<p>we have a neighbor whose 15-year-old daughter was just accepted into a very elite dance program and must move across the country to attend. Most of her fellow dancers are enrolled in online courses but aren’t serious about their studies. This girl is. Any ideas on online resources that would see her through her junior & senior years and onto a good college?</p>
<p>The dance program must have other students who are planning on college.
Why would she select this program if it doesn’t have academic support or peers with similar interests?
Im assuming the program is affiliated with a dance troupe?
The school district there may have resources for home schoolers, including online classes.
She may also be able to enroll in a local community college classes.
Is it considered a boarding school by her home district?
Dance students here with PNB are generally home schooled or enrolled through a flexible program like Chrysalis.
Stanford has online high school courses.
<a href=“Stanford’s Online High School Raises the Bar - The New York Times”>Stanford’s Online High School Raises the Bar - The New York Times;
<p><a href=“https://ohs.stanford.edu”>https://ohs.stanford.edu</a></p>
<p>It’s good she takes her academics seriously, not every high school athlete/ dancer, is able to transition to the pros, or if they do, to do so for more than a few years.</p>
<p>Thanks Emerald, my understanding (without giving away too much of her privacy 
is that it is with a dance troupe (as opposed to a performing arts school) and the kids under 18 are all enrolled in online schools…but the parent (my friend) doesn’t feel like it’s taken that serious (these kids all have hearts set up a professional careers so she was looking for alternatives…</p>
<p>The troupe should be able to give her at least an idea of how many of these kids go on to dance after their internship with this dance company or with other full time dance companies.</p>
<p>Check out the homeschooling forum. People there are probably very knowledgeable about online resources.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/home-schooling-college/</a></p>
<p>Would it be impossible for the girl to enroll in a regular high school and see if she can get the school to work with her practice/training schedule? Taking summer school classes or community college classes might be a way to supplement the high school environment and give her more flexibility. In my experience, elilte-level coaches keep pushing elite kids to take on-line courses so that the kids can get in more training time. IMO the structure of going to class helps keep these kids focused on academics. It’s easier to lose that structured time for academics when one is combining online learning with dancing or a sport or other outside activity that the student is pursuing at a high level.</p>
<p>My daughter did something similar and believe me, when she looked at colleges, even with a so so and hardly traditional academic background (and grades good, not great, lowish SAT’s) every school was really interested in her. One admissions guy told me “we all love outliers.” The kind of dedication to an art form that your daughter is showing impresses admissions and rightfully so.</p>
<p>Many colleges, including community and state colleges/universities, have online courses now. Harvard Extension does too, in fact. A high schooler may be able to get dual enrollment credit for these classes and therefore finish high school while also getting college credit.</p>
<p>We used Virtual High School, and our experience was good enough that our high school joined so that 25 students now take classes with VHS. But for a performer, Aventa Learning worked better because the work could be done at the student’s own pace, with more work one week than the next. With VHS, you finish each week on Friday. Look up “educere” which is a clearinghouse for such programs.</p>
<p>Homeschoolers often use Clonlara and Keystone, but we preferred the others.</p>
<p>One other thing. If you daughter ends up taking classes online in several places on top of schooling already done, she can get a diploma through North Atlantic Regional High School. My daughter got her GED to be free to dance, then went back and took a few classes and got a diplomat with NARHS. They will give credit for some dance and even for GED’s if your daughter goes that route.</p>
<p>Like I said, with this history, my daughter still did pretty darn well with college admissions, so I wouldn’t worry about it. And of course she can continue to read and learn on her own as well :)</p>
<p>Just read an article in the newspaper about a young lady who used a program called Switched On Schoolhouse.</p>
<p>Some states now offer online high school.</p>
<p>Most states have their own public (free or very low cost) virtual schools. Homeschooling to meet the minimum college requirements is also an option. I am a former homeschooler–my oldest D was involved in figure skating, We did a lot of test prep., and that worked for us. We did not use a homeschool program or virtual school. Fortunately, D’s SAT scores were high enough to get merit aid. If the school/homeschool is unknown, test scores become a more important factor in college admissions, imo. She/her parents should check websites of colleges that interest them. Make sure she has the admission requirements on her transcript.</p>
<p>We know many, many kids (including several professional performers) that took/take this route. We researched the options a couple years ago and there are many varieties in our area. Several school districts have them. There are many online charters. Some are almost all online. Some offer an optional classroom environment. Some are directed by student and parent. Others have a teacher still managing the process. My son did a few years of math online within a traditional school classroom. Lots of ways to use it.</p>
<p>Honestly, if she’s serious about her studies though, I would go with traditional homeschooling curriculum and supplement with a few online courses here and there. There are some issues that pop-up with online schooling. Retention can be a problem for many kids. The transition back into a traditional college classroom has been rough for kids we know that were acing virtual high school. Many felt they didn’t have the foundation they needed. Kids that do a more hybrid approach seemed to fair much better than those that go straight to virtual school. Another option is for her to supplement the online learning with community college classes where there is less classroom time and she could work classes around her dance schedule. My own child performer did almost everything at the community college junior and senior year (but through a middle college program… not with online learning.)</p>
<p>Of course, it all depends on the kid. Many virtual schoolers we know are there because they don’t like school or struggling with personal or social issues. A kid who is highly motivated and an assertive learner will be fine.</p>
<p>I know admissions has been tricky if the child was looking at a highly selective school. The kids we know doing online tend to go the community college or state university route or they audition into BFA programs for which their academic history means little to admissions. </p>
<p>If the family is home schooling, make sure they check the state education website for home school regulations. They vary widely from state to state. NY, for instance, doesn’t recognize online high schools.</p>
<p>Atomom is probably referring to state supervised programs. In SC the virtual HS is run through state department and students meet all state graduation requirements. </p>