Online High

Jefferson Lara got into trouble soon after he started high school. His involvement in a gang fight while he was in ninth grade in Fairfax County knocked his plans askew. He was sent to a disciplinary program, spent a year with relatives in Peru and returned to Northern Virginia to stock grocery store shelves. His luck changed when he took auto repair classes and got a job offer from a Nissan dealer, but that wasn’t going to happen unless he had a high school diploma.

To find out how Jefferson fixed his situation with a combination of residential and online classes, read the rest of this Washington Post article.

I most assuredly am willing to accept most publicity for my book, Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance learning options for teens & adults, but this one takes the cake.

You do, of course, see the causal relationship between online high schools and bed & breakfast inns.

I do appreciate it, though.

I really like to receive questions and occasionally share some here. I received this one this week:

I am 20 years old and I don’t have a high school diploma because I dropped out of school. I really want it now. It’s been my goal for a while. I was going to go to Job Corps, but I am not getting along with my grandma, so I will be moving back home. Since I won’t be able to do Job Corps, I want to earn my diploma online. What do I have to do to get started and do I have to pay anything?

M.C.

First, let me congratulate you on the most difficult part: You’ve made the decision to change your life.

How can you get started? First, find out how much of a high school education you have already had. Don’t look at the number of years because that is often meaningless. Instead, look at the number of high school credits that you have earned. You can likely get a copy of your high school transcript from your old high school. If not, they can tell you where to go to get one.

Will you have to pay anything? It is difficult to know without knowing in which state you live. However, the one and only way not to need to pay for an online high school is if you live in one of those very few states that have an online charter high school. Because charter schools are public schools, they are free. Your state or county department of education should be able to tell you if you have one available.

Should you not have one available, then I would encourage you to take a look at the fine online high schools that we offer on this site. The costs vary widely if that is a concern. I think a good place to start is to contact some of them and have them mail you information.

After you have received the information, begin to ask the schools the right questions. One example would relate to how many credits they will accept in transfer. The answer should be most or all. Again, you do not want to repeat what you have already done.

I would encourage you to come back and ask another question when you get to this stage. I would be happy to help you come up with the right questions to ask.

I have written about this phenomenon elsewhere and I am glad to see that the Dayton Daily News has picked up on it as well. There is only one way to get a GED certificate and that is through taking a bottom-in-the-chair-in-a-classroom version. There is no online GED.

Yes, there are a few sites that provide practice for the test, but that is all. Any organization that says that they are offering the exam online is lying. Period.

Read the entire article here.

Primavera Online High School celebrates its largest graduating class in a ceremony to take place on December 19, 2007.

Primavera is accredited by both the North Central Association (NCA) and by the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation (CITA). This rarity in the world of online high schools attests to the quality of its programs.

I was wondering if you have any information about the schools BYU Independent Study and Christa McAuliffe Academy? I am interested in finding an online high school that offers teacher support, creative online material and a credited diploma. Any information and help would be most appreciated. I am currently in Austria and don’t have access to your book. Is it possible to view it online?

DC

Dear DC,

I think that both programs are of high quality. In regards to the BYU program, it is my understanding that it does not offer a diploma to teens. The diploma track is specifically for adults. I do not believe that has changed, but you will want to confirm that with them. There are now so many choices available that it is difficult to keep track of all the requirements.

As for Christa McAuliffe, it has a solid reputation and has proven popular with the online crowd.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for my children’s college fund), my book is not available online at this point. I am working out a way to offer it in a digital format and it should be available in just a couple of weeks.

If you wanted to ask more specific questions, I would be happy to help. I believe that both of those programs do meet your cited requirements, but there are many other choices as well.

Tom Nixon

For a very short time, we have available new copies of Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance learning options for teens & adults available for $10. That includes the cost of shipping. That means the book itself is about $7. That’s a better price than on Amazon.com!

How can you get one?

Simple. Go to Paypal.com and make a payment to info@degreepress.com. Please make sure to mention that it is for the book and include your mailing address.

Easy.

Today we begin a new column for Online High blog. It’s called Ask BOHS and you can ask us anything that you might like about online high schools and such. In return, we will answer the questions here (while helping you retain your privacy). The first question is below.
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I am a 27-year-old Canadian living in Korea. I have wanted to go back to school for some time now. Unfortunately, since I never finished high school and I live overseas, it’s proving not to be the easiest thing to do. Can you tell me what my best options would be? Would it be best to do the dual credit schools you mention? Would that give me a better stepping stone. I would like to continue my education overseas.

AR

People are often surprised when I recommend certain programs and not others. What is the right choice for one person is not necessarily the right choice for another. In your case, let’s look at some of the facts:

1. You are 27 years old.
2. You live abroad.
3. You plan on completing a college degree.
4. You want to do the college degree overseas as well.

Given those parameters, I think you are exactly right that, given your age and your situation, a dual credit program like MU High School (at University of Missouri, Columbia) would be a good choice for you. Even if you elected to go elsewhere after getting the high school diploma, the college credit should easily transfer.

I should tell you that in the second edition of Complete Guide to Online High Schools: Distance learning options for teens & adults we will be including we are going to add a chapter on dual credit programs. This seems to be a growth area and for people in your particular situation it often is a good choice.

Check out this story about a family in Utah. Grandfather, father, and daughter all earned high school diplomas this spring. Not online, but a very nice story that could certainly give hope to adults who have yet to earn a high school diploma.