Forest Trail Academy

Great school!

greatest school ever would recommend to anyone

My daughter did high school with your online school. The best thing I've ever done is enrolling her in Forest Trail Academy. Your strong curriculum helped her develop critical thinking skills, thinking outside of the box, and a strong work ethic. The first month was tough but once she got used to it, she really enjoyed all the writing and research. My husband and I am a firm believer in strong academics and also we believe in that regardless of how hard things can be, with hard work you can achieve anything. Furthermore, your staff and your teachers were always helpful. Any request I made or any question I had was addressed within 24 hours or less. I never once doubted to have her and my special need son enrolled in your school. As my daughter is preparing to go to university, I know she will have an easy transition. Thank you, Forest Trail Academy.

Sincerely,

Tunde B.

Absolutely the worst online school you could ever enroll your child in. The web portal and all facets of it look as if it were designed by a 5 year old. They are always expierencing issues with it and it鈥檚 never their fault. Uploading a document is like trying to get your drivers license for the first time, a royal pain in the a** and you have to upload 40-130 assignments per class per year so take that into consideration before you waste your money on this terrible program.

Best decision we've ever made! 6 years so far with FTA!

I have attended Forest Trail Academy for four school years (9th – 12th grade). Now, as a near-graduate, I would like to say that I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to be a part of this excellent school.

In terms of the curriculum, it is rigorous and diverse. There are plentiful unique electives (Television Production, Astronomy, and Sociology being among my most favorite), and strong core courses. There were plentiful opportunities for me to check/test my knowledge through essays, worksheets, fun projects, and multiple choice assessments. Though this may be a personal preference, I would like to note that I really like the emphasis FTA places on written assignments. I noticed that it enables me to store what I learned better, and allows me to expand on that knowledge through research, especially in essay assignments. Research is also required in many assignments, which allowed me to learn more deeply about a given topic.

In regards to the teachers and staff, I have had nothing but good experiences with them. They were friendly, prompt, and helpful. If I had trouble understanding a topic within a course or just wanted to discuss a subtopic that interested me in a lesson, my teachers responded quickly and always helped me. They held regular office hours throughout the week, usually three times a week, but were available via the Message Center all throughout the week. My teachers, in addition, also gave me positive, helpful feedback on my turned-in work. Sometimes, especially in science and history, my teachers would, along with work feedback, add fun facts about the subject we covered! I was always learning.

The staff was also always helping me, and encouraging me to do the best I could. Specifically, Ms. Ledy Scott, Forest Trail's guidance counselor, went above and beyond always. She connected me with FTA's director, Dr. Gifty Chung, so I was able to interview her for an article. She also guided me to the best courses and clubs to join.

Some additional notes I would like to mention for anyone who is considering this school, most especially if they are first-time online/homeschoolers. Keep in mind that, even with the great teacher and staff support, students will have to learn to manage their schedules and turn-ins. While it may be difficult for those new to online/homeschooling, it is very beneficial to students in the long run. Personally acquiring such a skill has helped me in managing deadlines and work in my own job as a writer. In addition, students will develop research, writing, and citation skills due to the amount of writing required across all courses. This may come off as overwhelming at first, as it did to me, but I got used to it within my first month in FTA. I found these skills an incredible asset to my learning, too.

All in all, Forest Trail was a great school! I'm glad to have taken my high school through it!

Excellent teachers and a good curriculum. Great for any homeschool student,

Best decision made. Great school

Very terrible online school, they did nothing to get money from customers, but stupidly uploaded documents in PDF files that students can't edit, students had to pay for PDF to doc. converter, then they can edit files and submit them to this website. There are only 2 people that were called teachers for grading. This website may have only 5 people working as administrators and 2 of them are so called teachers. They are very inefficient, rude and irresponsible, after my child's attempts to access its courses , and failed, I sent them complaint many times to fix the issue, then they reprehensibly said that I had too much issues , was welcome to withdraw, but I had to pay $150 fee, they wouldn't refund me in full even though my child just registered and paid without being able to access any courses. Don't waste your money and time on this trash website

Foresttrail academy is an excellent place for students around the world to study the teachers go beyond to assist all their students and make sure they understanding the chapter before moving on to the next the school also offer a variety of high school programs which other schools don鈥檛. Foresttrail academy is the best online schooling in America, I would recommend forest trail to anybody trying to earn a high school diploma.

I literally just graduated and received my diploma today – and I (mostly) have only positive things to say about FTA. I started my junior year and had to get an extension because I procrastinated far too much and, while it seemed like the end of the world at first, it taught me how to keep a schedule afterwards; and to set my own deadlines. Senior year was a lot better, and I passed all of my classes with ease. The only class I think could be better is pre-calc. For students like me who aren鈥檛 as great with math unless there鈥檚 a teacher beside me, it鈥檚 a lot harder to process blocks of information. I don鈥檛 blame the teacher, of course, I just hope they can tailor this class to be a bit more forgiving for slower students. Overall I have no regrets with FTA and highly recommend this school to anyone who feels like the public education system isn鈥檛 pushing them far enough 🙂

Had a great time taking classes from here, one of the most applicable classes I鈥檝e taken was an elective from here.

I didn't submit medical documentation because under HIPPA laws im am protected because of personal information on the documents. I just want my refund and collections harrassment to stop. I have already made a statement to the local media here and in your city they address wlling to put your heartless name on a story i renrolled our daughter in November 2019 she was hopitalized until just recently she never got to use the services of forest trail. I lost my job due to the medical reasons making me miss work. Leaving our family totally jobless being Christmas and heating season in NY i asked for my $350 back since it was never used they refuse to work with me stating a no refund policy i never received a copy of. Beware of this academy they are heartless

My son has asperger syndrome Forest Trail has given him an opportunity to complete his stidies.

My son signed up to take their online pre-calculus course. It was advertised to have instructional videos and lessons with follow up worksheets. When he started the course he tried to log onto the videos but none of them worked. He then contacted the program and was emailed back that they have removed all the videos and he should go to Khan Academy for instructional videos. Additionally the worksheets made no sense and we had a math teacher look at them as well and he couldn鈥檛 understand half the questions either. I then called the academy and asked for a refund since this is not a course and was falsely advertised. They told me they do not refund money after 5 days even partially despite our efforts to work with them on this. What a waste of time and money.

avoid at all cost, unable to access web site and login to do the school work, we tried three computers, and on each computer we tried google, safari and foxfire, and no luck and tech support said "well we can sign in so you will have to figure it out". Three days of frustration and little or no contact or response from tech support or admin. and they have a poor refund policy-dont do it, it will cost you plenty in the end

AVOID AT ALL COST!!
If we could, we would give Forest Trail Academy zero stars as the experience we have had/are having is the stuff of nightmares. We were assured and reassured that the classes are credited and recognized nationally. They are not!! The department of education here in NYC has never heard of Forest Trail Academy and we were told to pull our child out IMMEDIATELY. Our child is now behind on HS credits and has to play catch-up in the form of summer school and next academic year. We were lied to,dismissed, the effect of their dishonesty minimized and to top it all; their "eagerness" to have us pay for something that is not even valid and recognized!! We were strongly advised by the DoE to fight the case in court as the treats of court action have already started. We lawyer'ed up and are eagerly waiting to have the courts decide what to do with these "educators". They are saying that we are in breach of contract, we will then show and demonstrate that they run an illegal establishment. Cannot wait for that day to arrive so they can be shut down and other families will be saved from the misery we have had to go through…

Very rigorous program. Sometimes it seems to be college level instead of high school. Responsive teachers.

My son and I has had a very good experience with Forest trail academy. He's able to go at his own paste without being rushed what pressured. He's doing very well in this online environment.

We have very good experience with Forest Trail and we recommending to our friends.

I have absolutely NO insight into my child's work at all. I get an email every time he finishes an assignment, which is fine, but I cannot look at the essays he writes or find a list of work that is due and turned in or not turned in. I have used other parent portals that give a dashboard with all the critical academic info necessary for a parent to gauge how their child is doing and where they may need assistance. I would like to see a little more effort go into transparency for parents. My son recently wrote and essay that I would really like to read, but I am unable unless I am not using the website correctly…

Very professional and caring!

I hated my experience with the school horrible! They don鈥檛 deserve no star. My daughter needed a copy of her transcript they refused to release it.
They don鈥檛 deserve any star.. they don鈥檛 care for the children it鈥檚 all business ? that鈥檚 my opinion

Slightly more than average

Excellent online school. Curriculum is at or above grade level and self paced. Easy to use platform. Great for both gen. ed and ese students.