MS student taking course through online academy?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with a child in 7th or 8th grade taking a course through the online academy? It looks like they are offered just once per week, so I assume the class time is more like a college course, 3 hours? School counselor said student would have a class period assigned to school library to do work, but the class itself is online in the evening. Just looking for anyone who's done this at this age and has experience to share.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my child took his language course through the online academy and was assigned to the library during an elective period slot.

Everything worked out fine, but it took a lot of high-level executive functioning to make it work. First, it requires a lot of self-control to stay focused when there is an expectation for a lot of independent work. Second, the library was used almost every day for classes, so it was busy and loud, which is distracting. Third, my son is very sensitive to others' feelings, and he felt bad for the librarian who was supposed to supervise him and teach classes in the library simultaneously, so he requested, more than once, to drop his online class so he wouldn't be a burden on the librarian.

[Anonymous]

Can my 8th grader take AP classes? Do you just talk to the counselor about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can my 8th grader take AP classes? Do you just talk to the counselor about that?

Highly unlikely. AP classes are college level courses, so you'd have to have a pretty impressive kid to get permission for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, my child took his language course through the online academy and was assigned to the library during an elective period slot.

Everything worked out fine, but it took a lot of high-level executive functioning to make it work. First, it requires a lot of self-control to stay focused when there is an expectation for a lot of independent work. Second, the library was used almost every day for classes, so it was busy and loud, which is distracting. Third, my son is very sensitive to others' feelings, and he felt bad for the librarian who was supposed to supervise him and teach classes in the library simultaneously, so he requested, more than once, to drop his online class so he wouldn't be a burden on the librarian.

Thanks for this feedback! Was the online course in the evening long - like 3 hours? It looks like they meet just once a week. This is my main concern for my kid.