distance school?

[giftedwith2]

Anyone have suggestions for a distance school? I'm looking into Oak Meadow now but would like to know about what else is out there? I need one that is moderately priced and encourages lots of creativity and hands on learning as well as lots of literature. I tried to post this thread earlier but it appears to have been lost. If not I apologize in advance for the double posting!

[sagira]

There's Calvertschool.org with lots of literature (not as many hands-on stuff though).

Good luck!

[boatbaby]

We're researching this right now too.

So far we like Calvert (mentioned above) http://www.calvertschool.org/home-school/

Laurel Springs http://www.laurelsprings.com/

And The Westbridge Academy http://www.westbridgeacademy.com/


We're leaning towards starting with Calvert for Pre-K and K and then seeing where our son is at and whether we want to switch/ expand/ etc

[giftedwith2]

Personal experiences anyone?

Thanks for the suggestions! I've never heard of Westbridge or Laurel Springs! Can anyone who'se tried these tell me what their experience was like? I'm having a difficult time choosing as I want Dd to enjoy learning. Because of the expense once we settle on a distance school we're going to be "stuck" for the school year.

[sagira]

I say take it one year at a time. You can always modify things a bit, especially if you don't go with the online teaching options.

Good luck!

I do have a Laurel Springs catalog too. They seem very academically oriented.

[boatbaby]

I found some reviews...

Laurel Springs
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/rev...ws.aspx?id=135

Calvert
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/rev...ws.aspx?id=299

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/rev...ews.aspx?id=53

Oak Meadow
http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/rev...ws.aspx?id=168

Nothing there for Westbridge Academy...

[boatbaby]

Here is a sample for K program from Oak Meadow
http://www.oakmeadow.com/curriculum/...ews/KovNEW.pdf

And Calvert...
http://www.calvertschool.org/accredi...rgarten/#learn
http://www.calvertschool.org/engine/...mpleLesson.pdf

[heket]

I was looking into Laurel Springs because I live in the same state as the school. However, then I noticed that they use the Oak Meadow curriculum. Since OM has a distance school, I kind of thought "why not just go with the source?..."

I think Global Village was another that also uses OM.

I wasn't on board with Calvert or Clonmara (partially cost, partially curriculum layout.) Since we're still in the discussion phase, I think it's going to come down to either OM with tuition or Enki and we file the papers with our state to homeschool. Dh isn't very open to hsing, so I think we might start out with OM and transition to Enki, but I'm thinking I'd like to start dd with Enki Kinder. We have OM preschool curriculum right now that we'll probably use somewhat come fall (she'll be 4 then.)

[zonapellucida]

We are doing FL virtual school as it is free for FL residents

[mama2maznjaz]

My son is in first grade and we use Laurel Springs School. So far, what I love about Laurel Springs is that we get to work directly with a teacher so I don't have to do everything myself. We use a combination of the Oak Meadow curriculum and their other one (workbooks and texts).

look at http://www.laurelsprings.com/teacher_services.asp

[MonicaS]

Originally Posted by zonapellucida

We are doing FL virtual school as it is free for FL residents

(sorry to hijack)Do you have any children at the elementary level? If so, what are you using w/ them? My DD(s) may take some classes through FLVS when she is ready to take MS level classes, but I haven't found anything like it for the elem crowd.