You can read about the basics of using Straighterline in your homeschool, or how to choose your courses in my previous posts. For this post, I just want to provide a brief overview of what my son did, what we spent, and his outcome. As you'll see, the first month was so successful (earning 9 college credits) that I decided to continue for the duration of the semester (Dec-May). You should know that he dedicated about 1-2 hours per day to his Straighterline course Monday-Friday as part of his regular school schedule. He was able to complete his other homeschool courses (Chemistry with Lab, Consumer Math, and Building Thinking Skills) during another 1-2 hours each day.
As you read the schedule, I list each course and credit earned in the month that I purchased it, not the month he completed it. Some courses were completed in a week, others in a month, and others took longer still. As an example, Nutrition and American Government, courses he'd already taken in homeschool, took him only 1 week each, but writing-intensive courses like English Composition I & II took him about 7 weeks each.
As I write this, he enters his final month of the school year with Straighterline and me. We take a summer vacation, so I'm ready to wrap things up with our kids by Memorial Day. He has completed everything except Chemistry and English II. He has 3 more papers to write for English II and hasn't started their chemistry course. Since he's been doing Chemistry with Lab all school year with me, I expect Straighterline's General Chemistry I to go smoothly and take about 2 weeks. Writing, for him, is a long and arduous process. I expect he'll struggle through until the very end.
I obviously liked that he earned college credit since he's isn't eligible to use dual enrollment in our state until next school year. This gave him a great head-start.
the course before ever taking the proctored final exam. While the exam is required, passing is not, so his testing anxiety wasn't nearly as high as when he attempted (and failed) his first CLEP exam last year.
I like that they added free eBooks in the tuition of each course. This helped me make sure I had the book on day 1 of each class without waiting for books to arrive.
I liked that I can pay for my son's classes with Paypal. This allowed me to use sales from books I'd sold through the College Credit Marketplace Swap Facebook group.
I liked Straighterline's video lesson format. Since a couple of their courses didn't have the video lesson format (Microbiology and Statistics) this can also be classified as what I didn't like!
I didn't like finding a totally different format (reading only!) in the Microbiology course. This was a huge disappointment. There's a reason that course is only $25.
Some courses had WAY TOO MANY quizzes, or the quizzes were WAY TOO LONG. I can think of several instances where the quizzes were over 50 questions and covered 4 or more chapters in the text. Both my sons hated these. Obviously, since the quizzes are open book (I make them look up every answer on every question on every open book quiz- that's low hanging fruit people!) these took a long time.
This seems to contradict what I just said, but other quizzes were too short. Nutrition, for instance, was full of 10-question quizzes. As you can imagine, missing a few questions really makes a difference between an A and a C! The "sweet spot" according to my teens is the 20 question quiz. I tend to agree.
a conversation with. While they attempt to give good feedback, the loop is broken because the student can't communicate with the grader! In one instance during English I, my son turned in a paper that was kicked back for being off-topic. It was clearly on-topic, so we had to submit a support ticket, which escalated to a course administrator, and finally resulted in his paper being accepted and graded. The process is clunky and frustrating when compared with the other courses that don't have graders (tests are automatically graded instantly).
billed $99 per month. So, there is a constant sense of playing "beat the clock" in a course. Since we were aware of the structure ahead of time, I adjusted his homeschool schedule and was prepared to pull back on his other work if necessary, but for me, the feeling was a little inconsistent with my normal approach to courses- allowing plenty of time for marinating. When I asked my son, he said he liked finishing courses quickly instead of spending all semester studying something……so mark this up to personal preference.
ProctorU. I really, really, really don't love ProctorU. ProctorU is the third party webcam proctoring service that is part of each final exam. Your teen logs in, the webcam clicks on, ProctorU opens your final and then testing begins. Initially, I didn't like the feeling of the webcam experience, but my kids thought this wasn't an issue at all. But, the issue that we had at least 3 times (between about 24 courses with 2 teens) was technical issues getting logged in. If there is any log in trouble, they route you to tech support, but if you don't start your exam within the 15-minute window, you have to reschedule it and pay $5. So, as you can imagine, this is really really frustrating because you have to reschedule your test! Finals must be scheduled 72 hours in advance (or pay a rush fee). 2 of the 3 times Straighterline covered the $5 reschedule fee for us (I didn't ask the first time because I didn't think to) but it's really inconvenient when you've planned your homeschool schedule around taking a proctored exam. The room has to be private, quiet, and free of things that could be used for cheating. In our home, the room that meets these criteria is our dining room, so keep that in mind too. One final ProctorU comment, you'll need identification for each test. If you don't have a driver's license, they'll ask for 2 forms of ID. My son used his passport and driver's permit.
And no, you don't have to take the AP exam to list AP on your transcript. You CAN of course, but if you're sure that the ACE credit offered via Straighterline will do, you don't have to. Some of you may want AP scores for other reasons- so that's fine, but we skipped them.
Want to know which Straighterline classes to take and why? Read this post.
It's common for high school students to take a couple science classes, but labs seem to create some anxiety for homeschool parents. Some states, and a few colleges, will "require" at least one high school lab science course to meet graduation or admissions requirements. If you don't know your state's homeschool graduation requirements, you should look them up on the Homeschool Legal Defense Association page. If you want to be on the safe side with college admissions, usually 1 high school lab science course will check that box. If your teen is really excited about lab science, there's no reason to stop at just one. One of my sons (the little guy in the photo) will have 6 high school lab sciences on his transcript before he graduates high school, but my current high school senior has none. (he has 6 college credits in science, but none contain a lab). Once you know what you do and don't have to do, you can decide what you do and don't want to do.
A BIG factor with lab science is cost, and I'd love to tell you it's "always" cheaper to do X, and "always" more expensive to do Y, but lab science costs are all over the place. A good rule of thumb: the more control you have over choosing course content, the more control you'll have over the costs.
If your local college has reduced or free dual enrollment tuition for homeschool students, you'll still have to investigate costs. Even "free" dual enrollment programs can involve access codes, expensive textbooks, and lab fees. Many dual enrollment parents will tell you that their "free" classes were very expensive.
#1 Use the community college for a lab science course on campus. 100% of the activities happen in the college classroom, and you won't have to do anything. You'll have to purchase the required textbook, and don't be suprised if you must also purchase an access code to unlock supplemental online activities. You and the college both issue credit, but the grade is issued by the college. You award high school credit for science with lab, and the college awards college credit for science with lab.
#2 Use the community college for a NON-lab science course on campus, and conduct a science lab at home*. The college course grade is issued by the college, but the high school grade is issued by the parent. In this case, by adding the lab, you've rolled their college class into your homeschool class. You award high school credit for science with lab, and the college awards college credit without lab. The grades can differ since the courses, technically, are different.
#3 Use a community college for a lab science course as a distance learner. In this type of class, you'll have to purchase a specific lab kit and conduct the experiments at home, but you can shop around across all 50 states. Be prepared to take and upload photos as part of the experiment process. You and the college issue credit, but the grade is issued by the college. You award high school credit for science with lab, and the college awards college credit for science with lab.
#4 Use the community college for a NON-lab science course as a distance learner, and conduct a science lab at home*. This is a modification of #2, but with the ability to shop around across all 50 states. The course grade is issued by the college, but the high school grade is issued by the parent. You award high school credit for science with lab, and the college awards college credit without lab.
#5 Use a local homeschool co-op program. These classes may be offered with or without a lab, but if a lab is not offered, the parent(s) could DIY a science lab at home*. If you go through the trouble of creating a lab space at home, perhaps others from the co-op would like to cost share with your family or work as a team. You award a grade for the course, and high school credit for science with lab. No college credit is awarded, but you could integrate a college credit by exam option like CLEP, AP, DSST.
#6 Use your favorite high school textbook brand to conduct a homeschool science course with lab. I share the same frustrations you do: you spend a lot of money on a curriculum that promises you'll only need "common, household ingredients" only to find that you don't have lab supplies on hand when you need them. A few years back I found the company Home Science Tools. They have an online catalog of pre-assembled lab kits that match all the assignments in major curriculum brands like Apologia, A Beka, Berean, REAL Science, Monarch, Science Odyssey, and others. They also have a curriculum selection guide if you don't yet have a favorite brand. Brand Selection HELP. You award grades and high school credit for science with lab. No college credit is awarded, but you could integrate a college credit by exam option like CLEP, AP, DSST.
#7 Use your favorite video based brand for the course, and you'll DIY the lab portion at home*. The Great Courses is one of my favorite full course brands (a bit expensive). The lectures are fantastic, but the parent will have to create homework or enrichment to go with the videos. The photo at the beginning of this article is of my son and I dissected a pig while completing The Great Course program called Understanding the Human Body by Dr. Anthony Goodman. Make no mistake, the course was well over his head, but we still had a blast! For a free option, Khan Academy has full courses (AP, too!) in every major science. They teach by video, but also offer practice exercises and a dashboard to track learning. It is by far the more interactive of the two options. You award all grades and high school credit for science with lab. No college credit is awarded, but you could integrate a college credit by exam option like CLEP, AP, DSST.
#8 Use a YouTube course, and you'll DIY the lab component at home*. If you didn't already know, dozens of universities are uploading full lecture content from their real courses for you to watch on YouTube. I frequently share the link to Dr. Marian Diamond's Anatomy class at Berkeley. She is a 90 year old firecracker who doesn't use a textbook or Power Point. Instead, she writes her notes on the chalkboard (in cursive) for students to copy by hand into their notebook. I've been told that Berkeley is pulling their courses off of YouTube, but Harvard, MIT, University of Nottingham, and many others have robust offerings. You award all grades and high school credit for science with lab. No college credit is awarded, but you could integrate a college credit by exam option like CLEP, AP, DSST.
#9 Enroll in an Open Source course (MOOC). Open Source courses, usually called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are free college-level courses that can include classroom support, or operate as an archived class that you study independently. MOOCs aren't one thing, so you may have a really great experience with one class, and then another be a total dud. My current favorite "first stop" when I'm course searching is edX. edX was founded by MIT and Harvard, but everyone is getting on board. You can find universities from all over the globe on their partnership list. You can search by class title, or by university. Some of the courses are specifically tagged as "Advanced Placement" which should align with the AP exam. For MOOCs, you may or may not have: lectures, reading, video, homework, etc. and you usually will not be graded by a teacher, even if a teacher oversees the class. You'll have to DIY a lab component at home* and award all grades. You will award high school credit for science with lab. No college credit is awarded, but you could integrate a college credit by exam option like CLEP, AP, DSST.
#10 Enroll in a college-credit-eligible course. College credit eligible courses are not technically college credit courses. Instead, they offer a college-level course and arrange to verify your completion if you meet certain standards. A common approach is to pay per month for a membership, and then purchase courses a la carte. Upon completing the course requirements and passing a proctored final exam, you pass the course. College credit eligible courses are evaluated to award credit by ACE or NCCRS. ACE, the more widely accepted, is frequently discussed on this site, so you can use the tag ACE to find a lot of information about the benefits and limitations of programs like these. My favorite free option in this category is Saylor Academy. If you use Saylor, you'll have to DIY the lab portion at home* and award all grades. You will award high school credit for science with lab. College credit is stored on your teen's ACE or NCCRS transcript. My favorite pay option in this category is Straighterline. If you use Straighterline, you'll have the option of buying a lab class. With Straighterline, the company grades all work, but the parent is responsible for awarding a grade and high school credit. The college credit is stored on their ACE transcript.
Not to be missed! These videos are AWESOME!
*DIY Lab (Do It Yourself) labs can come in many forms.
You can purchase a lab kit for the year, like those mentioned in #6. Kits can include microscopes, beakers, chemicals, and everything you need for at-home experiments.
You can also use a subscription service like Mel Science. Each month, the labs are delivered to your home. It's a pretty outstanding product. This is a sample of what an experiment and kit looks like Experiment.
Finally, if you don't want to physically do the lab, but still want to do the lab, you can use VIRTUAL LABS.
Not all Straighterline courses follow the same format. In this document, we'll explore the structure of each Straighterline course, and I'll help you break down the differences between them. This will help you choose courses that meet your specific need.
Consist only of only exams, a midterm, and a final. Those three exam types are multiple choice format, open book, and instantly graded by computer.
The course point distribution allows you to accumulate enough points to pass the course before taking the final.
The course textbook is available digitally, which allows you to search out answers quickly during exams. Tip: hold the Ctrl button and press the F key. A "find" box will open, and you can search the text for any word or phrase.
Have assignments that must be uploaded to Straighterline. The assignment will be graded by a human, and can take 3-5 days.
Are subject to a human's interpretation of the course instructions, which can result in a low grade. The nature of the grading system means your grader is anonymous and you can not ask follow up questions or make revisions. You will likely have a different person grading each of your assignments.
Require labs. Science labs can stretch several days each, especially if you're waiting for a reaction or culture to grow. Labs also require uploading photos in every lab report.
You take a science lab. Science labs all require lab kits purchased through the link in the course syllabus. Lab kits can cost as much as $200.
A passing score for every Straighterline course is 70% unless your college says differently.
Straighterline credit comes into every college as PASS/FAIL credit unless your college says differently.
Charter Oak State College (CT) is the only college I know of that awards letter grades for Straighterline courses. They use a standard 90=A, 80=B, 70=C grade scale.
When the "pre-proctor" column is 700 or more, you can pass the course before taking the final exam. Note, they still require you to take it, but there's no pressure.
I pulled all of the following MASTER TABLE information from the Straighterline website on 2/25/2017. Information is subject to change at any time, but I will make every effort to keep this current. If you find an error, please don't hesitate to let me know.
NOTE: the quizzes, labs, homework, exams, and even mid-term exams are all open book. The only closed book activity is the FINAL EXAM, and not all final exams are closed book! In other words, your teen should be able to earn nearly perfect scores on everything leading up to the final exam.
Psychology – not only is this course approved as an AP course (record it as such on your teen's high school transcript) but it only has 4 exams @ 175 points each + final. If you want, your teen can also take the AP exam and/or CLEP exam. The content of this course aligns with both very nicely. Note: their target college will still only award 3 credits even if they have multiple passing scores.
Business Ethics – some partner colleges consider this a philosophy or ethics course, which meets a general education requirement! Only 4 exams and a 300 point open book final.
Accounting 1 & 2 – These don't make sense for all of my readers, but if you're looking for math alternatives or business courses for your teen, these two courses follow the same structure and can yield a full year of math. There are 4 exams and midterm (all open book) totaling 800 points. Since only 700 is needed to pass the course, you can pass long before attempting the 200 point open book exams.
Principles of Management– Also a less traditional option, the structure makes this class a winner. 4 exams and a midterm (all open book) totaling 800 points. Again, easy enough to pass before attempting the 200 point open book exam. CLEP also offers an exam for this course.
American Government- Almost every high school student takes a government course, so this acts as a great DIY dual enrollment option. A straight-forward structure consisting of 4 exams and midterm (all open book) totaling 750 points. The final is closed book, however, it's possible to pass this course before taking the final. CLEP offers an exam for this course, however, the pass rate is very low. SL would be a significantly easier option if deciding between the two. *while there is an AP exam in this content area, the SL course is not an approved AP course.
Introduction to Religion– This course is usually considered a general education course, not a theology course, making it a good option for any degree. The structure is simple with 4 exams and a midterm (all open book) followed by a 250 point open book final exam. In my opinion, I thought this course covered the major religions well and without strong bias toward one over another.
United States History 1 & 2 – Like Accounting, these two courses can be taken individually, but when taken together make a full sequence. Both have the same structure: 4 exams, a midterm, and final. US History 1's final is closed book, while US History 2's final is open book. Either way, it's possible to pass both before taking the final. There are CLEP exams for US 1 and US 2, but if you want to plan for an AP exam, be sure to take both classes!
Western Civilization 1 & 2 – Identical in structure to US History 1 & 2, but both have open-book final exams. Like all the courses on this list, you can pass the class before taking the final exam. There are CLEP exams for Western Civilization 1 and 2.
Cultural Anthropology– This course is an alternative to Sociology or Psychology as a social science option. In some colleges, this course also meets requirements related to world cultures or diversity. The structure is very similar to the others on this list- 4 exams and midterm with a 250 point open book final.
UPDATE: The Western Civilization Foundation's Courses expired with ACE on 06/2017. These courses are currently NOT worth college credit. If this changes, I will update the page.
The curriculum contains LOTS of reading and writing. You must be 14 to enroll, but interestingly, there is no upper age limit. No other entry requirements listed. Regarding the program, I reviewed a parent-submitted Sample Schedule and it freaked me out just a little. My Master's program was less work. No, really. I expect the majority of students in the program are also devoting a great deal of time to learning Latin.
Who will like this kind of program? I think this program is most like Classical Conversations in approach (very classical, Latin, very academic, the Trivium approach) but without the group meeting requirement. The online option means you can do it from anywhere it in the world that has an internet connection. That appeals to many families, especially those that are turned off by the meeting requirements of Classical Conversations.
Here's the big deal…the end result is 48 UPPER-LEVEL college credits (ACE).
What can you do with 48 upper-level credits in humanities/liberal arts/religion/literature? In theory, that credit exceeds the requirement for a major at any of The BIG 3 colleges. I have not *yet* met anyone who finished this program and submitted their credit for evaluation. If you have, tell me about it. Based on past behavior of the Big 3, this is the type of credit they always accept, so I put it in the "excellent" transfer-ability category when earning a Liberal Arts/ Liberal Studies / Humanities / Literature / Religion degree. When applying to a traditional or elite college, the likelihood of transfer is limited to small.
This group of colleges is said to incorporate The Great Books into their curriculum, which could indicate some willingness to award transfer credit.
If you're not interested in The Great Books as the foundation of your high school program, but like the idea of a college degree, there is an ENTIRE college degree option built around the Great Books. Thomas Aquinas College (California) holds Regional Accreditation (the golden standard) and is very homeschool friendly. Their degree in Liberal Arts is typically considered preparatory for graduate study in medicine, law, education, etc.