What is Virtual High School? How does a student take a class without a teacher?

Virtual high school classes are high school level classes that are available for students to take online. Pentucket High School offers a number of these courses. Each course is worth honors credit and students are given a period in the day to take the class on laptops provided by the school.

Caroline Mcdonough took a VHS class last year and is currently taking the VHS class “1450-Present Day History.” When asked if the class is hard to take without a physical teacher Caroline replied “no because it is history and they have good resources, we watch a lot of videos before our work.”

Caroline says the class does not have tests or quizzes and only has a couple homework assignments a week. They also do things like discussion questions and resource reviews.

When asked what Caroline likes about the VHS class she replies “I like that the due dates are flexible, I have a free period in the morning, and we watch videos instead of reading textbooks.”

Caroline says she does learn a lot in these classes. “A lot of what I did last year has stuck with me. You kind of teach yourself a lot of the material so you are going to remember a lot of it,” says Caroline.

When deciding what VHS class to take Caroline says “it all depends on your strong points, find a class you are good at.”

Phoebe Law took the class “Parenting in the 21st Century” last year.  Assignments in this class included online research, reading, and taking a tour of a hospital.

Phoebe says she would not recommend this class to other students. She found it to be a bit of a waste of time. “I was recommended to take the class for early childhood education, it didn’t really help me. The only thing I enjoyed was the flexibility, we had more time off for vacations,” says Law.

Amber Richard took Irish Literature as a VHS class last year. Amber said the class was not too hard, most of what they did was reading. Other assignments in the class included studying poetry, writing essays, reading a book, and a project on the history of Irish literature.

“I really enjoyed the topic, it is something we don’t get to study in school,” says Amber. She would only recommend this class to someone with a good work ethic. Students really have to be self-motivated to take these classes.

Sydney Snow took the VHS class “Sports in Society” and did not find the class beneficial.

When asked if she would recommend this class to other students Sydney replied, “It was interesting but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Sydney said the class was alright; she enjoyed the flexibility and found it better than sitting in a classroom, however did not really enjoy the class itself.

If you are interested in taking a VHS course a list of the available courses can be accessed in the guidance office.