Online Schools

When my wife became seriously ill, I took my children out of prep school and enrolled them at Wendover, where they stayed for 3 years. At prep school, they had been very average academically, but their time at Wendover transformed them—they developed a real love for learning. We later moved to Spain and decided to place them in an international school, thinking it would help us integrate. They are now top of their respective years academically and still often talk about how much they miss Wendover. I can’t recommend Wendover highly enough, and my children would be happy to share their experiences with anyone who’s interested.

The tools and strategies I gained during my time at JIA equipped me to excel in graduate school and now in my career as a Data Scientist at Garmin. The emphasis on critical thinking and self-directed learning has proven invaluable. I cannot recommend JIA/U-Tech enough!

Before Istarted at Nisai I had quite a few bad experiences with teachers. A lot of it was due to my absences or not turning in homework, and often ended up with being shouted at or told off in front of the class or privately told I should drop down onto a simpler course because I wasn’t capable of doing the subject at a higher level. While my anxiety and nerves due to these experiences still hasn’t gone away completely, the teachers at Nisai, and especially your class, have slowly lessened that fear instilled by my previous teachers. It’s sort of surreal to me that I haven’t been told off or shouted at or told I wasn’t trying hard enough or smart enough even once. But instead you’ve been really encouraging and understanding and it’s really really helped me get over some of those fears—which is why I managed to start going to live lessons—and also built my confidence back up a lot. 

JIA was the perfect choice for my middle and high school careers. JIA set me up for real success. While there I was able to take college courses, take 2 different tech center courses which set me up to pursue my career of Dental Hygiene.  The staff at JIA really care for their students. They strive to make themselves available for their students and want to help them succeed. JIA gave me the chance to make lasting friendships with people from all throughout the school including classmates, those in grades around me and with the teachers!  If you ask any JIA student they will tell you that flexibility is just one of many strong suits of JIA. While being flexible JIA also has the structure to keep a procrastinator, like myself, up on their work. Overall JIA was the best way for me to learn, grow, and truly set me up for life after high school while also giving me the best 4 years of high school I could ask for. 

Since my daughter began studying at Gravitas, she has grown tremendously as a student and person. As a middle school student, she is writing strong persuasive essays, developing excellent research and presentation skills, and preparing to do high school-level Math in the fall. Her classmates are kind, bright, and located around the world, which makes for a uniquely encouraging, intellectually stimulating, and culturally rich academic environment. We are beyond happy with her Gravitas education!

Ever since I joined Gravitas, it has become more like a second home to me. The whole teaching faculty is welcome and friendly and so are the students. I love that the teachers dedicate a lot of time to the students in class and even follow up outside class if needed. The teachers are always reliable when you need help with anything. Overall, I really love the Gravitas community for it has helped me archive and learn a lot of things.

I learned so much and was able to take such interesting courses. I found success in all my classes without having to sacrifice the sport I love.

As a Laurel Springs School student-athlete, I was able to travel and see parts of the world I wouldn’t have imagined otherwise. After attending traditional school in NY through 10th grade, my parents and coaches realized that if I truly wanted to pursue my passions as a competitive athlete, it would have to be through more flexible schooling. Laurel Springs was the perfect solution in that it balanced rigorous academics and competitive coursework with the flexibility to truly study anytime, anywhere, and make it work for my schedule. While attending LSS, I had the enormous privilege of visiting 20+ countries between the ages of 16-18 while playing tennis — from Panama and Costa Rica, to the Czech Republic and Lithuania, even so far as Japan! In the end I reached a junior world ITF rank of top 175 and top 15 US national rank, and afterwards was able to attend Notre Dame on a very generous D1 sports scholarship. None of this would be possible without the support of the LSS teachers, counselors, and staff, who all made the experience so rewarding, and I’ll always be grateful for their help.

Riley loves LSS! Riley joined LSS for a summer course in 2020. She enjoyed it so much that she took 6th grade with LSS and has been here ever since. The flexibility is perfect for an independent learner like herself and gives her the opportunity to attend archery competitions all around the country. LSS has given her so many opportunities that she never would have had at her old public school, such as attending the MUN conference in New York that held its closing ceremonies in the UN General Assembly Hall.

Without the help and guidance my Laurel Springs School counselor provided me, I would have been completely lost throughout my college search and likely would not have found the best fit for me.

If I went to a traditional brick-and-mortar school, I would have so many set hours in school and then homework afterward. And I don’t even know how I would fit in training with all of that.

The leadership, spirit, and excellence that Laurel Springs has offered me through all these opportunities have sparked my interest in leading others.

Laurel Springs is teaching my kids how to teach themselves, how to learn, and giving them the space to be good citizens.

Laurel Springs gave me the reins to take ownership over my education.

One thing that I really love about being at Laurel Springs is being able to set my own pace and make my own schedule. When I’m traveling, I don’t really do that much online work for Laurel Springs because I just need to be in the zone, especially if I’m at a competition or something. It’s very rigorous and I need to make an effort to become better and put all my knowledge into my craft.

You can pursue what you love to do and not sacrifice your education. I love learning, and at Laurel Springs, you learn as much as you want.

I had the best experience at Laurel Springs. Not only were the teachers very helpful when needed, but I also gained the best time management skills that have helped me develop the discipline I have today. Just like the real world, there are many occasions where unsupervised work goes a long way and Laurel Springs was a big part of that lesson.

Sophia may be learning in her home, in her time, but is part of King’s InterHigh’s bigger community. She has a small class of roughly eight pupils, which makes it a far more individual way that she can be taught. When she was in mainstream school, she didn’t attain what she needed to do because she is a very shy child.