While school may be over, you most likely have a few hours of work left. So, how do you keep your kid entertained and occupied? An online after-school program is one way to help your child explore whatever they’re passionate about and improve their studies while keeping them engaged.
Whether your child is learning remotely or going to face-to-face learning, we picked five fantastic online after-school programs to consider enrolling in below.
Related: Top 5 Afterschool STEM Programs in the US
1. Outschool
Outschool has more than 100,000 online, talk-based classes for kids ages 3 to 18. Your kid can use it to learn about almost any subject because there are still classes for music, history, science, world languages, and much more. After school, there are virtual classes in almost every subject you can think of. For example, your child could learn to play the ukulele or study marine biology in Minecraft and the real world.
2. University of Rochester Pre-College Online Program
The program offers flexible online STEM courses for high school students, including medicine, video game design, biomedical engineering, and orthopedic surgery. These courses are 100% online and asynchronous, allowing students to complete them independently. The courses cover personalized medicine, orthopedic medicine, U.S. healthcare, biomedical engineering, and video game design.
- Biomedical Engineering – Solving the Body’s Challenges with Technology teaches students how to combine engineering techniques with biology and medicine to solve health problems.
- Intro to Video Game Design – Explore the art of storytelling and the skills used by game designers and developers.
- Orthopedic Medicine – Treatments & Surgery explores the surgical specialties and subspecialties of this competitive field.
- Personalized Medicine – Customizing Care through Genetics explores the role of genes in various diseases and their impact on treatment.
- S. Healthcare: Politics, Problems, and Possibilities – Explore the U.S. healthcare system, its controversies, and future possibilities.
Explore a vast range of impressive extracurricular activities for your kids at Impressive Teens. We have carefully curated a comprehensive list of activities that can help your child develop new skills, explore their interests, and stand out to college admissions officers. Use our search engine to find activities near you and filter by activity, location, and interest.
3. Plugged-In Band Program Music Classes
The Plugged In Band Program is a unique initiative that combines music education and philanthropy to create an inclusive community. The program welcomes students of all skill levels and abilities, aiming to empower them to make a difference in their local communities. The program offers various classes, including the Youth Rock Band Class, which consists of 3-6 students and one teacher, and the World’s Biggest Stage: Live Streaming 101, which teaches students about platforms, audience engagement, and social media promotion.
Private music lessons are also offered, focusing on guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, vocals, songwriting, electronic music production, and digital audio production. Students are introduced to digital audio output through a 14-week project-oriented program and then dive into songwriting and production, learning tools for sound design, engineering, and production.
The Amped Up program allows students to produce their own music festival with support from Plugged In’s teaching staff. Creating Music with Coding is a web-based STEAM class that teaches students introductory computer programming and digital audio workstation skills. Finally, the Peace Tracks project, a cross-cultural, collaborative digital music and video project for youth, involves young people ages 14-18 forming bands with overseas counterparts to write and produce original songs and music videos, which will be live-streamed in a culminating concert.
Related: Best Drum Set for a Teenager
4. Parsons Paris Online Courses for High School Students
This program offers flexible online classes centering around fashion design, branding, business, and sustainability in fashion for high school students. The classes are 100% online and asynchronous, allowing students to complete the course at their own pace. The four courses offered include:
- Becoming a Designer for the 21st Century – Learn how top designers come up with ideas, develop concepts, and illustrate them through storytelling, mood boards, and video.
- Inside the Business of Fashion and Luxury – Gain insight into the business side of the industry, including careers, brand creation, sustainable materials, and social media influencers.
- Build Your Own Fashion Brand – Learn how to turn your passion for fashion into a business by developing a vision, devising a business plan, building brand awareness, understanding financial aspects, and production and delivery.
- Sustainability: The Future of Fashion – Explore how the fashion industry can be both beautiful and sustainable by learning about product life cycles, eco-friendly design approaches, and the benefits and drawbacks of “green” branding.
These courses cater to students interested in design, marketing, or other fields passionate about the intersection of fashion and sustainability. With 30 hours of overall course time over 2 or 4 weeks, students can explore the creative opportunities available at the intersection of fashion and sustainability.
Discover the most impressive extracurricular activities for your kids at Impressive Teens. Our platform provides a hassle-free experience for parents to search and find activities that are perfect for their children. With detailed information on each activity, including reviews, ratings, and location maps, you can easily choose an activity that suits your child’s needs and interests. So start exploring today and give your child the best opportunity to succeed!
5. Rhode Island School of Design: Advanced Program Online
The Rhode Island School of Design’s Advanced Program Online is a series of collegiate-level courses for students aged 15 to 18 and 10 to 12. The program offers a flexible schedule, combining live and recorded video sessions using Zoom and the learning management system. Students can share work in progress, present projects, and connect individually and in small groups with instructors.
Additionally, students can join a certificate track to expand their skill sets and portfolio. The program includes essential fundamentals courses like experiential drawing and exploration in design and concentration/featured topic courses like animation, architecture, drawing and mixed media, fashion, graphic design, illustration and identity, interpretation of figures, print and image, and sculpture.
Find the Best Online After School Programs for Your High Schooler
Keeping your high schooler occupied doesn’t have to be a chore, and you can use this list of the top online after-school programs to kickstart your search. No matter the interest, there’s a program available that meets your kid’s needs and helps them stay focused and learning.
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