Favorite online providers?

[Janeway]

I know there is a list that is pinned above. But I would love to hear people's opinions, experiences, and so on. I see tons of online providers, and they all look so good. But it comes down to, which one would fit us best? So if you give a review, please be specific. And if you are not comfy posting in the open, feel free to PM me.

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used Derek Owens for Physics in 9th grade.  Here's my review:

 

A little background on our middle school science studies:  We used a combination of Science Explorer, Exploration Education, and TOPS attempting to create a balance of textbook reading and hands-on experiments.

 

For 9^th grade, we used Derek Owen’s Physics class for distance learners.  The website is www.derekowens.com.  The cost of the class was $58/mo with a $15 registration fee.

 

Pros:

• Even before payment, sample lectures and syllabus are available on the website.  The syllabus provides clear assignments and deadlines for the entire year.
• User-friendly and well-organized website.
• Able to access the entire year’s course with first payment.
• Videos provide instruction with an electronic blackboard, Derek’s voice is very pleasant, and some of his graphics are amusing.
• Student Workbooks are filled in as student watches the lecture, keeping them engaged.
• Homework, labs, and tests are emailed/faxed in and graded by someone other than mom.
• Homework, labs, and tests are returned to student and parent generally within 24hrs along with cumulative grade report.
• Only one lab item, an equilateral triangular prism, had to be ordered.  The rest of the lab supplies were on hand or easy to find locally.  10 labs total.
• Instructor generally answered questions via email within 24 hours.
• The course is based on Giancolli’s Physics text (usually used for AP Physics B), but adapted to be more accessible for those who want to study physics at a high school level (ie, not AP level).
• Regular and Honors options available.  The student is allowed to try out the Honors option for a month or longer, and switch to the Regular option if desired.  Ds took the Honors option and it was challenging for him.  With 20/20 hindsight, it might have been better to stick with the Regular option for 9^th grade.
• Monthly payments (as opposed to payment in full in spring for fall start).  We were able to pay for August through November, take December off, and January through May.

• Nearly secular.  Section 10.5.3 (The End of the Universe) makes it not 100% secular.

 

Cons:

• Solutions to the practice problems and tests are available to the student on the website.  I would prefer that they were available to the parent, but not the student.
• Test review would be helpful.  Test review was provided for the 2 semester exams.  I re-used (or pre-used) these problems for the chapter tests.

 

Overall, I found Derek Owens pleasant to work with, professional, and accommodating.  For example, with the first payment, we were able to access the entire year’s course including the tests.  Having the tests easily accessible made me uncomfortable.  When I approached the subject with Mr Owens, he offered to make them unavailable for my student.  Occasionally, Mr Owens would send a video with the solution to a particularly challenging homework problem (after homework had been submitted and graded).  At times, my son was given the “opportunity†to re-submit homework and re-take (alternate version) tests.  I highly recommend Derek Owens high school Physics course.

 

Edited July 30, 2016 by Sue in St Pete

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used The Potters School for 9th grade Java class.  Here is my review:

 

Ds took Java with Rich Yonts through the Potter’s School for a 9^th grade elective.  TPS website is http://www.pottersschool.org.  I also participated in the class (I am a programmer by trade with out-of-date skills).  There were 13 students in the class.  We met weekly for 1.5 hours using TPS classroom software that allows students to see the teacher’s desktop, chat in a textbox, and use a microphone to speak (though no one did).  The teacher presents the lesson using a PowerPoint presentation for slides, an editor for programming code, and Paint for diagrams and pictures.

 

Pros:

• Not time consuming
• Syllabus provided at beginning of year with all reading and assignments specified
• Instructor was prepared every week with a PowerPoint presentation and lecture
• Instructor as a person was kind, caring, personable, and friendly
• Instructor as a teacher was organized, enthusiastic, and well qualified
• Instructor provided thorough responses to questions via email
• Instructor graded and provided meaningful feedback on 7 homework assignments.
• Nearly secular (short prayer at the beginning of class)

 

Cons:

• Verbose text – 1100+ pages
• Covered 12 out of 25 chapters.  Being a homeschooler, I’m used to finishing the book. Covering half is horrifying to me.
• Did not cover input/output to files.  Something I consider essential.
• Had this been a core class, I would have been uncomfortable assigning a full credit.  Ds probably only spent 1 hour per day during each 2 weeks we had to complete the 7 assignments.  I felt better assigning a full credit because this is an elective and the material was completely new to ds.  I struggled a bit with the object-oriented portions since I have many years of experience with procedural languages.  Ds struggled as well with many of the totally new concepts.
• While teacher was good about answering questions via email, he did not take time within class to ask for questions or poll the students to see if they were following him.  I think this is a common problem with online classes.  My student (and I know he was not the only one) got lost along the way but would not email a question, and instructor never solicited questions during class.

 

We used this class for an introduction to programming and Java.  In all honesty, I don’t know that I would recommend it as a first introduction to programming.  I think Python or Web Design may have been a better starting point, but the class times wouldn’t fit into our schedule.  Visual Basic would have been another good option, but that is considered a junior high class which made me nervous due to NCAA eligibility.

 

[Sunshine State Sue]

P.S.  I hesitated to post my TPS review.  I wouldn't say it was a favorite online provider, just an online provider.  They offer so many classes, but I've heard good and bad, and it really depends on the teacher, imo.  I've heard outstanding reviews of Nikki Troxel's Advanced Composition class, but I suspect these days they may require pre-requisites that are not so terrific.  I've also heard outstanding reviews of their French classes, but this was years ago, and I can't remember the teacher's name.

[Faithr]

Over our many years of homeschooling, we had not had much success with on line programs with one exception.  Most just didn't seem to work for us.  But we really liked LPH which is as low tech (and as inexpensive!) as you can get and still be on line.  But we found the organization and subject material was great.  My kids took Hebrew Alphabet, Greek Alphabet, Logic and Music Theory.  This is geared for 4th through 8th though you can be older.  

 

At the high school level:  Last year we tried Homeschool Connections and the kids really enjoyed it.  So my dd this year is going to taking her English classes from them this coming year as well.

 

Both these programs are Catholic.

 

Update:  I just remembered that my youngest dd took the Europe/Asia geography course from LPH.  She went through a geography loving phase and this was part of that.  She learned a lot.

Edited July 31, 2016 by Faithr

[maize]

Over our many years of homeschooling, we had not had much success with on line programs with one exception.  Most just didn't seem to work for us.  But we really liked LPH which is as low tech (and as inexpensive!) as you can get and still be on line.  But we found the organization and subject material was great.  My kids took Hebrew Alphabet, Greek Alphabet, Logic and Music Theory.  This is geared for 4th through 8th though you can be older.  

 

 

 

This sounds like a great deal, are the classes live or pre-recorded?

[Sunshine State Sue]

Okay.  Here's another online provider I used.  It's kind of a mixed review and it's kinda old.  But, he's still around and has expanded his offerings.  Some of the negatives have been addressed.  I'll post my full review here.  If I had another child, I would seriously consider using this program for junior high.  I would have loved to have completed his 3 year rotation, even though he had my panties in a twist from time to time.  :scared:

 

A little background on our history studies thus far:  We used SOTW in 2^nd-5^th grades and loved it.  We used History Odyssey in 6^th-7^th grade and tolerated it.  In my search for a secular history program that that would not bore ds to death (as I had been bored to death by history all my school years), I found History at our House.

 

History at our House website is http://www.historyatourhouse.com.  The website is difficult to navigate.  Scott Powell teaches history via conference call 4 days/wk, with 1 day devoted to history through art, to students from 2^nd grade through high school.  He teaches in a 3 year rotation:  Ancient History, European History, and American History.  We participated in European History in the 2009-2010 school year and American History in the 2010-2011 school year.  4x per week live participation is available for $75/mo.  1x per week live participation is available for $35/mo.  No live participation (all recordings) is available for $20/mo.  My son is in the junior high class.  He participates live 1x per week.

 

Pros:

• Passionate, knowledgeable (actually brilliant) teacher
• Teacher answers all questions easily
• History through art is outstanding
• Ancillary items (maps, family trees, timelines, pictures)
• History is being logically presented
• Thorough tests (administered and graded by parent with provided grading key)
• Occasional homework assignments (knowledge web, historical dates, written narrations, facts practice, timeline)
• Class notes are nice summary, but arrive late in the week
• Lots of review (due to drawbacks of audio only and no text), but this also insures that students retain more of the information presented
• Respectful of different faiths
• Monthly payments (as opposed to payment in full in spring for fall start)

 

Cons:

• Audio only.  Students don’t know how to spell unfamiliar names/places (ex. Godfrey de Bouillon).  IMO, this makes it difficult to retain information because it’s difficult to remember material that has been presented.
• No text or reference material with a table of contents or index.  IMO, this makes it difficult to retain information because it is difficult to reference material that has been presented.
• Class relies heavily on memorization due to no reference materials.
• Little assistance with supplemental literature
• Regular parent and/or student maintenance needed since many ancillary maps, pictures, timelines, etc. are not available until shortly before class time.  Even class syllabus is not available until first day of class.
• Mapwork seems totally unrelated to lectures
• Home printer gets a workout
• Free technology challenges (speed dialing in the midst of a call, static on the line, noisy surroundings)

 

Both Pro and Con:

• Because there is no text and there is a lot of review, the pace of the class is slow.  The scope and sequence is a fraction of what a typical history class would cover, imo.  OTOH, what the students learn, they retain well because they have repeated it so many times.  Having completed Story of the World, I am saddened to realize that my son will not be exposed again to the Crystal Palace, the Opium Wars, samurais, and more.

 

Overall, I appreciate Scott Powell’s engaging presentation of history.  If I could change one thing about the class, I would use WebEx technology in order to have a whiteboard and in order to have the teacher and all the students able to look at a piece of art, a map, a hierarchy, a timeline, or another image all at the same time.  It would be more professional, would engage my student better, and would help my student to retain more quickly the information that is being presented.  At the same time, I asked my son to rank all his curriculum on a scale of 1-10 at the end of the year.  HaoH received a 10.  High praise, indeed, from a sullen teen.

 

 

Haphazard administration during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 years:

1. Started 2009-2010 with oral narrations.  Had to abandon them eventually because the class got so far behind.
2. Both years, class got far behind and had to skip/skim over several topics in order to catch up.  End of the year leaves a plethora of work to finish.
3. Information/Registration at end of July for September start.  Most online providers provide information/registration in February or March.
4. Syllabus not provided until first day of class both years.
5. During the 2010-2011 school year, Scott had very poor health.  He said his poor health was in part due to taking on too much work, so he decided that in 2011-2012, he would provide live classes for only Upper Elementary and High School.  At the end of July, however, he decided to provide all levels.  This makes me wonder if/how his health will suffer due to overworking again.  He is expanding offerings with music and science, but has not organized history so well yet.
6. Scott decided to move to Asia in the summer of 2011.  After doing so, he decided he could not find a country that was good enough to live in, so he moved back to the US.  Makes me wonder if his haphazard administration is a reflection of his haphazard nature.
7. Scott started an “Honors†History of the Americas class 1x per week in the 2010-2011 school year, but had to abandon it due to poor health.  At least one client had not received a refund 4 months later.

 

Unprofessional behavior:

1. Occasional rants about the sad state of history education in the US or how people don't understand that this country was established as a republic meant to protect individual rights not a democracy.  I think he should share these rants with his wife, his children, his peers, his friends, his acquaintances, but not his students.
2. On the HaoH yahoo group:  Message #59 (June 13, 2008), “…One reason you might want to join <the mailing list> is that many of the books I recommend are older, used books, with few copies available. For those resources, it's first come first served. And believe me, these books knock SOTW out of the park!â€
3. In 2009, on TWTM boards, he trashed SOTW.  I can no longer find the post.  It must have been deleted.  Several people pointed out that it’s impolite to trash the forum owner.

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2016 by Sue in St Pete

[JoJosMom]

We used Derek Owens for Physics in 9th grade.  Here's my review:

 

• Regular and Honors options available.  The student is allowed to try out the Honors option for a month or longer, and switch to the Regular option if desired.  Ds took the Honors option and it was challenging for him.  With 20/20 hindsight, it might have been better to stick with the Regular option for 9^th grade.

 

DD will be taking DO Physics for 9th this year, and we'll have to decide between Regular or Honors.  If I may ask, why do you think regular would be better for 9th?  (ie, was it the level of math required or just overall intensity?)

[Sunshine State Sue]

DD will be taking DO Physics for 9th this year, and we'll have to decide between Regular or Honors.  If I may ask, why do you think regular would be better for 9th?  (ie, was it the level of math required or just overall intensity?)

Hmmm.  I don't think it was the math.  Math is a strong subject for ds.  I think it was just the overall new subject matter.  Ds struggled a bit remembering which formulas did what.  If you would like to see a sample of homework, labs, tests, PM me with your email address.  The cheat sheet of formulas is 2 pages long.  Partially, though, it was ds's work ethic.  I used to say that he was a bright but unmotivated student.  Honors would be better for a motivated student.  Thankfully, that has changed in college. 

 

Also, you do not need to decide at the beginning whether to choose regular or honors.  DO is flexible about it.  So, you can try and see if it's a good fit or not.

 

HTH!

 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Sue in St Pete

[Faithr]

This sounds like a great deal, are the classes live or pre-recorded?

Sorry I couldn't respond earlier, I was shut out of the board since yesterday afternoon!

 

Anyway, the way LPH works is each Monday they send you a lesson.  I always printed them out, 3 hole punched and then put the pages in a binder  But you don't have to do this.  You could just read the stuff on line and take notes or something.  At some point during the week, your student works through the lesson.  They have to then take a quiz and submit it I think by Friday 5 p.m?  I hope I am remembering it correctly. The lessons are really well written to the child.  I think the teacher has genius for breaking things down in a very incremental way.  The student can contact him with any questions.  There is also a very nice student chat room.  Everything is very protected and safe.  Very wholesome place.  Now as I recall Music Theory was a bit different but honestly my kids who took that course were so independent, I was barely involved.  But I think they did more stuff on line with that course.  They had to compose little pieces of music as I recall.

 

My youngest is 15 and the last class she took was in 6th grade.  So it has been a few years.

[RootAnn]

DD will be taking DO Physics for 9th this year, and we'll have to decide between Regular or Honors.  If I may ask, why do you think regular would be better for 9th?  (ie, was it the level of math required or just overall intensity?)

 

My dd#1 is finishing up DO Physics from last year. After the first month, I opted for her to stay in Honors. In hindsight, I should have listened to Sue & kept her in regular. The extra worksheets aren't that much extra work, but the cumulative effect has been to stress her out & everything takes longer overall. I also have an unmotivated (at least for Physics!) student.

 

She's been able to handle the math, but the lack of built-in review almost sunk her completely. I did TRY to get her to use the semester-test-review problems as we went along, but with her lack of time management, those problems were dropped in favor of just getting the regular work done. She failed the midterm & took forever to re-study for it as DO let her have a do-over. I'm not looking forward to studying for the final!!!

 

The honors problems are the last page of each chapter test and they can sometimes be real buggers. There were a couple of tests during the first semester that were nip & tuck on time - and she would have had more buffer to go back & check her other problems if she didn't have that last sheet to do, too.

 

My DD has found the second semester work to be easier than the first semester stuff, although her grades are roughly the same. (Not sure what that says?)

[lisabees]

Sue - wow!  Your post makes me cringe, as I signed dd13 up for HAOH this year.

 

FYI, his classes use Webex now.  I took one of his free classes on Outschool.  It was awesome.  All visuals are there on the screen.  He is on the screen.  Kids can talk or type in order to ask or answer questions.  

 

I hope his health and attitude are doing well now.  Yikes!

 

Oh - I will be supplementing with Oxford University Press books and lit.

 

 

[Sunshine State Sue]

Sue - wow!  Your post makes me cringe, as I signed dd13 up for HAOH this year.

 

FYI, his classes use Webex now.  I took one of his free classes on Outschool.  It was awesome.  All visuals are there on the screen.  He is on the screen.  Kids can talk or type in order to ask or answer questions.

 

Yes, I knew that he had moved to WebEx.  That is terrific.  He used to treat the syllabus as something super secret.  It's nice that it's available upfront now.  I don't know that I've ever posted publicly the last 2 sections of my review before.  It kinda makes me nervous, but it was my experience.

 

Is he doing Ancient, European, or American this year?  Is your dd enrolled in the live classes? 

 

Scott Powell truly is a brilliant teacher.  At one point, he was teaching adult classes as well.  I would love to be in his adult classes.

 

Edited August 2, 2016 by Sue in St Pete

[lisabees]

He is doing European this year.  DD is enrolled in 1 live class plus recordings.  I just cannot afford to do all three lives classes a week.  At this point, she would rather not doing any live classes anyway!  

 

I am very glad that his syllabus is available, so I know how to supplement.

 

 

[Sunshine State Sue]

He is doing European this year.  DD is enrolled in 1 live class plus recordings.

I found that Monday was the best day for 1x a week live because the recordings weren't always posted in a timely manner.  So, if you are doing Wed live, you would have to catch up on the Tuesday class late in the day.  I'll be curious how your dd likes it at the end of the year.