sara b Review of FLVS
This is a great option if you're self motivated. ...
This is a great option if you're self motivated. This isn't a bad online school by any means, it's actually quite easy to navigate and has a good system to work on. If you're not though, even in the slightest bit, don't even think about it. Traditional school may not be as bad as you think.
I left traditional high school after my sophomore year due to depression and my misophonia to go to FLVS.
I've written and rewritten this review a lot, because it's so personality specific whether or not you'll do well in this. Personally, I didn't.
If you aren't a great communicator, have social or general anxiety, or suffer from depression, this probably isn't for you. Not to say you can't do it, but it makes it extremely hard. The teachers in my experience have been great for the most part, with the exception of one or two who didn't seem to care for the success of me at all. Most of them reach out to me, try and help, and are very precise with their DBA scheduling.
BUT, if you have trouble communicating with people and have anxiety induced by that, simply calling your teacher and asking for an extension or doing a DBA is really, really difficult and you'll end up getting behind. I got in a bad cycle of feeling under preped for DBAs (I usually wasn't, it was just anxiety), not wanting to schedule the DBA, and getting super behind. I did all my schooling online, so this was a big issue. It caused me to get dropped from many classes, but again, it was mostly my fault.
There are some teachers though, that are ridiculous with their requests. I had one teacher tell me I needed to finish 27 algebra assignments in 2 weeks. Two. Weeks. I got all the way up to the 27th assignment and it was a DBA, so I scheduled it on the last day she gave me to do all the assignments (a friday). She then told me she couldn't do it until the following Monday, so I scheduled it for then. When I logged into the class early Monday morning to study before my DBA, there was a withdraw request. I was so devastated because I was about 80% done with the class, and then all the progress poofed away.
If you're someone who gets into periods of time where you're depressed and unmotivated, FLVS can definitely worsen it. Again, this isn't FLVS's fault necessarily. I would have days where just the thought of logging on and seeing all I had to do would bring me to tears. This was my own mental state and I tried to explain to teachers, but in the end I was withdrawn from a total of 4 classes.
I withdrew from high school today before my senior year and I'm going to start GED classes next week.
The moral of the story is this: if you lack any intrinsic motivation, aren't good at setting goals and deadlines for yourself, have issues speaking on the phone and explaining your thought process to adults, or get easily overwhelmed, these classes probably aren't the best choice. It's nothing against the website, everyone just learns differently and sadly this isn't the option for everyone.
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