Online High

California Virtual Academies uses the curriculum of industry powerhouse K12.com to provide online high school education to the students of California.

Choice 2000 Online High School was the first online high school in California. It is only available in certain counties, so you will want to check out its website to see where it is available.

Insight School of California - Los Angeles is another free school that is available only in certain counties within the state. Insight Schools are owned by the same company that owns the University of Phoenix.

ADDED:
Central California Connections Academy is available to residents of Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties.

Capistrano Connections Academy is available to residents of San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties.

University of Missouri High School, commonly called MU High School, is offering virtual driver education courses for students around the United States. How cool is that?

You can read the article about online driver education here.

Here’s a relevant quote:

“Every community has been touched by the loss of young drivers in crashes that could have been prevented,” [Kristi] Smalley said. “With many schools no longer able to afford driver education programs, we saw a need to fill that gap for families to ensure their teens are equipped as much as possible to become safe, responsible drivers.”

Out of the blue and all of a sudden Amazon decided to start discounting my book, Complete Guide to Online High Schools again. I have no earthly idea why. That being said, I am grateful for the extra books that will sell.

The only thing that I can think of is that more copies of the book were bought this month than ever before (and the month is not yet over). It will be interesting to follow this as it unfolds.

Old price: $14.95

New price: $13.46

Arkansas Virtual High School is the only online high school that offers free courses in the state. Its main goal is to offer courses to students who either do no not have access to certain subjects or who cannot fit them into their schedules.

While I try to stay away from intangibles, I would like to make two recommendations to the State of Arkansas:

1. Please hire a web designer to update your site. It’s time.

2. Please hire a web designer to make sure that your website does not conflict with the second largest web browser in the world, Firefox. Right now it hangs every time I try to access the site using it.

I am a fair man, though. Do those two things, send me a link, and I am happy to take a second look. Something to bear in mind: online high schools are all about the technology. Yours should not be just adequate. Yours should be stellar.

I am pleased to let you all know that Liberty University Online Academy is now listed on our site. Here are some reasons why a person would choose this particular online high school:

1. For every dollar you spend at LUOA, Liberty University will provide you with a scholarship, dollar-for-dollar, to become an undergraduate in the university. Spend $10,000 on the high school program ($2,500 x 4 years) and you can get that back in scholarship money. This is the only program of which I am aware that does that.

2. LUOA has a graduation ceremony. Many students want to know about this because even though they have attended online, the cap-and-gown thing is still important to them. And my guess is that it is a big shindig because it is scheduled for the same weekend as the Liberty University graduation ceremonies.

3. Liberty University has the world’s largest Christian distance learning program. Clearly, that expertise pays off.

4. LUOA offers a monthly, interest-free, payment option.

Well worth a look. And then some.

Arizona is the happening place for free online high schools. No state has more than Arizona’s seven different free online high schools. Why do they have so many? Because Arizona is also the happening place for charter schools. Most states cannot compete with the sheer number of charter schools in the state.

Which is the best choice below? I get asked that sort of question a great deal and there really is no one right answer. Look at all of the, request information from all of them, and work from there.

Arizona Connections Academy is part of the Connections Academy chain of online high schools. Students seem to be pleased with the curriculum.

Arizona Virtual Academy is part of the K12.com system of schools. K12.com has been around for a while and the program shows that experience.

Hope High School Online uses the Blueprint Education curriculum, a tested way to learn online.
Humanities and Sciences Academy has a strong focus on world languages, literature, and the sciences.

Pinnacle Virtual High School allows for either one class or an entire diploma program. It also offers an accelerated option for students who want to finish sooner. Students can be as old as 22.
Primavera Online High School is the fastest growing online high school in Arizona. It allows students between 14-21 to enroll.

Sequoia Choice High School offers over 400 courses and students can do dual enrollment with Sequoia and with their local high school. One advantage is that it offers a diploma program and the ability to pick up a couple of courses.

Delta Cyber School is a charter school that offers instruction to students ages 5-19. It is open, for free, to anyone of those ages who is not attending another public school. It is located in Delta Junction, Alaska, but is open to students throughout the state. If you are attending a public school in the state, there are tuition-based courses available.

The website includes a list of the free online high school courses available.

Delta Cyber School is part of the Delta/Greely School District.

ADDED: SOAR Alaska is another free online high school available in Alaska through the Galena School District. The program is powered by Advanced Academics.

Alabama has a grand total of one free state-sponsored online high school. It does not offer a diploma, but does give you the opportunity to take courses that could either accelerate graduate or provide you with increased opportunity to attend a better college.

The program, called ACCESS Distance Learning, offers over fifty courses. On their website, you can find a list of free courses.

In addition to the regular assortment of courses, there are also Advance Placement, foreign language, and elective courses that are probably not provided at many of Alabama’s rural high schools (and hence the need for the online versions).

Remember, though, they are only free for high school students in Alabama who are enrolled in traditional programs.

Since this is the most common question that I am asked, I thought I would take the next few weeks and post about the opportunities in each state (or, at least, in each state that has an option). These schools come in two forms:

1. Schools that offer an entire online high school diploma; or

2. Schools that offer specific courses to use toward graduation at your high school. Often these are courses that are not available locally.

One thing to bear in mind is that these courses are only free if you live in that state and, most of the time, if you are presently enrolled in a traditional high school setting.

Look for the first one coming up tomorrow. The nice thing about doing this is that when I am done, you can just click on “Free online high schools” in the Category to the left and only those posts will come up.

It’s that time of the year where I talk with schools who are listed here and we have discussions about the future. I was pleased to hear from Penn Foster High School that quite a few of you leave here and go there.

There are a number of reasons why someone might do that:
1. Their fees are truly competitive. You need to search to find something less expensive; and
2. The quality is apparent.

I can tell you that I regularly get emails from students telling me good things and not-so-good things about online high schools. I have never had a complaint about Penn Foster. That says a great deal in my book.