biology offering.  A little worried since it is the first year though.

 

My daughter really liked the 'biojournal' section of the biology course, which was a warm-up assignment for each text based lesson (not sure if it is on the online lessons). She didn't like the labs very much, but in all honesty I think it is hard to enjoy them when you aren't in a school setting or don't have a parent who can help create a setting in which the lab is fun.. lol 

 

 
 
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  • 3 years later...

Reviving this old post. Any newer experiences?

 

We have a few friends who use it, and everyone is raving about it. So we are thinking to enroll our athlete daughter for high school starting September. She is going to do a placement test next week (since we have been hs, they require to determine where she is at...), but before we do final commitment, I would love to hear any good or bad reviews.

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Reviving this old post. Any newer experiences?

 

We have a few friends who use it, and everyone is raving about it. So we are thinking to enroll our athlete daughter for high school starting September. She is going to do a placement test next week (since we have been hs, they require to determine where she is at...), but before we do final commitment, I would love to hear any good or bad reviews.

I'd like to hear any recent feedback, too.
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  • 3 weeks later...

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. 

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