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Talk to me about online (high school level) classes


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A local friend of mine is going completely online via Penn Foster.  
(For anyone that knows, is there a track other than "general studies" with them?  All I can find are classes like "Applied Math", "General English", etc. which is usually short-hand for classes-for-kids-who-can't-do-gradelevel-work.  Worrisome to me because her boys might not be gifted exactly, but they ARE above average).  

 

I've also poked around at Veritas Press, Oak Meadow, K-12, and Connections Academy.  I'm not sure I want to do everything (anything? lol) online, but I'm exploring.  

 

Back Story:

After hanging out at the movies this weekend with a bunch of kids from his class at school (we pulled him out of 7th grade, he's just finished 8th), Buck expressed the frustration of dealing with a group of junior high kids and said he's pretty sure he doesn't know these kids anymore.  

"I've been gone too long, Mom.  I don't know how to relate to the them anymore."  

We had been looking at doing part-time enrollment to pick up things like Spanish or Biology, but he's not so sure about that anymore.  He doesn't think he can sit in a classroom with these people until they get some maturity.  Which cracks me up, btw, as he's not exactly the most mature kid either ;) but I will say, he is starting to get that presence-of-self that homeschooled high schoolers tend to have.

 

 

So, that circles me back to my questions.

What have your experiences been with online classes?  What age do you think is appropriate to do a first?  Are there classes that lend better to first-timers?  Anyone have experience with any of the above schools?  

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The online classes we do are with our registered board.  My teens started last year, as did my ds10.  Ds takes junior classes which are designed to be parent & child together (ages 9-12), then they have their older kid classes for ages 13+.  I will say our experiences have been good.  My kids primarily study literature  (online classes for lit are a great way to incorporate socratic discussion with a larger group sharing ideas rather than just with mom, leaving you with just the 2 points of view rather than a dozen kwim) with those classes though this year dd14 has also been doing latin study.  For dd14 who actually participates in class and studies outside of class time it has been a great fit.  For ds15 who merely tolerates the class and does not contribute it has been good but in a much lesser way for him.  For ds10, who has me scribe into the text chat all his contributions since he has anxiety about talking with the mic in class, it is somewhere in between.  It has been a good enough experience for the last 2 years that dd14 is considering doing a Lukeion online class (not one of the languages but one or more of the shorter term courses).  

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For Biology, Elemental Science is starting high school level classes this year.

 

http://www.elementalscience.com/high-school-courses/

 

I signed T up for the Physical Science class, but we don't have any experience yet. They use the Macaw edition of Miller & Levine, which is a secular, well-regarded public school text.

 

I signed T up for Spanish 2 at Landry Academy, but this recommendation comes with some major caveats. First, the class only meets for 1.5 hours once a week although it does have online listening exercises to do on your own. But, if you don't speak Spanish (or any of the other 10 or so languages they offer) I would hire a tutor instead of trying to do this online. It will keep us on track and motivate T to study to get good grades (because she loves to get a 100 on an online quiz), but I'm not sure it would work well if you don't have someone who can explain and practice with you irl.

 

Another caveat is that they use BJU. We've been doing the Spanish 1 book to get ready and the grammar instruction is solid and in nice, bite-sized chunks. The author did a good job of breaking things down into manageable pieces (compared to Destinos). However, their cultural notes range from somewhat skewed to outright bigoted (the comments on Catholicism beggared belief). This didn't matter much to me because we either skipped them or read them and discussed (this gave T a window into the thought processes of the irl evangelical protestants she knows which she hadn't understood before). I guess they served as reverse cultural notes for us. The second edition may be better, but I got the first edition for free which is another reason we're using it. There are other online classes out there, but most also use either BJU or Abeka.

 

Landry is the cheapest option among the big live class providers if you buy generic semesters when they go on sale. I got mine at Christmas, so I'm paying about $160 per semester per class. I chose Landry at first because they use Michael Clay Thompson and Lightning Lit for their middle school level English classes. We love MCT and the book list for LL 8 is very good imho. You'll have to judge for yourself what you're looking for in an online class. I'm looking for live discussion, a schedule we must follow, outside accountability to minimize conflict about work requirements and a social outlet for T that she enjoys. If she didn't like her online classes, we wouldn't do them.

 

Another option that doesn't have live meetings, but is accredited and accepted for a-g requirements is BYU online. Their materials look completely secular and they include everything in their course price, which is very reasonable. I haven't used them, but I might in the future.

 

There's also Virtual Homeschool Group that offers some self-paced courses for Saxon Math and Apologia science. The Saxon Algebra 1 is very nicely done with online video explanations, online practice sets and tests. They also have some live classes, but T hasn't done any of them yet. Honestly, this is one of the best finds out there. I'm very impressed that they offer these classes for free and did such a nice job setting them up.

 

T started taking classes in 4th grade at Athena's Academy. They started as an online provider of socratic discussion classes for gifted elementary students, but they've branched out into higher level classes. They're not as formal as The Potter's School or Landry or Kolbe, etc. and they don't give grades. The teachers and other students are enthusiastic about the topics and are well prepared for class. G3 Online is a similar school with a complementary course offering to Athena's.

 

If you search around the WTM site, you'll find lots of discussion of online options. I hope you can find something Buck and you both like.

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We've been doing a mix for three years now, no regrets.

 

I wouldn't want to do a full course line-up, but mine have done Latin and history/lit with great satisfaction.  It does tie you down to a schedule, but the quality of instruction is superior to what they'd get from just me or from the vast majority of paid local classes.  

 

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We are about to finish AOPS online class that is chat-based. It's been a good experience since the graders for the written math portion take the time to let us know how DD's explanation can be improved. Highly logical, systematic reasoning required with points deducted for style and content. Anyway, that's the best part. The worst part is the chat-based format. I don't like it at all. So for the following year, I've only signed up for online classes that are video-based. DD is young and just can't type as fast as the older kids. We are going to practice typing over the summer. I've signed up for Professor Gamache's Spanish class rather than Ray Levine's class as we really need more conversational time and can't afford Levine's fees for just Spanish 1 but will eventually have to fork it out for AP Spanish. I went with Lukeion's Latin for the face time rather than with other providers. And, for the summer we will be trying out G3, and I think it is with video. I'm still on the fence with Ancient Greek as I don't think DD can handle the workload with Lukeion but there is clrchomeschool.com which seems less demanding and is video-based. The teacher does not require online work, just the book and a weekly scan of homework.

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We've done a mix with our eldest child. Second child is going full time online starting this coming September. I don't know how she'll like it as she doesn't like being in front of a computer, but she's done some classes before and was okay with them.

 

We chose to go with Kolbe Academy.

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We used two classes from North Dakota Centere for Distance Education (NDCDE) this year - forensics and AP Computer Science. Both classes were very good and well organized. Instructors were very available, even with the difference in Time zones, for phone calls or online chat as well as email.

 

They have most of the high school courses available online as well as lots of middle school courses, I would use them again without hesitation.

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There's also Virtual Homeschool Group that offers some self-paced courses for Saxon Math and Apologia science. The Saxon Algebra 1 is very nicely done with online video explanations, online practice sets and tests. They also have some live classes, but T hasn't done any of them yet. Honestly, this is one of the best finds out there. I'm very impressed that they offer these classes for free and did such a nice job setting them up.

 

 

My daughter has done their live classics book club for two years (great book selection, led by a high school student so they do sometimes veer off topic, but it was a good introduction to the books--my daughter likes it), self-paced algebra 1 (just finishing, she likes their voicethread lectures better than the Art Reed videos we did last year), a live lit class on the effects of inequality on literature and culture (good class), and live Spanish 1 (with the teacher from www.spanish-clicks.com, who volunteered to teach 2 sections of Spanish 1---my daughter enjoyed it and seems to have good retention). Our biggest expense was buying the Spanish text with online material, which ran about $100. These were all high school level classes. I am very pleased with our experiences, with my only caveats being that they don't put out a schedule until mid-summer, which makes planning a bit difficult, and a number of the courses are very Christian-specific, which doesn't work for us. We will definitely be doing the self-paced algebra 2 next year, but not sure what else will be offered yet for live courses. I'm hopeful that the person who had intended to do a government and econ class last year but couldn't may do it this year, as that would tie in well to our face-to-face co-op.

 

She just finished up the 6 week free digital learning class from www.homespun-school.net. It's asynchronous, but she really enjoyed it--very creative, learned some new web tools that will apply to other classes, and if the student scores highly enough in a class (even the free one), they get a $50 credit toward another class (regular price about $180 per semester). I'm keeping the world literature and/or Shakespeare classes on our short list of options for next year, though there may not be time for it. They also have classes on the Cold War, money, and programming, with notes that they are developing others. The free class is a pre-req for all their other courses, and is offered several times a year.

 

This year, we will be trying out two new online options. First, our local school system has offered homeschoolers access to their Apex Learning online self-paced classes, 2 a semester, so we're going to give those a shot, as we will also get teacher support and access to their labs. Second, we're starting next week with Harari College Worldwide harari.edu.pl. First will be a two-week live online study skills class, then she'll be doing Spanish 2. Their semesters run oddly---June 16-Sept 22, Oct-Jan, Feb-May---but they offer lots of AP classes, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies, European studies, several languages, pre-AP English, pre-AP history, etc  all live and for free. If Spanish goes well, I can see working with them much more extensively. I do find it a bit aggravating trying to plan with them, as information so far has come in dribs and drabs. I'm hopeful that that will not be the case in the fall, especially once we're more "in the system" and get used to how they work, as I'm really excited that she will get to be in classes with kids from literally all over the world. I'm holding my breath a bit on both of these options, as they seem a bit too good to be true, but I felt like that with VHG as well, and it has worked out fine. 

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omg total facepalm moment.  I didn't even consider the distance ed classes the kids do online from Alberta distance learning.  Because those are done in their own time they are so different to me from their real time online classes so I didn't even think of them when I considered the online my kids do.  They are doing mainly the courses that the gov't demands they finish in order to graduate but that I hate the course requirements for (like social studies) and electives that have almost no hands on

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First, I personally love hearing about new ones.  So I'll paste a link to the harvey center.  I know, through years of online acquaintance, several of the Harvey Center teachers.  They are indeed passionate about learning and teaching.   Tina in Ouray who used to post here is the logic teacher and Beth in Mint Hill started the center and teaches Latin at least.  I think last year was their first year.  My children have not taken any classes there, so I can't tell you any more.  

 

http://www.harveycenter.org/

 

I used Laurel Tree Tutorials when the owner was in college and my son grew so much in that class. 

 

I've used The Potters School for Advanced Composition.  It was the right choice that year for that child, but I prefer a different direction in writing so probably won't use their writing again.

 

My son is signed up for AP Homeschoolers AP English Language this year.

 

I have only used online courses for writing because funds are very limited and writing is my weakest area.  Each child has taken only one online class as a junior or senior.  

 

 

Kendall 

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Just to clarify my comments about The Potters School.  The class was well run, the teacher was kind and gave plentiful feedback and the quantity of assignments was what I wanted (something nearly every week).  I just prefer a less strict writing instruction rather than: no sentence can begin with an article, no being verbs-laxed only a little near the end-, must have a clincher sentence and arch sentence, etc..  My goal is to get my children writing well enough for an online AP class without needing an online class before that.  With my 3rd I have finally accomplished that.  I wasn't there yet with my 2nd and he needed the Adv. Comp his senior year.  I don't regret it; it was the right choice for the time.

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Just to clarify my comments about The Potters School.  The class was well run, the teacher was kind and gave plentiful feedback and the quantity of assignments was what I wanted (something nearly every week).  I just prefer a less strict writing instruction rather than: no sentence can begin with an article, no being verbs-laxed only a little near the end-, must have a clincher sentence and arch sentence, etc..  My goal is to get my children writing well enough for an online AP class without needing an online class before that.  With my 3rd I have finally accomplished that.  I wasn't there yet with my 2nd and he needed the Adv. Comp his senior year.  I don't regret it; it was the right choice for the time.

 

Kendall, my son's AP English Language teacher spent some time working with the kids to avoid formulaic approaches. For example, for the rhetorical analysis essays, the students were discouraged from using the usual, "Author uses rhetorical devices a, b, and c to accomplish d." 

 

One of the students wrote a very moving wrap-up for the class stating how she had come into it knowing only how to do the formulas and gimmicks, which had actually become an impediment to her thought process, and that she was now a much more natural and competent writer.

 

I think you are on target for your goal.

 

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Lisa,

 

Thank you for sharing this!!  I keep getting little hints here and there that I am on the right track, and they are so encouraging.  It was just a gut feeling at first.  I'm no writing expert nor am I a writing teacher and it helps so much to have this confirmed.  Stay the course!

 

Kendall 

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Glad I read both of your posts! Thanks :thumbup1:  . . . Kendall, Thanks for the heads up about the Harvey Center.

Lisa,

 

Thank you for sharing this!!  I keep getting little hints here and there that I am on the right track, and they are so encouraging.  It was just a gut feeling at first.  I'm no writing expert nor am I a writing teacher and it helps so much to have this confirmed.  Stay the course!

 

Kendall 

 

 

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My son will be taking Latin 1 in the fall through the Harvey Center. While I can't yet comment on the course, I will comment that Beth has been very helpful and responsive to multiple emails. She really went out of her way to help me decide if this would be the best course for my son.

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My eldest finished her high school degree at University of Missouri High School.  https://muhigh.missouri.edu/ She went from the end of 11th grade to having completed all requirements for their high school degree and being a first time college freshman over the course of a summer. She moved into the college dorm Fall of 2008 and graduated from high school Spring of 2009.  You can also do single HS and college credit courses.  I know people who used it for credit recovery, for courses not available at their school, and for getting college credits. 

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