Online high school courses

[Grace is Sufficient]

My oldest is in 9th grade, and other than a few 'for fun' co-op classes and karate, all serious classes have been done at home. I've decided that some high school courses should come from other sources in the next few years. In addition to local options such as co-ops and community college, I'd like to explore online courses.

 

I'd love to hear people's experiences, both good and bad, with online high school classes. I know there are a lot out there, and I'm sure the quality varies dramatically.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Annie G]

BYU was the only place we found Japanese and for the most part, it was good. Not a lot of teacher interaction, and I didn't care for the attitude dd received when she asked a question. However, she learned a great deal. She took anatomy with them and it was a joke...it took 3 weeks to finish the semester course and if she'd worked hard, she could have finished it more quickly.

This year she's doing honors English with Keystone. The course isn't nearly as difficult as I expected BUT it has served a great purpose...dd has had to work with a schedule, not skip assignments, pay attention to directions, adjust to another teacher's standards, and make it through a 6 week poetry unit. She hates poetry so this was a really good experience...she hated it, she did it, she proved she could earn an A on the unit. Keystone has been worth the money for this course.

I can't wait to hear other replies...we're looking for more online classes next year.

[Begonia]

for our 8th grade dd.

 

The Latin I class through Scholars Online has been excellent. It's a synchronous class. The students review their Wheelocks latin homework with the instructor for one and a half hours twice a week. All instruction occurs on a white board (no audio). It took a while for dd to become accustomed to the format, but now she loves it.

 

We've used the Lukeion Project for mythology studies and for a vocabulary class. Amy and Regan Barr are superb instructors. They incorporate art, archeology, and history into each class. I highly recommend their courses for any student interested in gaining a deep appreciation for the classics.

 

The EPGY writing classes have also been a hit (at least with me :) )at our house. I don't think I could successfully teach essay writing myself. :o Last term dd wrote literary analyses (using the text of the play The Crucible). This term she's working on rhetoric and persuasive essay writing. Sometimes dd struggles with an assignment, but overall it's been a good essay-writing curriculum. EPGY offers writing courses through high school and AP level.

 

Next year we're thinking about adding Keystone for 9th grade biology and a PA Homeschoolers course.

 

We're still on the hunt for 9th grade sources, so I'm really looking forward to reading other replies.

[Michelle in AL]

Do all classes not have audio? It's hard to picture watching a teacher silently write on a white board. Is there a text discussion going on too during the class?

Thanks, Michelle

[kathleen]

My son has taken many courses from Scholars Online (Latin and literature mostly), and all of them are strictly text. He's never had one with a white board, though, so maybe that's something new with some teachers (my son's SO Latin teacher doesn't use a white board). The text method has worked very well, though.

 

We also are using Pennsylvania Homeschoolers this year for AP English literature. It has been a wonderful experience, and we plan to use a couple of their class next year. Their classes are all asynchronus.

[Jan P.]

I'd love to hear people's experiences, both good and bad, with online high school classes. I know there are a lot out there, and I'm sure the quality varies dramatically.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

Grace,

 

My ds took a Tolkein/Lewis class with Oxford Tutorials. He loved it. All three books of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Till We Have faces, and C.S. Lewis's Science Fiction Trilogy was read. I think there were about four or five papers written (very short), and weekly quizzes. Once per week the students had an online classroom live-time with real audio through the use of microphones. A whiteboard was used while the teacher discussed the readings. The instructor would call upon the students for their input. Dr. Lund would start each class with a prayer, and I'm sure there was a Christian emphasis about worldview during the discussions. Oxford Tutorials has many classes for the Great Books and Latin as well as the Tolkein/Lewis class. I highly recommend Dr. Lund.

 

My ds also took Cindy Marsch's Writing Workshop that covered Ancient literature. He usually read a different literature work per month with a paper due at the end of each month. This class helped William in writing essays and doing some Progymnasta exercises. Hopefully he learned that writing a good paper takes several revisions. It was always good to have someone like Cindy reitterate the same type of advice that I had tried to get into my ds's head such as revising, watch the punctuation, read your work out loud to see if it sounds awkward, etc. There are many different workshops and tutorials to pick from her website. Cindy also gets my accolades for an outstanding teacher.

 

Blessings,

Jan

[Sunshine State Sue]

Would someone please explain synchronous vs. asynchronous?

 

Thanks!

[Begonia]

Do all classes not have audio? It's hard to picture watching a teacher silently write on a white board. Is there a text discussion going on too during the class?

Thanks, Michelle

 

I misspoke. NOT white board. The kids and teacher exchange text (I thought that was called a "white board" since the screen is white, but dd put me straight. There's no audio (at least not for Latin; I don't know about the other classes). The text exchanges, however, are quite lively. During class the instructor will go over a concept and then ask for feedback from the students. For Latin sentence homework the kids are divided into groups. Each group takes turns submitting sentences. All the kids have to participate. There's no hiding in these courses. :) After class several of the students stay on and chat for a while. It's a friendly atmosphere. Everyone seems to be enjoying the class.

 

At the beginning, dd found it hard to sit still and concentrate for one and a half hours of reading and submitting text. I now let her doodle in a sketchpad during class or draw on MS Paint. She's doing quite well in the class, and is an eager participant, so I suppose that's okay.

[Begonia]

As I understand it, during synchronous classes there is a scheduled weekly class time during which teacher and students get together as a group to discuss the material. In asynchronous classes (which my dd has never taken, but which she will likely take next year through PA Homeschoolers), the students are given assignments, readings, feedback from the teacher, etc., but there is no scheduled "class time" during the week when all participants must be logged on at the same time.

[Sandra in NC]

My 15 yo is taking Stanford EPGY English and Geometry. Both are challenging, productive courses. Geometry is intense with many, many formal (as in VERY formal) proofs. It would be helpful to wait until after a logic course to take this! His Geometry tutor is helpful and available 3x a week for real-time conferences in the "classroom." The English courses have been excellent. My son enjoys the classroom interaction once a week. Last term, he had a student from Hong Kong in his class - she woke up at 2 a.m. her time to participate in the class.

 

My son took a PA Homeschool AP class last year and he's taking one this year, too. I highly recommend their AP classes.

 

We've also had positive experience with Write At Home, although it's not as challenging for good writers as EPGY is.

[Brigid in NC]

My 11th ds is taking AP US History this year through the PA Homeschoolers. The instructor, Susan Richman, is absolutely terrific. It is a LOT of work, but the course and instructor interaction/feedback is outstanding.

 

I highly recommend this class if you are interested in an AP US History course. I understand that all the PA Homeschoolers AP courses have gone through the College Board audit process, and all are approved AP courses (meaning you can list the class as AP on your student's transcript).

 

~Brigid ;)

 

http://www.pahomeschoolers.com/courses/index.html

[mcconnellboys]

My older son did dual credits from Indiana University. We loved the courses and the professors. Also loved the administrative people! We never took any of their high school level courses, but they have a full service high school online, too.....

 

Regena

[Gwen in VA]

My kids' experiences doing online classes have been fantastic. I highly recommend them.

 

PAH --

AP English Lit

APUSH

AP Economics

AP US Govt

AP Comp Govt

 

Scholars Online --

Bio

Chemistry

AP Physics B

English Lit

American Lit

AP Latin Vergil

Greek 1 - 3

 

Regina Coeli --

Henle Latin 1

Classical Composition 1

 

Potters School --

Visual Basic

 

My kids have done a few other classes, ones that we are not so crazy about, but all of the above we highly recommend.

[Michelle in GA]

I have experience with the following on-line classes:

 

Write at Home: my oldest ds did a six week essay class;it was well done

 

Home2teach: My two younger dc took two classes...one on paragraphs, one on writing about books. I liked both classes very much

 

Keystone High: My oldest took an array of classes. The English and history were standard courses;they weren't too challenging, but were fine if you want a basic class. The chemistry, I was VERY dissapointed in.

 

PA Homeschoolers: My ds took AP US Government;he loved it. Top-notch!

 

 

HTH!

Michelle

[Grace is Sufficient]

I have some excellent starting points for my research now! I think we'll test the waters this year with a spring writing course at home2teach, and next year look for some courses with Potters, Scholars Online, PAH, or one of the others mentioned here.

 

I really appreciate all the suggestions.

[Tokyomarie]

I have some excellent starting points for my research now! I think we'll test the waters this year with a spring writing course at home2teach, and next year look for some courses with Potters, Scholars Online, PAH, or one of the others mentioned here.

 

I really appreciate all the suggestions.

 

Another school not mentioned in this thread that could be a good choice for a Protestant Christian, or someone not opposed to Christian content:

 

NorthStar Academy

 

My dd used NSA for Chemistry (uses Apologia with NSA lesson supplements, and additional CD-ROM and video lab demonstrations); Music Appreciation, Humanities 1 &2, a career planning course, and a Grammar review course, which I can't remember the name right now. We were very happy with the vast majority of our communications with NSA. NSA does offer AP courses and is a regionally accredited school.

 

We have also used and been happy with WriteatHome and Home2Teach (for my younger son) at different stages in their development.

 

My dd also did one semester of the Oxford Tutorials Rhetoric class. She dropped after the first semester, partly because her overall schedule got a bit too busy, partly because the style didn't mesh with her personality. She did a lot of good reading in the course, though.

[NancyL]

Regena-which courses specifically do you recommend from the Indiana University college course selection? I have been noticing they now charge for out of state tutition. Additionally I have seen that U. of Missouri has a few courses that high school students get 1/2 tuition, but not all. Wondering how it works when you skip around. For the money ,I have been trying LSU, they have a LOT of math courses and prices are VERY reasonable.

 

Side note-dd had a bad experience for her French test from IUHS yesterday. All information said "bring a cassette player" even test was labelled "cassette inside" . (in several places) It's sealed until you go into the little test room when they start your test. DD opened test, packet, and guess what -it contained a CD so she was only able to do a portion of the test. I'm just envisioning the people gleefully stuffing envelopes labeled "cassette" with CDs and saying "wonder if they'll notice" So I am now looking into accredited programs that do not require the listening as part of the test. (this same thing also with IU, but Spanish, happened once before to my older daughter, but she discovered it before test started and was able to locate a CD player at the school) Can you tell how mad I am? These programs are quite expensive, and a lot of work for everyone, and the tests are very tough. (over 3 chapters and take 2 hours) Sorry to Vent. Otherwise I have been very happy with IUHS.

[FloridaLisa]

My kids have taken the following on-line so far:

 

Florida Virtual School

World History, honors

Latin I

Latin II

AP Biology

 

Bravewriter

Short story lit with Jon Bogart

 

PA Homeschoolers

AP Human Geography

 

We've been very happy with every class so far except the World History, brief and shallow run through history. The honors work was very light. I feel *very* good about the level of history and lit that my kids are doing at home, TYVM!

 

Also, the HSLDA website has a list of links for on-line providers classes at the high school level which I browsed just the other day.

 

HTH,

Lisa

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I have two friends and a niece who did two straight years of BYU online and returned back to public school (they were living abroad at the time and never had intentions of homeschooling) They were thrilled with the classes and the things they learned. They were light years ahead of the PS friends. The classes had taught them more than just subject, they had learned to be dedicated students and love learning.

 

I wrote a geography course when I taught at BYU for college age students for BYU Independent Study. Independent study so to speak, is all about the student. Sure you can rush through it in 2-3 weeks, or you can really expand it based on how much time you have. But that is like all learning, if you are just trying to get the credit, that is different than trying to gain an education. My students who took the course on campus, gained more through visuals, lecture etc., but you could enhance each online course in your own personal way.

 

I have opted to have my daughter take a couple of courses from them next year in areas that I just don't want to put together. Extra curricular types like interior design and consumer science types. She will take the Japanese series from them. There foreign language dept "hands down" is one of the top in the nation, most students speak a 2nd if not 3rd language fluent at BYU. (Mine is Japanese and I have actually taught college Japanese, but thing there class could probably do a better job, helping my dd to organize)

 

Thanks for letting me ramble and glory day it for a minute- Now I forgot what the individual question was!:eek:

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

OOOPs that should read "I think their class..... " hey it is 6:20am in the morning:p

[Annie G]

The BYU course tests were all multiple choice and other than the portfolio submissions in Japanese (1 per course), there was no human feedback. During the 1st year of Japanese, an assignment asked dd to say/write something she had not been taught (she had been taught neither the grammar or the vocabulary words needed). She agonized over it and emailed the instructor, who took a week to reply and whose reply said that she threw that in there to see how a student handles unfamiliar material. Dd replied that she had tried to look this up in her dictionary, asked online friends, etc. and asked the instructor to give her the answer so she'd know. The instructor didn't reply. Dd did learn a great deal and the courses were well worth the money, but with some tweaking, they could be spectacular.

As for the anatomy course she breezed through, we did supplement to round out the semester. The course could have required a research paper or suggested some outside projects or reading materials. When we pay for a course, we don't really expect to have to come up with our own supplements. If the instructor had noticed that dd scored 100% on every assignment, she might have dropped an email with some encouragement to delve more deeply since dd was obviously capable.

Contrast that to her Keystone experiences in which every week there is real feedback from a teacher, and there are several written assignments submitted and graded for each weekly lesson. Questions are answered promptly and thoroughly, and dd is encouraged by the feedback. If I felt the need to expand this course, the materials are right in front of me, and ideas are virtually built in.

I know every student isn't looking for an instructor to guide them, but a good instructor can often pull more out of a student. We're not abandoning BYU...ds is using their Spanish. I just wish there was more interaction.

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

This is good info to know on BYU- I didn't know that some courses have gone to complete speedback without interaction. My course I designed, had student teacher interaction. Maybe I will just teach Japanese myself, since we both speak and have lived there. Appreciate the feedback!:o

[Anne/Ankara]

We've done the Apex Learning French Essentials, semester one and two, and that has been good. I think we will continue it next year.

 

Also, we are soon going to start Art of Problem Solving online math course, Introduction to Number Theory, which looks very interesting. It starts Thursday, so we'll see how it goes...

[coopers5]

Sandra and Kathleen,

 

Please tell me the best way to get a real person to answer questions I have about the PA homeschoolers AP courses. I tried one of the emails that I saw on their website (someone has a post here w/a link) but no one ever responded to my email.

About when do they introduce the new year's courses and when do they start filling up?

Also, how do you prove, like to an accountability association (in our state we can be part of an accountability group of homeschoolers, but our group does approve courses, credits, etc.) how do you prove it is a legit AP course? Do the PA homeschoolers provide you with proper documentation for that?

Thanks! I am VERY interested in finding out more about these AP courses and in knowing more about all of the particular ones your children have taken.

 

Jo in SC

[Moira in MA]

I emailed Susan Richman on this subject recently and received the following, very prompt, response:

 

We'll have full info and online tuition payment all updated by early May. Looks like we'll have all of our current courses and teachers back *except* for AP Statistics, and Dr. Gary Beihl for AP Computer Science. Which courses were you interested in at this point? You are very welcome to email the teachers directly, based upon their course descriptions shown for this current year.[/Quote]

 

HTH

[Bev in B'ville]

for our 8th grade dd.

 

The Latin I class through Scholars Online has been excellent. It's a synchronous class. The students review their Wheelocks latin homework with the instructor for one and a half hours twice a week. All instruction occurs on a white board (no audio). It took a while for dd to become accustomed to the format, but now she loves it.

 

We've used the Lukeion Project for mythology studies and for a vocabulary class. Amy and Regan Barr are superb instructors. They incorporate art, archeology, and history into each class. I highly recommend their courses for any student interested in gaining a deep appreciation for the classics.

 

The EPGY writing classes have also been a hit (at least with me :) )at our house. I don't think I could successfully teach essay writing myself. :o Last term dd wrote literary analyses (using the text of the play The Crucible). This term she's working on rhetoric and persuasive essay writing. Sometimes dd struggles with an assignment, but overall it's been a good essay-writing curriculum. EPGY offers writing courses through high school and AP level.

 

Next year we're thinking about adding Keystone for 9th grade biology and a PA Homeschoolers course.

 

We're still on the hunt for 9th grade sources, so I'm really looking forward to reading other replies.

 

about Lekeion Latin? I see they use Wheelock's Latin and was wondering if you had heard anything about this class?

 

Bev

[Jane in NC]

 

We've used the Lukeion Project for mythology studies and for a vocabulary class. Amy and Regan Barr are superb instructors. They incorporate art, archeology, and history into each class. I highly recommend their courses for any student interested in gaining a deep appreciation for the classics.

 

 

 

And thanks to Bev in Bville for a follow-up question which led me to take a look at their webpage. My son adores ancient history--this looks like a match made in heaven (or is that on Mount Olympus?) Thank you Begonia and Bev for waking me up.

 

Jane

[Halftime Hope]

dd is taking their first year class, The Inklings. It is a 3 credit synchronous course, covering Bible/theology, philosophy/worldview, and lit. (You can list it several different ways on a transcript.) It is a tutorial, with the class meeting twice a week for 1.5 hours, and they use both voice and texting during class. Dd has loved the class and thoroughly enjoyed the material. I love it that she is working hard, being challenged, and growing in her confidence--she is beginning to believe in her ability to tackle and conquer difficult things. (Like the ad says, "....Priceless." )

 

V

[Begonia]

If my memory serves me well, by the time I had convinced my dd last year that she should consider taking a Latin class for eighth grade, the Lukeion Latin I class had already filled (hint: sign up early!). As I mentioned in the previous post, dd has really enjoyed other classes with Lukeion and I've been very happy with the rigor and depth of the curriculum. We were initially disappointed that she couldn't take Latin with Amy Barr.

 

Last year, while comparing Scholars Online Wheelocks Latin I with Lukeion Wheelocks Latin I, I remember noticing that they covered the same amount of material (I believe it was chapters 1-20 in Latin I, and chapters 21-40 in Latin II), and that the price for the two courses was similar.

 

I also found a couple of major differences. The Lukeion course incorporates graphics, sound, etc., and the Scholars Online course is text-based. In my dd's Lukeion myth class, kids are now able to use a microphone to converse with each other and with the teacher. I don't know if Amy Barr of Lukeion asks her Latin students to read sentences aloud or not, but it would certainly be nice to hear Latin spoken. We purchased the Wheelocks Latin CDs so that dd would be able to listen to Latin after her "silent" Scholars Online Latin class.

 

The other difference is that the Lukeion course meets only once per week while the Scholars Online course meets twice a week for one an a half hours per session. On the one hand, one and a half hours of texting and reading other students' texts can seem endless on some days (dd has perfected the art of doodling and listening to music while in Latin class ;) ). But on the other hand, having class twice a week keeps her focused and she's now very comfortable with the routine. Her SO teacher is also very prompt at correcting and returning quizzes, tests, etc. It's a well-oiled machine.

 

So, I suspect that the Lukeion course is as good as any other Lukeion course (therefore both excellent and rigorous). However, we'll probably continue with Scholars Online because dd has grown to love the class, the teacher, and the interaction with her SO classmates.

 

HTH.