Resource Description
Website: Liberty University Online Academy (may contain affiliate links)
(36 Reviews)
Before investing in any homeschooling resources, please read "How to Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum."
Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: The writers of the curriculum leave horrendous errors. Poor English and writing skills. Children learn by example.
Grades Used: 2-5
LUOA is definitely better than public education, but there are stronger Christian-based and educationally sound programs out there that aren't as expensive.
My son and I enjoyed the flexibility of school days and hours, but that is typical of many non-public homeschool programs. The internet-led style, as opposed to books, was handy--assuming you had fast internet speed--but the lack of personal and visual interaction with a teacher each year was discouraging to my child. (At the age of 12 now, he doesn't remember any of the three teachers.) There is an I.T. department, but no one is readily available to help, which is exactly when we need it. The teachers who graduated from LUOA were accommodating to parental requests, but retired public school teachers working for the Academy were not. Even when I proved them wrong on a grading decision, most refused to adjust the grade appropriately.
My greatest concern was the curriculum itself. The grammatical errors dispersed throughout were mind-blowing, even though, to my knowledge, teachers, subject matter experts, and department heads write the curriculum. Sometimes, within the same chapter, course material was written in both first and third person. At other times, prose in the same sections did not match. Some riders had a tendency to ramble on and on; others left out important and basic content. Worst of all, simple spelling and punctuation errors were abundant. I would expect this from public education; it upset me greatly that I was making the equivalent of a car payment monthly for it.
And, yes, LUOA homeschooling is a full-time job for the parent who monitors, co-teaches, and supplements the curriculum. It is required for the student (s) to have the quality education for which the family pays.
Since leaving LUOA, our family is happily using the Bob Jones University program.
Cons: Curriculum, advisor, Teachers, To many
Grades Used: 2 & 5
This is a homeschoolers nightmare!
Do not consider this as an option for your children. I chose LUOA as I needed to homeschool due to COVID it has been an absolute nightmare! I am a teacher and felt that this was a good fit for our family and I was wrong about it all.
To start if you want YOUTUBE to educate your children and don’t mind having to be the police of all internet links they are directed to then go ahead chance it.
I have been in contact with this school asking for help when my 5th grader struggled to catch up after falling behind. The teacher couldn’t accommodate our child’s needs. The content has so many flaws and isn’t a one size fits all. There is no flexibility of assignments or personalizing. To top it all off if your child gets behind and doesn’t complete every single assignment they will not issue them a final grade. It’s all or nothing! Even though they worked hard on getting their assignments done they get a F -failed to complete. Wow nice job at your wording and really making children feel great about ALL they DID do the entire school year.
If your student fails to catch up by the deadline you end up having to pay $50 per class for every month you have to extend.
What ever you do look elsewhere. Complete waste of time and money.
Let me emphasize TIME you won’t have any. Your weekdays (8-10 hrs/day) and weekends. Just to stay on track with the amount of projects and work load.
RUN away from this even if it’s your only option!
Cons: A LOT of printing worksheets that you can't access in advance. Also a lot of extra materials needed for science that you don't know about until the day of.
Grades Used: 3, 2
I have 2 children enrolled in LUOA and 1 child enrolled in a different online private school (also accredited however not christian based). Honestly, this is the best affordable online school option I've found for my younger kids. It's very reading intensive, often times confusing. The lesson materials seem to be used every year, so it can get confusing when the teacher doesn't even know the answer to something you might need clarification on. A LOT of printing which we weren't prepared for. That's probably the most annoying part. The science materials are also pretty irritating. Often we windbreaker know we needed something for a project and it would put my kids behind.
If there were a master list of materials needed for science provided and far less printing it would be close to perfect. I wish there were more lessons done in video format, especially for the younger ones who aren't ready for that amount of reading.
It relies heavily on the parent to teach and is more of a curriculum guide with assignments to turn in grades by the actual teacher. If you're a parent who doesn't have the time to be the full time teacher this probably isn't the program for you. If traditional homeschooling is what you're going for with the added benefit of it being a "christian private school" with an accreditation than it'll be perfect.
Cons: processing
Grades Used: 0-100
I am most upset about the payment process. She has been enrolled all year with no late payments. They come directly out of my account. I had some fraudulent charges on my card and the bank had to send me a new card. The next thing I know I get an email saying that, I cant access my Childs courses due to a payment issue. No warning calls. They say they sent an email but I cannot find it anywhere. Now I have paid and I'm still locked out of her account! I cant get in touch with someone until the next day and he says that he has unlocked it but I might sill be locked out up to 24 hours?!?! they didn't mind making calls or emails when I was contemplating enrolling her! The Classes are fine, there really isn't much interaction with the teacher. just be prepared to teach your kids the curriculum but that's homeschooling for you. Oh and did I mention you get charged $35 extra for processing if your payment is late. I think I deserved a few calls before her account got locked sense I'm being charged for them!
Cons: Lack of parent teacher conferences, lack of interaction,
Grades Used: 8th
My 14 yr son is a current student in 8th grade. As we live in a rural area, his middle school was equipped to transition to online format when COVID-19 hit. As a result, I signed him with LUOA as it was an accredited online private Christian school.
The Bible class has been very good, but there are some things about LUOA that could use improvement. I'm also including any comments I feel are relevant.
1. Nobody takes you through the site. The orientation course is a waste of time for someone who has basic computer skills which most teenagers do these days. I'm talking about walking through the calendar to establish a good daily routine. We figured it out on our own.
2. They expect you read through everything and there's a lot to read. Provide important/reference material. However, teachers/staff should be highlighting need-to-know information. This is lacking at LUOA.
3. Videos, quizzes and reading and tests. No interactivity with teachers. Unless you pay extra for classes over Zoom, it's completely non-interactive.
4. There's no homework per se. It's reading and quizzes. Quizzes count toward your grade.
5. Many items to purchase for Science labs. Careful as they don't tell you this in advance. Instead of the science teacher communicating the required items list up front, they put it into the back section of the syllabus and don't direct you at the beginning of the class. There's so much to read about policies and student handbook. When you first start reading the syllabus, it's more of the same, but you find it at the back.
6. Teachers are available via email. Other than that there's no check-in. My son has never spoken to any of his teachers.
7. If your son/daughter is awaiting materials for a project, they cannot proceed to the next task/assignment and then come back and complete the project. Only when you have completed the assignment, can you move on to the next.
8. Make sure you don't start mid semester. It's a nightmare trying to complete a full semester in half that time. Although the quizzes weren't required, the reading is as it will be on the end of semester test.
Communication in certain areas could be better.
Overall, I give LUOA a C. They're ok.
I have read many of the negative comments on this threat and it was mind-blowing. I signed my nephew up with LUOA and he has learned more in 3 weeks than in 3 months in public school. The content is very advanced and challenging. We were actually concerned with the reading. This was the one subject he has struggled in. However, the teacher and adviser have worked with him and he is picking up more and more each day. They also have an observer site whereas a parent, you can print all worksheets and any materials that will be needed for the entire year. We have several friends that have signed their children up and they also agree that is is very advanced and well put together. Praise God for programs like this.
Cons: We had to increase internet speed with all the activity
Grades Used: 1st, 2nd, 8th
I prayed asking GOD for guidance on what to do concerning our children's education due to COVID-19. One thing was for sure, I was NOT comfortable with sending them to school during this pandemic. My husband and I both work in the Healthcare industry and we both have full time jobs. When we began our search I made a list of schools, called and got the info. The Holy Spirit lead us to Liberty and we do not at all regret it. We are army veterans so our home runs off of organization, and that's how we help our children as well. I believe with anything you have to make it your own and work for you. And this was definitely something new for us, but with prayer, patience and GOD'S guidance I believe this can work for any family! We are able to help our children and still work.. I appreciate Liberty because first off all of the resources that the students need are on the modules page for each course. Second, the teachers ARE there and willing to help. Parents if you are not checking your children's emails and responding to the teachers how can you develop rapor with them (to those parents complaining about the teachers) also all of our children's teachers let us know how they can be reached and that it may take 24 hours or more to get a response back. Either way our advisors are always available and willing to assist with all we need. Liberty's curriculum, I think is very good. Our children are actually learning and retaining the information they learn. Our son is 7 and in 2nd grade and he was diagnosed epilepsy since he was 2 yrs old. I love how the course work is not too strenuous on his brain, but challenging enough to make him think. All of them are able to finish their assignments for the day and rest, swim etc or start on lessons for the next day.The interactive videos, games and books are amazing. The only issues we've had was IT related and that was due to our internet being a bit slow (Not used to all this activity) Easy fix: Increase internet speed and got a hot spot and now all assignments can be done and submitted with ease. I LOVE IT! We're pleased with our decision in choosing Liberty.
Cons: N/A
Grades Used: 7,8
LUOA has been a blessing for our family. My daughter had to be taken out of public school because they were not having her do work. They did nothing to try and help her learn. I am not saying that the teachers were incapable or anything, but the particular school we were at did not have a good reputation with children who had specific needs. We found a school before Liberty, and then we found Liberty. This has been the best school to go to. My daughter went from hating school and feeling like a failure to doing her own work, consistently getting A's and B's. She now feels like she can accomplish her schooling which is absolutely incredible. Liberty has helped that so much. The teachers are caring and very supportive. They have been a great support system.
Cons: Everything
Grades Used: 7-10
I WOULD NOT recommend LUOA.
First of the many things wrong with LUOA, are some of the teachers, they CLEARLY do not care for sure, not supportive, not caring, and they are not timely with their responses. If you message them with something that is clearly not right, such as answers to questions hat are right yet marked wrong, a question that can not be seen, or really any sort of message it takes them much too long to respond. There is absolutely no excuses for their lax attitudes. Some of the teacher in particular have terrible attitudes and if they’re going to act like that should not be teachers. Here is something about the advisors they have. The “advisors” at LUOA are not helpful at all. When we have called the do nothing. Very not helpful. I won’t name names but they are some specific ones that are not good at all. For example, some of the math teachers are terrible. When my child asked one of the math teachers for help on how to do some of the assignments they just gave the statement of how that computer already told it was wrong when he got it wrong! They did not help at all. He clearly did not know what he was doing! Some teachers give very bad grades when that is not deserved. That is another one that I would not give a good report on. To give a gist of this is I would recommend LUOA to all people thinking of choosing LUOA, keep on looking!
Cons: many
Grades Used: 3rd-9th
We tried LUOA and we were not impressed. We called and left message after message with advisors and received no return call. We left messages through email for advisors. An advisor finally acknowledged the message after several days, but did not help with the question I had. Advisors were not helpful at all by telephone or through messaging. It appears that two of the teachers did not read any of the messages that were sent to them. Not all, but some of the teachers did not seem to care at all. Some of the curriculum that is tested on is not covered until after the test occurs.
Liberty University Online Academy has been an amazing program for my family. Their curriculum (both the K-12 and Dual Enrollment) is really well done, so I don't really understand where the negative comments are coming from. I would highly recommend it!