Whitmore School Reviews

We enrolled our child in January and the process was very simple. We weren't sure how everything was supposed to work such as transferring records and everything. But they gave us information. It looked like a standard copy-paste kind of thing, like go to your school, ask for this, and send it here. We did that. Our school was giving us a hard time and they didn't want to give up their student. We heard from Whitmore that they reached out and took care of it for us and everything was set. It was really easy.

Whitmore was extremely responsive. There are a few teachers that teach in different time zones. One was the math tutor that we had during the first elective of the year. They travel the world so it was interesting. We couldn't get a response from them immediately like we have everybody else. But they did always respond within a day. We went on vacation for a week and our child didn't do any work for that vacation. They reached out to us and said, “Hey, your child hasn't been doing anything for a week. You might wanna check in with them.” That was nice that they reached out to us when there was that situation where our child was far behind.

Our child signed up for quite a few classes. She's taking the basics right now. She takes two at a time. She answers all the stuff and moves on to the next courses. There's a total of six that are considered for the school year. It's all self-paced. Our child would struggle and it pushes her back. When it is history-related, our kid really loves that. They dig into it and give all their sources and regurgitate all the information that they've learned. That can take time, too, for them to put everything down that they've learned. The things that Whitmore has brought up, especially about history were things I've never even either paid attention to or knew about. It was pretty cool.

Overall, from the side of us being able to monitor our child's work, to the communication that they're having with the faculty, to helping them and getting responses from not only their counselor but everybody there from their administrative side, it's just been super easy. It's way easier than even our local high school was.

The self paced program was intimidating at first but what a life skill they acquired as a result. The days of procrastinating their school work was in the rearview mirror very quick. The classes were all challenging and the mastery was something that 100% helped our kids. Math and Science were a struggle but was made so much easier when they could stop, rewind videos and figure out concepts vs raising your hand uncomfortably in a class room. Overall, they benefited from a deeper learning experience. The math tutoring program was also a game changer.

I also cannot say enough about every staff member at Whitmore. They care deeply about the student experience and more about the big picture. They have a firm understanding of what the high school balance should look like. They have been a true partner every step of the way. Our family has been graciously impacted by this program and we are forever indebted to the team at Whitmore. I hope others can find them and see first hand how beneficial they can be.

When our son was in the brick-and-mortar school, he had A's and B's. He's doing better now in Whitmore and has straight A's. He's not being distracted by outside influences or the social stuff that happens in a brick-and-mortar school. He's definitely much happier in this environment. He's at home more but he has the flexibility that he can work his job whenever he wants to. He comes and goes and gets his stuff done.

He's been in contact with his teachers every day that he's working, but it's via email. If he needs help, he can email his teacher right away and the teacher usually responds pretty quickly. I have also seen some teachers respond to him at midnight or 3:00 in the morning. The teachers are all over the globe so some of them are out in different countries with different time zones. As far as us, we don't talk to the teachers directly. But we have access to the guidance counselor. If we have any issues or anything that we want to talk to about our son's schooling, we just go through the guidance counselor and they handle that for us. We've been pretty happy with the response rate as well. It's been great.

Whitmore works well for my son. We went from a life-and-death situation to a smiling happy kid who's getting straight A's and thriving. It might not be like that for everyone. We have another child and we know this setup would never work for her because she's so social. She needs to be out and about. But in our son's case, Whitmore really saved his life. It's a really good school. With everything that's happening these days, Whitmore is a fantastic alternative to a traditional school. My kid is so freaking smart. He tells me all these things he's learning and he's really engaged. That's gonna take him far if he decides to go to college and continue his education.

My daughter likes that her teachers are engaged with her when she starts the class. That feels less isolating for somebody that's stuck at home. They ask her who she is as a person and how she's doing. She can tell them why she's choosing online school and what's going on in her life. That feels much more personal. Even though it is just at the beginning of the class and it seems simple, that makes a huge difference.

I would definitely recommend Whitmore. It's been a great experience and we wanna stick with the program. All of her teachers are great. She just has one teacher whose response time seems a little all over the place. It's a reflection on the school in a way because that's their employee. There'll be a couple of times where he's very responsive for math and it is one of her harder classes she's in for a sophomore. She's in trigonometry and precalculus. But 95% of the time, it's days, so it's dragging out this class. It is a time limit when you sign up. She could complete it early, but she has 12 months to complete everything. That's been an added stress level. She reached out to her counselor and has tried to say a couple of times, "I'm trying to finish this class. How can I get my teacher to respond faster?" I don't know if her counselor misunderstood her email, but her counselor asked, "Do you want to drop the class?" She was not trying to drop the class. She just wants her teacher to respond to her.

I like their idea of mastery learning. They allow you to learn, and there's a time and place to make mistakes and to get things wrong, and to revise, and learn from your mistakes before you actually send in a submission or an assignment that you're proud of and that you know you've completed to the best of your ability. I loved doing things online. It’s very convenient. Everything is at your own pace and in your own time. You can make it work with your schedule, your hobbies, your family, and your work. I also work at a Mathnasium, which is like a Math Learning Center where I'm a tutor. So, I can change my hours to make it work with my work, and with my other extracurriculars like studying for the SAT. You’re not fixed into a strict schedule, which is great.

In this day and age, with the public school system and how it is in so many different districts across the country, a lot of students are falling behind because the system is not set up to be catered to individuals. So, don't hesitate. Go and get an individualized experience at Whitmore. They're going to cater to you and your strengths and help you with your weaknesses.

Whitmore worked amazing for my neighbor's daughter who was in high school and going to community college, and needed some extra classes finished. For her, she was very motivated. On the other hand, my daughter was anxious about going to a very busy public school last year. That's why we said, "Oh, well, maybe this is a good fit," but the lack of a deadline for things was not a good fit for my daughter. She has one class yet to finish, and her new school starts next week. It took her a year to do a semester's worth of class, because of the amount of revision she had to do or the lack of guidance.

My daughter's guidance counselor was easy for that career guidance class, but she needed some kind of one-on-one feedback that we were hoping we would get. I wound up having to spend, unfortunately, thousands of dollars in tutors just to be able to meet with somebody every single week. I got tutors in every single class, because there was no communication with the teacher, other than just say, "You need to resubmit." It was not like they gave the students back a marked up version. Math by yourself is already hard, and when you really don't like math, it's nearly impossible.

The learning experience was very easy. Any questions my child has, she just texts or emails them. We have an entire full 12 months to finish the school year. Some weeks, she'll do six days a week, and then other weeks, she can do two or three depending on how busy she is with sports or vacation or other things going on. She can do it at any time of the day, morning, noon, night, Sunday. It's literally just whenever she feels like it.

I loved their mastery learning approach, as it allows each student to do their best and truly learn the material, rather than focusing on cramming for tests or worrying about deadlines. Because of the online environment, most socialization will be done outside of school, but this did not bother me in the slightest. I believe Whitmore is ideal for anyone looking for an alternative schooling option that provides quality education and freedom. I am truly grateful to Whitmore for making high school such a fun and rewarding experience, all while thoroughly preparing me for college and life after school!

I highly recommend that parents consider Whitmore School for traditional or non-traditional students. Whitmore faculty and instructors are excellent. They invest time and care with each student individually during all classes. The administrative staff is responsive, knowledgeable, and very helpful during the college application process. Whitmore School was a blessing for my son and for my family. I highly recommend consideration of Whitmore School for all its lasting benefits.