The Keystone School

We enrolled my daughter in her junior year online with Keystone as we were in an area of the country where she wasn't feeling safe and supported at her bricks and mortar school. We weren't sure if she would like it, so I told her not to open any courses she wasn't sure about (per the instructions of the agent who registered her). When we decided it wasn't a good fit, they then told us we had to PAY FOR THE COURSES WE HADN'T OPENED because their money back guarantee only applies to courses you have worked on. It makes no sense. Six years later they still have debt collectors coming after us. Avoid them like the plague.

When my child enrolled we were under the impression that the work load would be similar to a public high school. This is not so. In a geography class my daughter did little actual geography and project after project on top of quizzes, exams, discussion posts etc. She was writing papers on World Economy and things that my son was actually doing in his college level economics course. When she moved on to her English class the first thing she read was, “This is going to be harder and more work than a public school English course.” It was also very disheartening that they offered us no refund when we paid for four classes and claimed not enough assignments were done monthly. I would not recommend this program. It was so unrealistic to expect of a freshman just getting their feet wet!

I sent Keystone School the following email about my son's experience in their sixth grade math course. The course design itself is poorly done and difficult to navigate. For example, a sixth-grade student has to both discover a written assignment and then go to a link called "Classroom Resources" to get the *actual* rubric, when there is an assignment rubric right there which is not the one that is used. This is cumbersome even for adults, much less a middle schooler. There is not enough just plain good old math practice at solving problems. The lesson slides, where content is presented, is assessed by a *five-question* lesson check. These 5 questions are not always a thorough assessment of the concepts covered.

When I initially signed my daughter up I was aware that after 30 days refunds would be based on percentage of course completed; what I was not aware of is that the student has to submit 1 assignment per 30 days and if they fail to do so it totally voids the refund policy. My complaint is that they do not state this in the refund policy, but separate it out under student activity policy making it difficult to actually connect the 2 policies. I was told that even though my daughter only completed 6% of the class I do not qualify for any refund because she did not submit an assignment within the first 30 days. I would recommend finding other options as the format of the course was confusing and the directions unclear, even my other children's online college courses give more information and guidance.

They do not care about your child's education! They lost my daughter's homework. School reps talk bad about the school to the parents! They only want your money! Don't waste your or your child's time!

We love the Keystone Online School. It has brought so much knowledge to my daughter. Recommend it to anyone considering private online school. It is difficult, but worth it! Much better than any regular public school.

I have been homeschooled my whole life! I switched from K12 to Keystone after a long time and I love it. Great education is provided for a reasonable price per course ratio, and although assignments are long and tedious, I feel like I learn something new and significant from each one of them.

I've been Homeschooling my whole life, but recently they ran out of spots at my usual school. So, I transferred to Keystone to finish 7th Grade. Here's the problem: they overwork us. I know, I know, You might be assuming that I'm a Lazy bum who just doesn't like school. However, they give us papers and papers and papers of work to do, telling us to search (Without giving us any information, other than definitions. )about the topic, with only a week to do it. When I say papers, I mean an essay, and maybe 2 or 3 paragraphs a week, in ONE subject. Now, If I was a genius, who didn't mind the brain sucked out of her, Then I would be alright with this. However, I'm not.

Worse customer service ever. I tried to sign up online for my son to take a credit recovery class and it was impossible. Try to get help online and the person online support was useless. Got someone on the phone on a Monday after waiting for 45 minutes and it took them forever to get on the phone. Stated they will send me the information the following business day and I had to call them a week later to get the info for my son to start the class. I decided to withdraw my son because of the horrible service and they did not withdraw any of the money. They kept the $160 I paid for a class that my son didn't even enrolled in. I call that stealing.

Complete waste. Impossible to get ahold of anyone. MOST of the links in the site either do not work at all or no longer exist. CONSTANT issues with the site. Don't waste your money or your child's time.

My son is a high student and we tried Keystone for half a semester and it went well but after that it went downhill fast. The amount of work they make students do is ridiculous. I was told the work would be equivalent to public school. After complaining and complaining because now my son has fallen behind, I once again called and they stated it was harder than public schools. No one follows up and the teachers really do not seem to care. There is no teaching involved AT ALL. It's like having a teacher's aide just grade work all day. Once he is caught up I plan to move him to a different program. This curriculum will definitely detour kids away from college. I put myself through college online and that was a breeze compare to this. Completely disgusted!

This was my first time trying an online school and my child is in the 10th grade. It started out pretty rough and I ask for contact information of the "Mentor". The person who signed us up led me to believe he would have. I was quickly told that person did not exist. It soon became obvious the courses were more than my child could do on his own. I decided to take him out of Keystone. After withdrawing, I was told that I still have to pay the full amount as if he was still attending for the whole year. They only give full refunds up to 30 days. I understand I wouldn't get money back, but if they are no longer providing services why am I still paying as if he was there?

This was our first time trying an online school and my son is in the 8th grade. It started out pretty good but the courses quickly became more than my son could do on his own. We decided to take him out and reenroll him in our local school. After withdrawing, I was told that I still have to pay the full amount as if he was still attending for the whole year. They only give full refunds up to 30 days. I understand I wouldn't get money back, but why am I still paying as if he was there? They say I should have read this policy in the terms and conditions during enrollment but I didn't see it. Very hard to deal with and would not recommend for this reason and because there is not any communication with real teachers.

I have used the K12 public online schools for two other kids in the house, so we were not new to the online experience. This is truly a self-paced program, which my son prefers so that he can work on assignments as quickly as he can and use his afternoons for golf. The classes are challenging and focus a great deal on writing papers, and incorporating MLA format in all classes.

My daughter wanted to take a language that wasn't offered at her public high school, so we signed her up at Keystone. She just finished German 1 and recently started German 2. She's very satisfied with both classes. My husband is fluent in German, he reviewed some of the lessons and says the material is accurate. There is a teacher assigned to the classroom. My daughter has contacted the teacher 3-4 times throughout the courses with questions and the teacher always responded within a day.

We wanted to try homeschool for my daughter. We purchased 8th grade math from Keystone with the understanding that if she did well with online school, we would purchase the other courses needed for her classes. My daughter found errors in the first chapter; there was a math game that had the student "shoot" the correct answer. The problem was -4 x -5. My daughter hit 20 and was told she was wrong. She was told the correct answer was -9, which is only correct with addition -- not multiplication.