Laurel Springs School

[napnap]

Has anyone had any direct experience with this homeschool high school academic program? I have looked at previous threads and have not found any current feedback on this program. We are considering this program, as well as University of Indiana online highschool program for this coming year. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[101driver]

My DD used Oak Meadow, which was founded by four people - one of whom broke off and formed Laurel Springs. As is the case with Oak Meadow School, Laurel Springs has different "tracks" that are suited to the college-bound, academic oriented student as well as the student who is not necessarily going to pursue higher ed because of special interests (like my DD, who only wants to dance!). I grew up in Ojai, CA and knew some of the teachers that have taught for Laurel Springs in the past (good folks). It's quite Waldorf influenced and emphasizes creativity, critical thinking, and writing. The Laurel Springs requirements are very similar to what my DD experienced with Oak Meadow. My DD was quite happy with the curriculum (as were my husband and I) and it suited her well. Good luck!

[pointeprovider]

DD also used a curriculum which had, at one point, been a division of Laurel Springs, and it's also out of Ojai, California, with a religious emphasis. It was very classics-oriented and featured a lot of supplemental reading, and writing. She did well with it, as proven through standardized test results. There was an annual fee, which included a personal consultant, and you had to buy the books and lesson plans. It was still affordable for us, and we were quite happy.

[napnap]

pointeprovider: Thanks for your input! If you don't mind me asking, what was the name of the program? I'm still in the market.... Thanks again!

[pointeprovider]

It's a Catholic long-distance program called Mother of Divine Grace; they have a website. There are probably similar ones with different religious emphases or none, also available from Laurel Springs. If you have other questions, feel free to PM!

[MelissaGA]

We used Laurel Springs School for my daughter this past year. It was a learning experience for us, not having had any homeschooling experience prior to this. We've decided to continue with the program for 8th grade. She actually took a mix of middle school and high school level courses this past year and will be taking mainly high school courses this coming year.

 

We were happy with most of the academics. The exception was the on-line French program. It's run by an outside vendor, Power-Speak or Power-GLide (one if the current company name, the other is the old name.. I still can't keep it straight). We had too many technical issues and the program itself became annoying to my dd. For the future, we will stick with the text based language courses.

 

I found the folks at Laurel Springs to be very helpful on the phone when I had questions. If you haven't already, give them a call and ask away!