A Week in the Life
This is a typical day in the life of Skylar, a Stanford OHS 7th grader from Jackson, Mississippi. Skylar plays tennis, volunteers at his local animal shelter, and is involved in Stanford OHS activities. While Skylar lives in the Central Time Zone, his class schedule is in Pacific Time.
Many of our students are doing extraordinary things: writing books, star gazing, studying ballet, acting in films, training as athletes, traveling the world with their families, and serving their communities, to name a few. It’s because of our college-style schedule and enrollment options that they are able to pursue their passions inside and outside the classroom.
College-Style System & Schedule
Our extended school hours allows students to work at the times of day when they learn best and gives them the freedom to participate in pursuits outside the classroom. It also teaches students to become responsible for their own time and its management sooner rather than later in their academic careers.
To that end, we devised a calendar and schedule based on the U.S. college model:
- We use a two-semester (Fall and Spring) system, although most of our classes are year-long. Students receive a separate grade for each semester.
- Most classes meet twice a week, either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. Language classes meet three times a week to encourage development of verbal skills. Students use the rest of the time as they need to—preparing for class, finishing assignments, and attending to their other commitments and interests.
- Because ours is a global student body, Stanford OHS runs on an extended school day, 6am to 10pm, although most courses fall between 7:15am and 9pm Pacific Time. That’s important to remember and easy to forget: Scheduled class times reflect Stanford University’s location in the U.S. Pacific time zone.
- In order to accommodate this active, global student body, every year we create a new master schedule based on the time constraints of all our returning students and first-round applicants. Our success rate in meeting these requests is over 90%, and the schedule changes dramatically each year.
Time to Pursue Passions & Connect With Peers
At Stanford OHS classes don’t meet on Fridays. This is to allow our more than 40 student-run clubs and organizations to meet virtually and in-person. Friday is also a time for all-school assemblies and presentations by various outside speakers. And it gives students the opportunity to pursue interests of their own.
Flexible Enrollment Options
Stanford OHS meets each aspiring student’s goals by crafting three enrollment options: full-time (four or five courses), part-time (two or three courses), and single course. This allows students to choose us as their only school or as a way to supplement their learning with courses not found at every brick-and-mortar school.