Online School vs Public School

[ObliviousCat]

Today/yesterday on the 8th of September I am officially a 9th grader. However, I will not be attending public school and will instead do my schooling online/independently throughout my high school years. I was home-schooled as a young child up until 5th grade. I went to a public elementary school and middle school from that grade and fully culminated 8th grade. It was my decision, emotionally and academically, to make the transition from public to home-school once again.
My first day was only yesterday. I have been enrolled in the following classes for this semester:

Algebra 1 A
German 1 A
Honors Earth Science A
Honors English 9 A
Intro to Psychology
Physical Education

Students enrolled in this online school go by their own schedule and routine while still turning in assignments in a timely manner. For example, I would have to wake up at at least 6:30 AM to get ready for school and I needed to be seated in my first period class at or before 8 AM sharp...no exceptions. There is no such thing as being tardy in online school. Yesterday I did not log in until around 3 PM. Another difference is that public school typically lasts from 8 AM-3 PM. I finished all of my lessons and school day within 2 hours.
Some of you may be wondering how the physical education is going to work. Well, I need to have 200 hours of physical activity per week (that's about 30 minutes a day) and log that on a calendar. I get to choose the activity I want. It can be anywhere from walking to sprinting to playing tennis. It's all up to the student and, if it needs to be, the parent.

As far as classes, I'm still unsure if I can add on courses or not. If that is the case I intend to add on Honors Biology A and Anatomy and Physiology. I would not get such an opportunity in public school - that was one of the main reasons I made this transition. Only 2 hours of mandatory school work gives me so much more time in the day to do the things I love, which does include studying medicine. If I could get credits for doing medical classes early, that would be great! I also wouldn't have gotten to have psychology until 11th grade.

And finally...teachers! Teachers host something called LiveLesson sessions. It is part of my participation grade to either attend these sessions live or to watch a recording of it and email my teacher a summary of said LiveLesson. LiveLessons allow students and teachers to be in the same "room", discussing a unit, lesson, or assignment. Within the site we have Webmail where the student can send emails to their teachers (no personal emailing!) and Message Boards where teachers post topics and threads about many things, including class policies and how to contact them (by phone).

So...that's the difference between online school and public school. For those of you wondering where socializing comes in to play, to my understanding there will be field trips. There was a beginning of the year picnic that I, unfortunately, couldn't attend.
Based on what I've said about the experience of online schooling, what do you think about it? What are your opinions? Is public school better? Would you ever consider doing online school?

[Drewboyy]

Nah, I don't think I would be able to go to an online school my whole highschool life. I have so much fun with my friends and I have a better time talking with teachers face to face rather than emails or livelessons.

Plus, I don't think online schools don't offer IB so that's a no.

[Melodic]

I have had bad experiences with both so I can't give a good word about either of them. However, both experiences were at badly reviewed schools so that might explain it. :lol:

[Typhlosion]

I'm really not for online schools :/

I mean, maybe the most important part of school is the socialization, and I missed that when I was homeschooled from ages 7-12.

[monst3rinyouri]

The social experience is invaluable, and many of us have add/ADHD... Which makes online classes difficult. for the last year and a half of highschool, I attended an alternative education system--basically an accelerated school year. Instead of the standard six credits annually, we got ten. Five per semester, with the possibility of extras. Instead of the standard 40-65 students per classroom, we had as small as 8......but I went to a school that had ~3400 students on campus at any given time. Graduating class had nearly 900 <3

[Magenta]

I've done both. I have a very hard time focusing on my own so it was decided that online courses were not for me because I simply had no motivation to do them myself. You've already been homeschooled so you've had the experience of working from home and still dedicating the time to school without distraction. So hey, good for you because it's not for everyone.

I had a hard time in school in general but public school was better because it gave me a space to work that was just for work. I did attend an alternative school one year which allowed me to complete work at home as well but I had to check in at least once or twice a week in person. Socializing has never been an important aspect to me (actually, too much drama, imo) but being able to find a space to study was.

University is a different experience entirely but it does require me to get out to lectures and attend them. Far less actual assignments and more attendance seems to actually be working out for me better, even if each assignment is worth a lot more.