Online High

As my own son is going to Sadie Hawkins Dance this evening, it makes me think about similar opportunities for online high school students. Do you want to go to a prom? How about football games, dances, field trips, and other getting-together types of events?

Some students go online specifically to avoid the social life that surrounds high school. Others just want to avoid what happens in the class, but are fine with extracurricular activities.

Do online high schools have these sorts of activities? The majority do not, but there are a few that do. If those activities are important to you, you should ask about that up-front. Probably you will still make the same decision with regards to that school, but it is a very good idea to completely understand the situation.

One suggestion is to hook up with a local homeschooling group. While I do know, based on my experience and emails, that the majority of online high school students don’t classify themselves as such, you certainly could fit into that group. Homeschooling groups often plan activities together, provide support to each other, and some even have a prom!

I am well aware that one rather large group of people who visit this website are homeschoolers. What you may not be aware is that I have been a presenter on several different occasions for homeschooling conferences. A great group of people, to be sure.

Here is my present for them and for you: Free Online High Schools for Homeschoolers is an article that I hope helps you determine what to look at in choosing a free* online high school.

And thanks for visiting!

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*Well, free, except for all those tax dollars that you and I have spent to make them free!

Elizabeth Begley has traveled to Panama, El Salvador and Mexico to play tennis. She has hit ground strokes in Scotland, sliced volleys in St. Vincent and smashed serves all over the United States.

Guess how young Elizabeth finds time to earn a high school diploma? Yes, she’s an online high school student. In this case, a student at Laurel Springs School. LSS is fast becoming the school of choice for tennis players. The school now has 300 tennis players among its student body. By the way, 40% of the 3,000 Laurel Springs students are athletes.

In days past, most of the online programs at the college level were at second (or third or fourth) tier schools with the Harvards and the Yales not particularly interested. This has begun to change and, to me, this could be a real boon for serious high school students who want to learn at an elite level.

Either to supplement what you are doing in your public school or in your homeschooling, you should consider taking advantage of what is offered by MIT for free. This may be where some of the elites draw the line; not giving course credit. Yes, they might provide some resources for learning, but may not give you credit for doing so.

MIT has an initiative called OpenCourseWare that provides instruction for many of their courses. This includes lecture notes, readings, tests, and sometimes video lectures. However, no one is grading any of it, so you need to trust yourself not to cheat.

I think that this could work equally well for serious-minded college and high school students. To read more about it, see:

Internet opens elite colleges to all