College Prep and Honors Courses
Laurel Springs offers online and text-based curriculum options. Our online Upper School courses combine the dynamic interactivity of the web with on- and off-line assignments. Our courses feature materials carefully chosen for their academic quality and suitability for a wide range of learning styles. In addition, our online upper school provides a wide range of Honors courses to meet the needs of college-bound students seeking a challenging academic curriculum in a distance learning environment.
Honors courses take the college prep offering to the next level by focusing on critical thinking, research and writing skills, and creative application of ideas.
Electives
As part of our school’s commitment to personalized academic success, we are proud to offer a selection of more than 25 elective courses. These online, semester-long offerings allow students to pursue areas of interest outside their traditional core subjects, providing opportunities to extend learning and meet elective credit requirements. With titles such as Forensic Science, International Business, Digital Photography, and Anthropology, our elective courses help students create unique educational experiences and strong high school transcripts. View our Upper School Electives.
Advanced Placement Courses
Our school provides a wide variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses, enabling students to take college-level courses and exams and earn college credit or placement while still in high school. Advanced Placement programs emphasize vocabulary development, critical thinking, problem solving, expository writing, and research. Excellent AP exam scores enable many Laurel Springs graduates to be exempt from entry level courses in college. Advanced Placement courses include a series of live exam prep sessions through the spring each year.
Advanced Placement programs emphasize vocabulary development, critical thinking, problem solving, expository writing, and research. View our selection of AP Course Offerings.
University of California a-g Approved Courses
Since 1998, Laurel Springs School has offered University of California a-g approved courses. The University of California and Board of Regents have a set of rigorous criteria by which they evaluate courses for approval. If upon enrollment at Laurel Springs, you know that your child plans to apply to a University of California college, please tell your admissions coordinator and school counselor. Our team will work with your family to ensure that your child’s academic plan is created with attention to UC standards.
National Honor Society
Since its inception in 1929, the National Honor Society has recognized outstanding high school students whose accomplishments go beyond excellent academic performance and include exceptional leadership, service, and character qualities. Laurel Springs School shares these values, and is proud to have been the first private online high school to establish a chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS).
Membership in the NHS is open to eligible students beginning in 10th grade and is based on academic achievement and service within the community, as well as personal character and leadership. The Laurel Springs Chapter of the National Honor Society provides a unique forum in which the student leaders of our school can participate in service learning projects. Members complete service hours, a school and personal project, and earn high school credit upon completion of course work. They also attend periodic NHS Chapter meetings with fellow members throughout the school year.
Live Induction Ceremony
Each year, Laurel Springs School invites our National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society members to take place in a live induction ceremony that recognizes newly accepted members into the chapters and honors current members’ commitments to their communities throughout the past school year. This is a special time for us as a virtual community to gather onsite with faculty and staff to celebrate our students’ achievements with their families and friends.