So for all the reasons HK suggests, I don't think online school is "easy." We did K12 at late elementary stages, for English and history. It was fine, grade-level stuff, and mostly (as HK says) bottom-level Bloom's comprehension questions and literal fact recall. But we supplemented, and it was OK.
We have done Laurel Springs School since 7th grade. The key distinction is between "regular" and "gifted" LSS. The basic course access is the same, but the level of teaching, customization, and service is higher with the "gifted" branch: there is a small group of really excellent gifted teachers who "get" gifted kids, so we have repeat teachers if we like, and their course loads seem to be manageable. Gifties seem to be a niche clientele for LSS, which has a number of clienteles including actors, athletes, and kids wanting acceleration/enrichment. The teachers are always helpful and usually quite rigorous. They are more than willing to enrich and customize to areas of strength.
LSS is not an "easy" option, though. The courses typically don't use much multi-choice, at least if you choose the textbook options, which we do. (Be an educated consumer for the "online" ones, which vary from GREAT when they're constructed in-house by LSS teachers to AWFUL when they're purchased from vendors like K-12.) Instead, the (non-vendor, good) courses are VERY writing-intensive. This has been a great fit for one DC, who loves to write and is very much a read, write, and learn thinker. Another DC finds it less congenial and a ton of work, since that DC is more of a discuss, do a project, and experiential learner. But even my reading- and writing- oriented DC finds that the workload is significant. Think two chapters of an AP-level textbook in, say, Honors History PLUS two essays (at much higher levels of Bloom's) per week.
So, we have found that our DC at LSS does way more writing than even "good" private schools around here -- granted, DC is also accelerated 2 grades in humanities. But in English, since 7th grade, he's written something on the order of 2,000-3,000 (analytic) words per week plus, in addition, ten 2,000+ word analytic essays on literature in each course.
To give another example, the Honors (not AP) Biology course uses the Audesirk textbook, which is a college text, and does AP Bio labs. NOT easy by any means. And the parent is the teacher. The teachers are GREAT, but they are supervisors and graders, not day-to-day, hands-on teachers. How could they be?
We have been less high on the math curricula. But I think that's endemic to modern education and not an LSS thing.
