Blog

Welcome to the American School's blog. You will see our last thirty blog posts on this page. View the ten most recent blog posts here. View some of our favorite blog posts from the past decade here.

New Biology Course Available - Today we are pleased to announced that a new Biology course is available to students. This high school correspondence class replaces the previous version and is the basis for our lab and non-lab biology courses. The lab kit for the lab version of the course remains the same. We are happy to offer a wide... Read More
New Housing and Interior Design and English 9 Courses Available - In today's blog, we are pleased to announce that a new Housing and Interior Design course and a new English 9 course are now available. We are excited about launching a new platform for our online high school courses and online middle school courses, but the Housing and Interior Design and English 9 courses are... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: The Adding Machine - It's August 21, and William Seward Burroughs patented the first adding machine on this date in 1888. Over the years adding machines were replaced by calculators, which are smaller and can do more things than the original adding machine. Simple calculators perform basic math operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, while others can... Read More
Today’s Birthday: Benjamin Harrison - It's August 20, and Benjamin Harrison was born on this date in 1833. He was the 23rd President of the United States and the grandson of William Henry Harrison, who was the 9th President of the United States. To this day, they are the only grandparent-grandchild combination to hold the office. If you're a regular... Read More
Today’s Birthday: Orville Wright - It's August 19, and Orville Wright was born on this date in 1871. Orville and his brother Wilbur are often considered the fathers of aviation since their aircraft made the first flight on December 17, 1903. Exactly six years before that famous flight, American School received its charter. That means we've been around nearly 122... Read More
Enroll in AP Courses for 2019-2020! - American School is pleased to open enrollments in our AP courses for the 2019-2020 school year. All the information you need is available on the AP Courses page on our web site. Unlike most of our high school correspondence courses and online high school courses, there is a specific enrollment period for AP courses. That's... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: The Panama Canal - It's August 15, and the Panama Canal opened on this date in 1914. Before the Panama Canal opened, sailors had to go around Cape Horn on the southern end of South America if they wanted to go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean or vice versa. The Panama Canal provided a shortcut and... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: Social Security - It's August 14, and the Social Security Act became law on this date in 1935. If you're a teenager interested in our accredited middle school program, college preparatory program or general high school program, then the thought of collecting your social security benefits during your retirement might seem light years away. That's why today is... Read More
Six Flags Great America Homeschool Days - Six Flags Great America between Chicago and Milwaukee is hosting Homeschool Days from August 19-23, complete with curriculum for homeschoolers to complete as they ride roller coasters, log rides and much more. We realize that not all of you live near Chicago or Milwaukee, but we wanted to mention this event because there may be... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: The IBM Personal Computer - It's August 12, and on this date in 1981, the IBM personal computer made its debut. At one time computers were very large and took up entire rooms. The IBM PC changed all that and revolutionized technology around the world. As time has gone by, computers have become smaller yet more powerful, and even mobile... Read More
Today’s Birthday: Smokey Bear - It's August 9, and Smokey Bear turns 75 years old today. In the beginning, Smokey Bear was a real live bear, but eventually he morphed into the Smokey Bear we know and love, namely the one stripped to the waist, wearing only a hat and a pair of blue jeans, and advocating for forest fire... Read More
Emails from studentcenter@americanschoolofcorr.com - Today's blog is about emails being sent from the studentcenter@americanschoolofcorr.com email address. This email address is used only to send automated announcements from the online student center to the email you have on file with us. Typical emails sent from this address include those which discuss grades, email address changes and password updates. This email... Read More
American School Trustees Hold Quarterly Meeting - Earlier this week the American School Board of Trustees held their quarterly meeting. Longtime blog readers might recall that we have a big annual meeting every October during which we review the past year's accomplishments and plan for the future so that we can be an even better distance education high school and middle school. ... Read More
American School Staff Receives American Red Cross Training - Recently the American Red Cross visited and trained several employees in first aid and CPR. We provide this training to staff members to that they can keep fellow employees as safe and healthy as possible in case of any type of emergency. If you're interested in learning a bit more about first aid and CPR yourself,... Read More
American School Closing at Noon on August 6 - American School will be closing at 12 noon on Tuesday, August 6, for a staff event. We look forward to helping you with your accredited middle school program, accredited high school program or independent study high school program when we reopen with regular business hours on Wednesday, August 7. Thank you for your understanding.
Today’s Anniversary: The Signing of the Declaration of Independence - It's August 2, and the Declaration of Independence was signed on this date in 1776. We know what you're thinking. You thought the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4. Actually the document was ratified on July 4 but not formally signed until August 2. Today's occasion has us thinking about the signatures we... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: Colorado - It's August 1, and Colorado became a state on this date in 1876. Colorado is known for the Rocky Mountains, and maybe you think graduating from high school is a mountain too big to climb. American School's accredited high school courses can help you reach the summit and earn a high school diploma at home. ... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: Baltimore - It's July 30, and the city of Baltimore was founded on this date in 1729. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that we highlight the conventions and cities we visit throughout the year. In fact, the Southeast Homeschool Expo in Atlanta that we attended last weekend was our 20th convention of... Read More
American School Once Again Receives BBB Accreditation - Last week American School received official word of its accreditation with the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. We have been accredited by BBB since 1934, and their accreditation verifies that we strive to uphold eight BBB standards for trust. They are to build trust, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor... Read More
Today’s Anniversary: New York - It's July 26, and New York became the 11th state on this date in 1788. We are proud to have many students in the state of New York, but sometimes they have to do more than our students who live in the other 49 states. That is not because those of us at American School... Read More
New Algebra 1 Course Available - American School is pleased to announce that a new Algebra 1 course is now available to students. This high school correspondence class also may be suitable for students who wish to take Algebra 1 as part of an accredited middle school program. We are always working to update our middle school and high school correspondence... Read More
2019 Convention #20: Southeast Homeschool Expo - This weekend we're heading to Atlanta for the Southeast Homeschool Expo. It's one of the biggest and best homeschool conventions in the country, and we're proud to be a regular exhibitor at this event. Join us in booth 401 at the Cobb Galleria Centre on July 26 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on... Read More
Mary Pierce Joins International Tennis Hall of Fame - American School graduate Mary Pierce was recently inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. In her career she won the Australian Open and French Open and was runner-up in four other Grand Slam tournaments. We are proud to call her our graduate, and to this day an autographed picture of... Read More
Today’s Birthday: Alex Trebek - It's July 22, and game show host Alex Trebek turns 79 years old today. He's hosted many game shows over the years, so let's go through some of them and share how they relate to American School. One show Alex hosted was Classic Concentration, and indeed concentration is required for students to complete our accredited... Read More
Tomorrow’s Anniversary: Man Walks on the Moon - On July 20, 1969, humans walked on the moon for the first time after Apollo 11 landed there. The three-person crew included Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and it was Armstrong who said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," when he took his first steps on the... Read More
Testimonial Thursday - It's a Thursday, so we're back with another testimonial from one of our students. Today Briana from Illinois writes, "I feel like the American School instructors were a little bit better and a little bit more attentive than the teachers in regular schools. That makes it a lot better on me and my work. The... Read More
2019 Convention #19: AFHE Homeschool Convention - We're going to feel the heat this weekend when we attend the Arizona Families for Home Education Homeschool Convention at the Phoenix Convention Center. Temperatures are sure to be in the triple digits, so why not cool off and come inside to see us in booth 628? We'll be there July 19 from 10 a.m.... Read More
American School and Wimbledon - Wimbledon wrapped up this past weekend, but we don't want to let the world's pre-eminent grass court tennis tournament fade into the background without highlighting some American School students and graduates who succeeded in London. At the top of the list is Andre Agassi, who won the gentlemen's title in 1992 and was runner-up in... Read More
American School Opens Late On July 16 - Due to a staff development meeting, American School will have different hours of operation on Tuesday, July 16. Instead of opening at 8 a.m. to serve students in our accredited high school program and accredited middle school program, we anticipate opening by 11 a.m. The staff development meeting is very important and will help us... Read More
Today’s Birthday: George Eastman - It's July 12, and George Eastman was born on this date in 1854. He founded Eastman Kodak, invented roll film and is considered instrumental in making photography accessible to the general public. Our two photography courses have proven to be popular electives for students in our accredited high school program as well as popular options... Read More