How to Be Successful in Online High School

May 7, 2025

Online high school offers several benefits for students and families, including a student-centered education, flexibility, a diverse offering of courses, and self-paced learning. Read on to learn how students can be successful in online high school.

Online high school offers a wide range of benefits for students and families, including a student-centered education, flexibility, a diverse offering of courses, and self-paced learning. And while any high school student can enjoy these amazing benefits, it does require some effort on their part. Here’s a guide on how students can be successful in online high school.

Have a Schedule or Routine

One of the keys to a successful online high school experience is creating a schedule or routine to provide each day with some structure. How the days are structured is entirely up to students and their families. For example, some families travel often, so students in those families will have a much different schedule or routine than a family that revolves its schedule around their student’s extracurricular activities.

Regardless of what the actual schedule looks like, it’s important that it’s more or less repeated every school day in order to develop a routine. This allows for better time management and organization, something all students should prioritize.

Some tips for creating a schedule or routine:

  • Don’t overdo it. Sitting through a lecture for two straight hours doesn’t benefit anyone. Neither does trying to power through two straight hours of work. Limit work/study time to shorter increments–like 30 minutes–and then…
  • Take frequent breaks. Breaks don’t need to be long to be effective. Even five or 10 minutes away from the computer helps students reset and refresh themselves to get back to work. While high school students will probably gravitate directly toward their phones during break time, try to steer them away from a screen. A quick walk, a snack, or some music can do the trick.
  • Know what time is best for certain subjects. For example, if your student is a morning person who has plenty of energy after they wake up, it makes sense that they should work on their more challenging subjects while they’re focused. If they need three cups of coffee just to function in the morning, they should probably save the tougher work for later in the day.
  • Work around previously scheduled commitments. Some students have static commitments or activities–training for athletes, rehearsals and practice for performers, extracurricular/after-school activities, etc. Creating a schedule and routine that places classes, schoolwork, and studying around those activities is a smart way to manage their time.

Participate in Online High School Classes

Online high school classes offer students plenty of opportunities to learn and participate in a virtual classroom environment. Students can make the most of these classes by regularly contributing to the conversation. Not only does class participation show engagement and interest in the topic at hand (what teacher doesn’t love students who participate?), it also helps improve the student’s attention span and keeps them focused throughout the class period.

Stay Organized

A British politician named Edmund Burke once said, “Good order is the foundation of all things.” When it comes to online high school (and many other things), he was absolutely right. Staying organized is a key to succeeding in online high school. Here are a few tips to go about it:

  • Create a comfortable workspace. Give yourself room to set up your workstation. That includes a computer, headphones, an extra monitor if needed, and space to spread out and write. Ensure your area has plenty of space for supplies like pens, paper, sticky notes, and other essentials.
  • Keep your classwork organized. Some students rely on old-fashioned paper notes and assignments, others prefer to go all-digital. Either way, it’s important that students keep their subjects organized and easily accessible. This could involve physical files and folders for each class. Or it may be folders set up in Microsoft Word, iOS, or Google Drive. Clearly labeled folders by subject ensure that each class’s materials are easy to locate and reference.
  • Use a calendar. Again, depending on the student’s preference, this could be a daily planner, a desk pad calendar, or even a monthly calendar hanging on the wall. Or it could be a digital calendar on the computer or a phone app. Either way, adding due dates and deadlines to a calendar can assist online high school students in staying on track.

Bottom line: the more organized the student is, the better chance they have for academic success.

Create a Nice Environment for Online High School

We briefly alluded to this, but creating the appropriate work environment goes a long way toward student engagement. What’s an “appropriate” work environment? That depends on the student. If your high schooler needs to get fired up (so to speak) to study and do assignments, perhaps a motivational theme would work well for that environment. Maybe not the little kitty dangling from the branch, urging us to “Hang in There,” but something similar.

On the other hand, if your student thrives in a calm, relaxing atmosphere, having some soothing scented candles, relaxing colors, and comfortable furniture can help them find their zen and succeed in school. Somewhere in between amped up and soothing is…well, whatever your student wants it to be. If they’re a fan of a particular movie, show, or character, having some related collectibles and knick-knacks on their desk or walls might keep them in a good mood and ready to learn.

Engage with Classmates

Engaging with classmates provides the opportunity for students to not only make new friends, but to succeed in online high school as well. As online learning presents fewer organic opportunities to socialize than traditional school, students should take advantage of the time they have in their virtual classroom to collaborate with classmates on projects, study together online, or join an extracurricular school club. Doing so makes students feel more included and involved, leading to better engagement and more success.

Remove Distractions

We all know how easily distracted teenagers can be. Especially when it comes to their devices. You and your high school student should discuss some boundaries when it comes to their phones or tablets during school hours. To ensure your student is fully engaged with their classes or schoolwork, designate certain periods of the day (depending on their schedule) where phones and tablets go on “Do Not Disturb” model or in another room altogether.

A concentration-friendly playlist is also a good idea. Not only does it allow your student to listen to what they like as they work, but it can also block out noise and other distractions. When it’s time for a break, then your student can distract themselves on their phone (even though less screen time can be beneficial).

Online High School Success Is Achievable

With a solid routine and schedule, class participation, classmate collaboration, good organization habits, a comfortable environment without distractions, and a strong work ethic, your student should have no trouble achieving success in online high school. Holston Academy can help, with personalized learning tailored to each student’s abilities and interests, more than 300 courses to choose from, APⓇ classes and dual enrollment opportunities to prepare for college, and ongoing support from teachers and Academic Coaches.

Learn more here about how an accredited online high school education with Holston Academy can benefit your student. Or call us at (833) 782-6922 with any questions.

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