Thanks. That gives me food for though.
I've heard mixed reviews locally from non-gifted parents about the virtual online charter schools in MA that's why I started to look at alternative options. These non-gifted parents didn't speak highly of them or using them. I know people here, though, have had success with them.
We live in MA and doing anything through our local public school district can be difficult beyond what they're legally obligated to do (such as testing for special needs or academic achievement per parental request). In MA, homeschoolers are on their own for high school graduation requirements, as far as I know. We - as homeschooling parents - can create transcripts for colleges/universities but are not required to have a diploma per se to apply. Local public high schools here have the discretionary power to consider homeschoolers as completing a high school diploma but are under NO legal obligation to do so (
http://www.ahem.info/DiplomasGED.html). Our local public school district is very unlikely to work with us at all here.
CLEP, AP exams are options, but also required a certain level of maturity and ability that might not be doable at this point in time with ds and the 2e issues. Eventually, perhaps. I've been avoiding doing any timed, standardized tests for the last year plus for a number of reasons.
I'm also trying to emphasize to ds that he doesn't actually need a diploma. Yes, he might want one. I get it. But he technically doesn't need one. In some ways, doors may open with one. However, I'm mixed about the loop holes involved at this point to get one, not to mention the energy and effort and $$$ on my part. MIT, Harvard, Simon's Rock, and et al accept homeschool applicants without a high school diploma. MIT, for instance, claims not to have separate requirements for homeschooled applications (
http://mitadmissions.org/apply/prepare/homeschool).
I looked at Stanford Online High School. First, it's too much $ and a lengthy application process. Second, it's traditionally structured and sequential. Third, the pace. It's not self-paced. Fourth, there's a restricted admission process. It's not open enrollment where you can apply at any time.
I've written this elsewhere, but MOOCs are still relatively new and untested territory. They are being used as a recruitment tool by MIT and others to weed out who's actually motivated and interested in doing in-depth work in a particular subject. That's not why ds is doing MOOCs at the moment.
At the moment, ds is doing MOOCs because: 1) they're free, 2), offer him a chance to go in depth into something like astrobiology which isn't normally covered in a standard high school science sequence, 3) gives flexibility (there's a wide choice of MOOCs and variation in how they're delivered and the content of them), 4) way to test the waters with subjects but also teaching/instructional styles and delivery without much pressure, 5) interact to a degree with other students, 6) MOOCs are often short and snappy and offer some structure but not overly.
For those who have done the public high school programs or other online programs, here are some questions that I have:
1) Are the courses fairly standard and sequential?
2) Can you self-pace and rapidly accelerate?
2) How do they assess students? Are there numerous tests and papers, for instance, or 2-3 tests and a paper?
3) Do students interact with these online programs like they would with a MOOC? I realize that may be an unfair question because the range of students and interactions with MOOCs can vary widely and it's more limited than with a bricks-and-mortar school. However, generally speaking, it seems like you take the course with Connections or U Missouri's high school and that's it.
