One type of free online high school is a charter school. This particular type of school is often misunderstood and is treated by some as similar to a private school. Charter schools are, in fact, just as public a school as your neighborhood school.

While many of these charter schools are traditional in terms of attendance (students go to the school), there are increasingly some that are online. Watch for that number to grow.

So how can they be free?

They are free exactly because they are a public school. Just as you pay no money to send your child to the school down the street, neither do you pay for them to attend an online charter school.

How about the quality?

As with all schools, whether online or off, whether traditional public or charter, the quality can vary widely. Often the charter schools that have the better quality are the ones associated with a chain (Connections Academy, Kaplan, etc.) that is able to produce a quality curriculum because they have economy of scale.