Scrolling through course selections on her computer, former Mill Valley High School student Kaelynn Parsons opens a lesson for her U.S. History class. Rather than cracking the books with other students, Parsons will work on earing credit in the comfort of her own home.

With the recent availability of virtual school to get a high school diploma, an increasing number of students made the choice to take school online.

“I always thought that the normal routine just wasn’t for me,” former Mill Valley student Andrew Knabel said. “So I decided to try online school.”

Knabel is an online high school student through Eudora Community Learning Center. He transferred in January and plans to graduate by November. Knabel chose to transfer to online school to stay home and help out.

“The difficult part is having to learn it all on your own,” Knabel said. “Most of the time you have to work five times harder to understand it.”

While it seems that online school would be easy, Parsons disagrees.

“A misconception people have is that online school is easy, but it’s really not,” Parsons said. “You really just teach yourself everything.”

Parsons attends Connections Academy, a virtual school for students to receive their high school diploma. She began school in September and plans to graduate in May. Parsons made the decision to transfer to online school to graduate early and move on with future plans.

Most virtual schools are flexible for the participants. Students can decide to pick a rigorous or lenient schedule.

“The best part is that it’s relaxed,” Knabel said. ” I’m not under pressure and I can take my time.”

Even with the flexibility, Knabel occasionally found it difficult to stay on task.

“You think to yourself, ‘What’s the point? Why worry yourself?’” Knabel said.

Parsons enjoys working at her own pace. She plans to spend six hours per week day completing school work in order to graduate on time.

“My motivation is that I am graduating early and I get to get out of the house,” Parsons said.

Depending on the online school, many virtual schools will also have a graduation ceremony for the students.

“I’ll still have a cap and gown,” Parsons said. “But it’ll just be with a bunch of strangers.”

Students choose to transfer for many reasons, including physical or mental limitations, issues at school or home, or for other personal reasons. There are few social opportunities involved when participating in an online school, and that’s not a good thing, according to counselor Erin Hayes.

“Part of learning is learning about each other, sitting in a classroom and learning from other’s mistakes,” Hayes said. “You don’t have that kind of interaction with online schools.”

According to Eudora Community Learning Center coordinator Angie Miller, online school is a good option for some students.

“It’s self-paced, so [students] can go as fast or as slow as they need,” Miller said. “If a student struggles in a subject, they can work on it as long as they need.”

While an education acquired online lacks certain aspects of regular public school, it is a choice worth considering.

“It’s a nice alternative and it’s very easy to get used to,” Knabel said. “If you have good time management skills, you will succeed.”