Alternative Schooling Options
A Sora Schools admissions counselor and two expat parents on accredited online middle and high school for families living abroad.
- Members only
- Recorded webinar
- 55 min
- August 8, 2025
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About this session
Stephanie, events and product manager at Expatsi, hosts this session on school options for families moving abroad with children under 18. Sky, a senior admissions counselor at Sora Schools, presents its accredited online program for grades 6 through 12. Two parents join. Amy has lived in Bermuda with her three children for 13 years, and Camila is raising twin daughters in the Caribbean.
Sora's classes are live, project-based and recorded, and students meet daily in mixed-grade houses sorted by time zone and shared interests. The session also walks through the path to college, including a dual enrollment partnership with Arizona State University. Audience questions follow. One of them asks how students build community when school is online, and the parents answer from their own families' experience.
Key takeaways
- Sora Schools is a fully accredited online school for grades 6 through 12. Its accreditation comes from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and graduates receive a US diploma accepted by colleges and universities worldwide.
- Classes are held live, and all of them are recorded so a student can review them later after an appointment or a travel day. Sora offers different school start times for each of the four US time zones.
- Instead of high-stakes tests, students show what they learned by submitting a project at the end of each cycle. The transcript still lists credits earned and a formal GPA, in a format informed by the Mastery Transcript Consortium.
- Every student belongs to a house. Houses mix grade levels, are sorted by time zone and shared interests, and meet daily with a house adviser who is the first point of contact for students and parents.
- High school students can take free college courses through the ASU Universal Learner program while enrolled, and graduates can earn up to 32 credit hours in a gap year program. This is available regardless of where the family lives.
- Sora reports a 98% college acceptance rate, and 95% of its students are accepted into one of their top three choice colleges.
- The Sora Home app lets parents see upcoming tasks and teacher feedback from their phone. Amy uses it to log the hours her kids will miss for an orthodontist appointment.
Chapters
- 0:08Welcome: school options for families moving abroad with kids
- 2:02Meet Sky from Sora Schools and two expat parents
- 6:12The schooling hurdles expat families face
- 8:37Camila on leaving a brick-and-mortar school for online classes
- 13:05Project-based expeditions and the parents' favorite classes
- 20:21Flexible schedules, recorded classes and the Sora Home parent app
- 25:51Faculty, daily houses, meetups and field trips
- 33:27Clubs, parent programs and after-school classes online
- 38:53College prep, transcripts, accreditation and ASU dual enrollment
- 43:40Next steps for interested families
- 45:31Q&A: tuition for multiples and building community online
Questions from the session
How do kids make friends at an online school?
At Sora, students use a platform called Heartbeat to message each other and their teachers, and they can set up Zoom calls outside school hours. Clubs are run by students. Students choose their own classes, so everyone in the room picked that class. Socratic discussion drives the classes, and students are expected to be on camera and take part.
Can my kids still do local sports and activities if they go to school online?
Sora families have a big say in the student's schedule, so the school day can end before local after-school activities start. Amy's sons take drum lessons and play field hockey after school. Where her family lives, many children's activities are run by the community rather than by schools, so her kids can join almost anything they would have done at a brick-and-mortar school in the US.
Do online students get extracurriculars like debate or drama?
Yes. Sora offers debate and drama to all middle and high school students over Zoom after the school day ends. Drama is led by a Broadway, television and film actor in New York City, and debate by a coach with over 10 years of experience. In Amy's family, one son has done debate and another drama for a couple of years, and both feel they know their coaches.
Transcript
Auto-generated from the session’s captions and lightly corrected; it may contain errors.
0:08Well, good morning everybody or maybe good afternoon depending on where you're where you're located. Um, we're going to get started here in just a few moments. We still have some folks that are getting logged into the webinar for today. So, we want to make sure that everybody is in and settled before we get down to the nitty-gritty. While we're waiting for everybody to get comfortable, um, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Stephanie Stone Rob.
0:30I am the events and product manager for Expatsi. So, all of the webinars, the membership, um if you have questions on how to access recordings, we've probably communicated before. Um and today we are presenting a webinar that we get a lot of questions on this topic of um I'm moving overseas. I have kids who are under 18. what education options do I have for my children? Um, you know, we know navigating that can be a challenge.
1:02Um, we know that there are a lot of options out there, but knowing who and what to trust can sometimes be an additional stressor. Um, in addition to helping your your kids acclimate and helping you acclimate to a whole new situation and a new structure. So, we wanted to provide a resource for everybody. Um, we are going to be recording this, so if you miss anything during the the webinar, you just want to rewatch it, um, we will send out recordings later on today. Um, and then the last piece of housekeeping, if you have questions, we highly highly welcome your questions. We encourage your
1:34questions. Down at the bottom of your Zoom screen, there's a little square has a question mark in the center. It says Q&A down at the bottom. If you click on that, that's where you can type in your questions. We're going to hold off on answering questions until kind of towards the end of today's presentation. Um, so if you put in a question and it seems like we're ignoring it, I promise I see it. Um, we'll just get to it so we can do all of the questions at once. Um, well, without any further ado, I want to introduce today's guest, Sky Telka from
2:02Sora Schools, who's going to talk about some of the options that you have for making sure that your kids um, education continues even in your new country. Sky, go ahead and take it away. Yeah, thank you so much, Stephanie. I'm going to take just a moment to share my screen. So, let's pop on over there. All right, looks good. We will get going then. Um, so hello everyone. We are so excited that you've joined us today and that you're considering, you know, the best way to support your stu student during a move abroad. Um, during today's session, you will be introduced to some
2:37of the challenges and opportunities of schooling abroad. uh learn a bit about SORA and its mission, explore our innovative curriculum, uh get familiar with student and parent life at Sora, consider your students post-graduation goals, and understand next steps. Um, and don't miss out on the Q&A session that we're going to have at the end of the presentation where you can connect to our current Sora parents who you'll get to meet in just a minute and dive a little bit deeper into the Sora experience. Um, of course, feel free to put any questions you have in the Q&A section located at the bottom of your
