University affiliated online high school classes?

[Momling]

We're trying to decide what to do with our daughter for high school next year.  I'm homeschooling her this year and it's working really well, but my family feels strongly for the need of a high school diploma and some amount of experiences in high school. I spoke with the local high school counselor and they're willing to let her take classes part time, but will not give credit for anything she does that's not through them or an accredited school.  So I think we'll end up in some mixture of part online and part local public high school.  I want to leave as many options open, but we need some flexibility because my daughter travels for tennis tournaments and likes to do some training in the morning and plans on a D1 college... so whatever we do probably should be NCAA approved too.  I've looked at private online programs like Laurel Springs, but it's too expensive, so I'm leaning towards one of the university affiliated programs that seem to run around 200-250 per class.  I'm thinking she might try three classes at the public school and maybe two online (perhaps one over the summer too?) and see what she thinks...  We'd like the online classes to be self-paced and flexible on timing - so not requiring logging in at certain times. 

 

Anyway... just from poking around on the web, the online high school programs that fit our requirements seem to be: Univ of Nebraska, Indiana University, Univ of Texas, and Univ of Mississippi.  (TTUISD and BYU aren't NCAA approved and U of Missouri is twice the price, and Stanford is insanely expensive.)  

 

Does anyone have a recommendation for (or against) any of these programs?  Other thoughts?

 

Thanks!

[MarkT]

Here are some rankings - some have reviews.

I like the Niche for it's college reviews may be useful for HS.

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-online-high-schools/

 

http://www.onlinehighschoolcredits.com/colleges-offering-virtual-online-high-school-diploma-credits/

 

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/education/online-high-schools/

https://thebestschools.org/rankings/best-online-high-school-diploma-programs/

http://www.valuecolleges.com/rankings/best-online-high-schools/

https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/top/online-high-schools/

 

You may want to google reviews for each from your list.

example:

https://www.niche.com/k12/university-of-nebraska---lincoln-independent-study-high-school-lincoln-ne/

https://www.niche.com/k12/indiana-university-high-school-bloomington-in/

https://www.niche.com/k12/university-of-mississippi-high-school-university-ms/

 

Great Schools is also legit for the most part - actual reviews are posted but be aware that school related folks sometimes pose as parents (known with the charter schools)

https://www.greatschools.org/nebraska/lincoln/103-Unl-Independent-Study-High-School/

https://www.greatschools.org/indiana/carmel/3039-University-High-School-Of-Indiana/

 has some AP classes:

https://iuhighschool.iu.edu/courses/advanced/descriptions/index.shtml

 

updated 12/17:

http://homeschoolmagazines.com/north-dakota-center-for-distance-education-online-education-for-middle-and-high-school-students

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/319535-what-curriculum-would-you-choose/

 

[Momling]

Thanks, the niche.com one might be legitimate, but so many of the "best online high schools" lists out there strike me as paid advertisements by the schools. The reviews and some of the schools websites sometimes seem so sketchy... all the marketing stuff really turns me off.

[MarkT]

Thanks, the niche.com one might be legitimate, but so many of the "best online high schools" lists out there strike me as paid advertisements by the schools. The reviews and some of the schools websites sometimes seem so sketchy... all the marketing stuff really turns me off.

For our college searches,  Niche.com has been helpful and their data seems to match what I know about some of the particular schools (like my alma mater).

Good luck in your search.

[Lanny]

All Online Review web sites are subject to false reviews.   Read a lot of Reviews and you will hopefully get a feel, for which ones are written by actual students or their parents and which ones are written by the school.      Do a lot of research. Look before you leap...  Very nice of your local school, that they are willing to accept credits from other schools.   Good luck with your decision!

[threeofakind]

North Dakota for Distance Education is NCAA approved and the families I know who use it like it.  Some classes feel more rigorous than others but they can contact teachers fairly easy.  I know a couple families who tried Nebraska and like North Dakota better, not really sure why though.  I don't have much more information than that- my kids are back in school.  Good luck!