Online courses for High school students?

Question

Hello,

I am currently a sophmore in high school and I am intersested in taking some online courses to benefit my curriculum.

I also have some questions though.

Do these online courses benefit your college application?

What kinds of courses can I take?

What site would you recomend for someone living in California?

Do these online courses require a lot of work? I am pretty busy with school already, but I was thinking of taking some over the summer if not during the school year as well.

Can I take an AP class for instance, and have it count for college?

Thanks

Answer 1

I am in FL and here they have Florida Virtual School.

You can take everything from your basic classes, math, english, social studies, language, to drivers ed, physical education, and life management.

And there are AP classes, but you can only sign up for them around August and they run the length of a normal school year.

That's just FL. CA may be different, but online courses are probably mostly the same.

Answer 2

Do these online courses benefit your college application?

- Definitely if you take AP or dual credit courses (college and high school credit is earned).

What kinds of courses can I take?

- Just about anything you can imagine.  Many name brand Universities offer online courses for high schoolers.  See link 1 below.

What site would you recomend for someone living in California?

- Look into caliva.org (California Virtual Academy)

Do these online courses require a lot of work?

- If you are going with an accredited school for AP or dual credit then yes.

I am pretty busy with school already, but I was thinking of taking some over the summer if not during the school year as well.

- For the summer, have you considered a summer program for credit?  Look at link 2 below - my 14yo may attend this teen camp this summer to learn more about digital film production - it also earns 4 college credits from Stanford.

Can I take an AP class for instance, and have it count for college?

- Same as any AP course.

**** UPDATE: Correction - I put the wrong address for the California Virtual Academy - it is http://www.caliva.org

Sorry!

Answer 3

Here's some info that may help you in your decision:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

Answer 4

Listed below are some good options, besides CAVA that's available to you in CA.  BTW, YSN posted an incorrect link to CAVA, it's:

http://www.caliva.org

Many online  high school programs have AP classes.  Yes, they would count for college.  If you take the AP exams, you can also earn automatic college credit based on your scores.

You can take pretty much any course you want to.

I would also recommend you look into taking some community college classes while in high school.  If you're trying to get into the UC system, make sure you have all your "ducks in a row" as far as required high school curricula/courses.

Apex:

http://www.apexlearning.com/

K12 (uses some Apex courses and some of their own):

http://www.k12.com/hsc/flash/

(This is what CAVA uses)

Florida Virtual School:

http://www.flvs.net/

NorthStar Academy:

http://www.northstar-academy.org/......

UNL Independent Study High School:

http://nebraskahs.unl.edu/index.shtml......

Center for Distance and Independent Study:

http://cdis.missouri.edu/

Answer 5

okay I'm a junior and I have been going to UMOHS my entire high school life.  It stands for University of Miami Online HIgh School and it's awesome.  It's just like a normal high school but in your house.  It works really good.  For example, Right now I'm taking AP biology, Ap English Language, Algebra II, Digital photography, and Online Journalism.  You could live anywhere and do it.  They do require a lot of wrok.. Just like normal high school, and there is a tuition.