How a Virtual High School Can Help Your Teen Gear Up for College

College is a whole new ball game when compared to high school. There are mounds of readings to do, papers to write and a long list of extracurricular activities to explore. With a bigger class size in college, you also need to make your presence felt in the class. Your teen may feel overwhelmed by the pressures of college. It would be helpful if you already make the effort to prepare him so that the transition from high school to college will be smooth and straightforward.

Aside from getting your diploma through a brick and mortar school, another workable alternative is to enroll in a virtual high school. With an accredited online high school program and provides quality courses, you can help prepare your teen for college.

With an online high school course provided by The American Academy, your child can develop valuable skills that will stand him in good stead when he faces the challenges of college life. Here are some of the ways a virtual high school can prepare your child for college:

• Teaching them to be technologically savvy. An online high school harnesses the power of technology to deliver its lessons. It can teach your teen to develop an appreciation for technology and how this can be used to facilitate learning. He will also learn how to use the internet to research, communicate, produce and publish videos and other useful skills.
• Preparing for a more rigorous academic life. College is about independent learning and this is the kind of discipline an online high school engenders. With an online high school program, the student is required to be engaged in the lesson, reading and studying the lessons, interacting with the learning material. He is not just be a passive observer, but someone who needs to be “present”.
• Develop personal drive and a sense of responsibility. College is about personal responsibility. Most of the time, professors are less of teachers and more of “learning facilitators” that guide students to develop their own opinions. College students are expected to have a sense of responsibility with respect to their learning. The same sense of responsibility can also be inculcated in a virtual high school student, who needs to be self-motivated in order to finish the course work at his own pace but within a certain time frame.
• Train them to develop time management skills. With an online high school, there is no one to “get on your case” about deadlines. The student has control of the pace of his learning. He needs to look into the syllabus and determine how he will complete the necessary coursework with the time he has. This calls for the need to develop time management skills so that he can juggle personal responsibilities, his social life and studies.
• Preparing for more challenging courses. If your child is a gifted student who wants to complete more demanding coursework, an online high school is ideal because it can provide a lot of choices that may not be available in your location. Colleges not only evaluate your teen based on his grades, but also on the courses he has already taken. Completing the difficult courses can look good in his application. For instance, you can take up Pre-calculus and Calculus, astronomy or psychology.
• Getting a head start on your teen’s chosen course. With an online high school, one not only gets to take up the main subjects such as Math, English or Science. Your teen can also take electives geared towards his interests and future course in college. For instance, The American Academy offers courses on Interior Design, Photography, Business Webpage Design, Child Development and over 100 courses. Getting a head start on courses related to your child’s intended course can be a good advantage.