DeeDee, maybe Val has some insights into that one-- I hope so. I know that they've made use of (er-- or tried to, anyway) many online options as well.
LaurelSprings raises many of the red flags that I've learned about with online providers over the years-- namely, there can't be BOTH "real live interactions with teacher and classmates!"
and "work at your own pace-- endless flexibility!"
KWIM? Either the schedule works synchronously (like any other school class tends to) or it works in a vacuum and completely self-paced (independent EPGY, Khan, etc.) but it can't be BOTH at the same time.
I also have concerns when students are supposed to "submit material" and that is the limit of teacher involvement.
They also make a lot of noise about "mastery" learning-- but the terminology they use implies (to me) that they
actually mean "we'll let students do it as many times as they need to in order to earn A's." K12 uses the same philosophy, and Connections does, too-- on the sly, though (without the overt "mastery" verbiage, I mean).
What that often
amounts to in practice is teachers who will "reset" assessments so that students can do them again. Not more
instruction in a direct sense. It also doesn't mean moving at your own pace, which is probably what most of us here would like.
Their
AP Physics B course is the
exact same one that my DD took through Connections. Seriously-- it looks to use precisely the same materials and in the same sequence and pacing. (Very similar rubric-driven grading and assessment schema, as well.)
I strongly suspect that the "labs" included are just about as lame as what my DD's class offered. We supplemented. A lot.
No
way do I think that course would be worth shelling out nearly $2K for. No way. You could do it a LOT better yourself by purchasing a copy of the Giancoli text, a copy (used) of Hewitt's lovely conceptual physics text, a solutions guide for Giancoli, maybe toss in an AP exam prep book, get a lab pack-- for about 400 bucks total. It will amount to pretty much the same darned thing in the end, since your involvement as a parent will be similar either way.
I say that in light of the fact that my child also had about an hour a week of (truly) good quality direct instruction, which it is not clear that the LS version of things actually has.
Most online courses are going to operate more or less like correspondence courses. That
might be okay for some subjects, but it's hard for me to see how it works well for some others.
Oh-- and surprise-surprise, none of their science offerings meet UC's standards for a-g, either. Now, that's a red flag for me in a different way... I mean, it doesn't matter if you aren't applying to UC, I suppose. But it's a warning that the post-secondary academy doesn't consider the course to be sufficiently rigorous to serve as "college preparation" in the subject-- at least not as it stands.
