For Current VSA Families
From Part-Time to Full-Time
Part-time gives your child great classes. Full-time gives them the complete school experience with an Academic Advisor who guides your family year by year, a plan that leads to graduation, and an accredited diploma recognized by colleges nationwide.
On This Page
A Big Step, or the Next One?
If you’ve been thinking about full-time, you may also be weighing a few honest questions. Can our budget stretch? Will my child handle a full course load? Will we lose the parts of homeschooling we love? Those are wise questions to ask, and every full-time family we know asked some version of them first.
Here’s what we hope you’ll see on this page: the move is smaller than it looks. Your child keeps the teachers and classes you already trust. What changes is everything around them: a plan for the whole year, an advisor who knows your child by name, and a path that leads all the way to graduation.
What Stays the Same, and What’s Added
What You Already Know
What Stays the Same
- The same expert teachers
- The same live classes, twice a week
- The same classmates and discussions
- Recorded classes for the days you’re away
- The same honors-level coursework
- Your role as your child’s first teacher
With the Diploma Program
What Full-Time Adds
- An Academic Advisor who knows your child and checks in through the year
- A complete course plan for the year, mapped toward graduation
- An official report card at the end of each year
- An accredited transcript for high school, with honors, dual enrollment, and AP courses marked
- Student government and Student Connections
- Advisor-led seminars on dual enrollment, college applications, and financial aid
- An accredited diploma and graduation at the End-of-Year Gathering
- First access to course registration each winter
The Earlier, the Better
Many families assume full-time matters most in high school, and it’s easy to see why: the transcript gets most of the attention. But the advisor relationship, the study habits, and the long-range plan do their best work when they start early. Every year in the Diploma Program builds on the one before it.
Grades K-6
Starting in Grammar School
Your child grows up with an Academic Advisor who knows their story from the beginning, and a full course plan replaces the patchwork of separate decisions. Annual standardized testing gives you a clear picture of progress from year to year.
Through You Teach Diploma courses, you can keep teaching favorite subjects at home while they count toward your child’s school year. Many full-time Grammar families take three live courses and three You Teach courses.
Grades 7-8
Starting in Middle School
These are the years when workloads grow and students learn to manage several live classes at once. With an advisor already mapping the road to graduation, high school choices like Latin, the math sequence, and Omnibus are made deliberately, well before they appear on a transcript.
Grade 9
Starting by 9th Grade
Your child’s transcript is built from the first day of high school: four full years of courses, grades, and honors-weighted GPA, all under one accredited school. Student government and Student Connections are open from the start, and there’s time to plan dual enrollment and NCAA eligibility well ahead of senior year.
Students can still join later, and many do. Your Family Consultant can show you what joining at your child’s grade looks like.
Keep What You Love About Homeschooling
For many part-time families, homeschooling is part of who you are. You chose it on purpose, and you may love teaching certain subjects yourself. Full-time doesn’t ask you to give that up. The Diploma program includes ways to keep your hands on your child’s education:
- You Teach Diploma courses. Teach a subject at home with VSA-approved curriculum, and the grade becomes part of your child’s school record.
- External courses. High school students can take up to three academic electives through another accredited institution, listed on the VSA transcript.
- Independent Study. When a schedule, time zone, or graduation requirement makes a live section hard to attend, your advisor can request an Independent Study course.
- Recorded classes. Every live class is recorded, so travel, competitions, and family seasons don’t mean missed learning.
Your Academic Advisor builds the plan with you, so the year reflects your family’s goals.
How the Move Works
You won’t be starting over. You’ll pick up with someone who already knows your family, and then meet someone new who will walk with you through every year ahead.
Talk With Your Family Consultant
The same person who knows your family and your child’s VSA story.
Look at Next Year Together
Talk through what’s working now and what a full-time plan would look like for your child.
Enroll
Review our Terms and Conditions and pay the yearly Diploma fee.
Meet Your Academic Advisor
They’ll build your child’s course plan with you and guide you through registration.
Meeting Your Academic Advisor
This is the new part of the journey. In your first consultation, your advisor gets to know your child and your goals, builds the course plan for the year ahead, and looks down the road toward graduation. Through the year, they keep an eye on grades and reach out if something needs attention, so you’re never watching alone. When questions come up, you’ll know exactly whom to ask.
Why Now Is a Good Time to Talk
Full-time enrollment for the next school year opens each November, and full-time families get first access to course registration, ahead of part-time registration. Enrolling early gives your child the best chance at the sections and times that fit your family’s week.
What It Costs
Budget is often the biggest question, and it deserves a clear answer. Course tuition works the same way it does now: you pay for each course your child takes. Full-time adds a yearly Diploma fee of $479 to $599 for Grammar School, or $649 to $729 for Secondary School. It covers academic advising, official records, and transcripts.
For students joining in grades 10-12, there’s also a one-time Legacy fee of $349 for each year of grades 9-11 spent outside the Diploma Program. We share it here so nothing surprises you later.
You can build a full-time plan for your child, with payment options and savings, on our tuition page.
A Family Who Made the Move
I appreciated the diploma program and the adviser that could come alongside me and help walk me through the four years of high school.
Ashley Gochnauer, VSA parent
After years of part-time classes, the Gochnauers had come to love the teachers, the rigor, and the classical model.
When their daughter was a sophomore, they decided to dive in. Full-time, they felt, was how they could make the most of what they’d already found.
Questions Part-Time Families Ask
What if full-time feels like too much for my child?
That’s both a caring question and a common one. Full-time doesn’t have to mean every subject is live. Your Academic Advisor builds the course plan with you, and options like You Teach Diploma courses let you balance live classes with work at home. If something isn’t working during the year, your advisor will help you adjust.
Will my child have the same teachers?
Full-time students learn from the same VSA faculty your child knows now, in the same live classes alongside part-time classmates.
Can siblings be on different paths?
Yes. Diploma enrollment is per student, so one child can be full-time while a sibling stays part-time. Your Family Consultant can help you plan for each child.
What is the Legacy fee?
Students who join the Diploma Program in grades 10-12 pay a one-time fee of $349 for each year of grades 9-11 they spent outside the program. Students who join by 9th grade don’t pay it.
Will we still be considered homeschoolers?
Full-time students are enrolled in an accredited private school. Each state has its own rules, and in some states families also register as homeschoolers. This article explains more: Is My Student Considered a Homeschooler When in the Diploma Program?
Let’s Talk About Next Year
Your Family Consultant already knows your family. Tell them you’re thinking about full-time, and they’ll help you see what the next step could look like for your child.
