What a fantastic, alternative, high school! A great place for students to get caught up, get ahead, or get finished early. Also, they offer free summer school to ALL students! It's a hybrid program that blends independent study, small lecture classes, and online that is a savior for students who have difficulty in a traditional high school. I wish OFL was an option for me when I was in high school! read more

Options for Youth - Simi Valley - Middle Schools & High Schools Near Me - Simi Valley, California

2018 UPDATE: OFL has changed. It is not the school I raved about back when my older daughter went there. It's not a warm and inviting. I am not satisfied with a fast pace for my dyslexic kid. She has been very stressed out. Many of the great teachers that were there, have left or were fired. Teachers use to be supportive there. I'm very disappointed, dissatisfied, and the distress they have caused my daughter is everlasting. 2016 Comment: I can't say enough about how good this charter school is. One daughter graduated from there, after having mono and falling behind in the public school. They are socially and educationally amazing. The faculty itself is what you would hope from mainstream education, but rarely see. Every person there, is friendly......... read more

Some teachers are petty and rude and they grade unfairly, honestly makes ur life miserable.

This "School" is a disgrace to the word school. Now I am not one to talk since I hate the thought of school in general but this has proven to me that I should be grateful for the high school I go to during the year. I am retaking Geometry in their summer school program and I hope they see this because this is a terrible academy. Their teachers are rude and if you can't figure something out your own they throw a tutor at you. They don't answer questions, they just say "should I sign you up for a tutor?" Each week you have to be done with a whole unit and have to get an 80% or higher on each test and quiz. This program teaches you how to take a test more than the actual material. If I knew this before I signed up and had my mom PAY for this revolting program I would have just gone to the public summer school. I thought by paying, the teachers would actually know what they're teaching. I was wrong tho and the meetings you have to attend every Monday and Wednesday or what every day you are assigned are bogus. It's the only teaching your assigned teacher does and they just teach you how to use the program which is easy to use. (the only pro to this dreadful establishment) This business has caused me to be stressed out of my mind and has made me think about dropping out of school in all. They have broken down my spirt and energy to even complete the third unit and each time I ask if they could unlock the 4th unit, cause they do lock them so you can't just work as you want, they say no because I didn't get an 80 on a test or the worksheet was worded differently then how they want you to word it or anything they can say to make you not go on to the next unit. And, after each question, they as you to self-evaluate yourself to see if you understand the information but what I have gone to realize is each of the questions in the Unit count for nothing. You don't get any credit for what you are doing until you get to the test and quizzes, those are the only things that count but if you don't do the course work then you don't get to move on. The whole thing is basic stupidity and whoever came up with that system deserves a raise for making teenager's life incredibly harder. Like I said before, I hope they see this 'cause this is a problem that needs a solution and fast. read more

Summer school for my daughter has been one frustrating experience after another. First, they gave her the wrong textbook for her health class, but gave her the correct tests. So the textbook and the tests did not match up. She was being tested on things she had never learned. The administrators were able to remedy the situation, but our frustrations didn't end there. In her geography class, the OFL-created workbooks do not match the units in the textbook. So she completed one workbook, but the test for that unit was only on half of the content for that unit. So as she gets ready for the last two tests of the semester, she has no idea what to study since she over-studied for the first test, but will likely have to re-study material she thought would be on that test. And all this frustration so that she can work ahead so that she can be in the school orchestra during the school year. It's one thing to make it unnecessarily difficult for kids who failed a class and need to repeat, but why should good kids have to suffer? If summer school is in our future again, we WILL NOT be going to OFL. read more

My daughter is not a math kid and despite being a pretty good student she failed algebra 2 in her junior year and needed to remediate during summer school in order to be eligible to apply to 4 year universities. She really needed a lot of help to understand the concepts and in a classroom full of kids she wasn't going to get that, and was scared she would fail again at traditional summer school. At Opportunities for Learning she found a way to be successful. With the one on one tutoring, ability to retake tests if you need to until you get it right and the independence to do it at your pace without the stress of getting left behind or feeling stupid in front of the other kids, my algebra-challenged kid managed to get a B-! They worked with our summer schedule, around our preplanned vacation and even allowed her to have extra time and help to finish the course. I found everyone accommodating and friendly and ready to help a kid who was trying hard. Independent study meant she had to be self motivated.....motivated enough to understand how things worked at this school and she had to figure out how to get the work done. She learned a lot about independence by doing this and I see a change of study habits now that she is back at her regular high school. I have to thank them for helping my teen regain her confidence that she could do it! read more

My son arrived less than 10 minutes late for summer school orientation today, the orientation hadn't officially started yet. KRISTEN or KIRSTEN (not sure which, because when I asked for her name, she wouldn't speak up loud enough for me to understand her) was EXTREMELY RUDE and told my son that he "CAN'T be late for his appointments like this". I walked up to the desk 30 seconds after she told him this and explained that there was more traffic than usual on the 118. She then looked at me, pointed out the door, and said "well, rush hour". There was another kid who walked in afterwards, and received a smile and ZERO attitude from this lady. WTF?! My son is a quarter black, and the other kid was white... I'm Filipino. Racist? Sure seemed like it. The rest of our time there, she wouldn't make eye contact and avoided me like the plague. I will definitely be contacting manager of this office to file a formal complaint. A huge attitude and rudeness is definitely NOT the way I like to be greeted after a busy day of meeting with patients followed by horrible traffic, especially when I witnessed this lady interacted nicely with others while I was there. read more

They only seem to care about quantity, not quality. If you go into their center, there is no room to move. Call the Fire Marshall! If you need help, go to Vista Real where one on one personalized attention with a teacher gives you the real help you need. My daughter finished and got the help she needed with their caring students and staff. They also offer a free summer program for all students. read more

I was very skeptical about this charter school at first until I learned the meaning of "Independent learning" (similar to homeschool) if your child is lazy and puts things off till the last minute and needs someone breathing down his or her neck 24-7 to get their school work done and turned in this program is definitely NOT the place for your kid. If your child is more independent and mature this is the perfect place for them. One of my kids needed to take a college prep pre-algebra class during the summer to get ahead because of how crazy our schedule will be this year due to water polo. Our counselor referred us to the program and the receptionist Vanessa laid everything out for us from A-Z. She was very patient and kind and told us exactly what we were getting into for summer school. Nothing was sugar coated and my son and daughter knew what was expected of them both at home and during summer school. The pre-calculus class was hard for my son but he advocated for himself and asked the questions he needed to ask because he knew he wanted to do well in this class. He had 2 semesters to do during their 6 week summer program and in 5 weeks it was completed. My daughter who is entering 9th grade took a health class and she was done with it in 2 1/2 weeks because we received the material in advance. Again, it all depends on your children to apply themselves. My advice to parents who are enrolling for summer classes is to make sure your kid is mature and independent enough. Their teacher Mindy and Kim were very kind and made themselves available to answer questions. They had all day tutoring during the week and on weekends which helped my son succeed. I will be back next year for sure for my daughter! Great school! read more