Rolling enrollment open. Courses prorated.
Explore now.Is your student ready to build inside the next great digital frontier? In this course, students explore the creative potential of VR and mixed reality by designing digital sculptures, escape rooms, obstacle courses, and more. They will learn how VR development works, get hands-on with real tools, and bring their wildest ideas to life in three dimensions. No prior coding experience is needed, just curiosity and a willingness to experiment.
Come jump into the world of VR and explore the next great digital frontier.
Students learn all about this cutting-edge design space and explore the unlimited creative potential of VR gaming.
Along the way, your child creates digital sculptures, escape rooms, obstacle courses, and more.
Welcome to the wonderful world of VR! Prepare to be immersed! There are two routes we can go fro this course. (Denoted with A or B below). Either a High-end VR route, or a more accessible web-based solution with a DIY headset that uses your phone as the display!
VR and mixed reality are not just for gaming anymore. They are transforming architecture, medicine, education, and entertainment. Your child gets hands-on experience creating in this space now, building skills and intuition that most students will not encounter until college or beyond.
Designing in three-dimensional space builds a unique combination of creative vision and technical problem-solving. Your child learns to think about how people move through and interact with environments, a skill set that applies to architecture, game design, user experience, and dozens of other fields.
YSA is a UC-registered online publisher and WASC-accredited Supplementary Education Center, which means our courses can count toward official college credit requirements. State schools can recognize the courses your student takes here, adding real legitimacy to your homeschooling journey or building on top of your student's existing transcript. That unlocks two ways to enroll: For Credit -- Your student earns official, accredited credit toward their transcript. For-credit students complete weekly assignments that build toward their transcript grade. Outside-of-class work ranges from 1-2 hours per week. Perfect for families who want documentation that reflects what their child is actually capable of -- to show the world how brilliant they are. For Enrichment -- Your student takes the very same course purely for the love of learning. No grades, no outside-of-class work, no credit attached. Just the content, the community, and the growth. Same course. Same mentor. Same experience in class. You choose what fits your family.
If you homeschool, this works seamlessly. If your student attends another school full time, we create a report card and transcript that we share with you, and you share with the school. It is up to your primary school to accept it and add it to your student's official transcript.
Create immersive VR experiences including digital sculptures, escape rooms, and obstacle courses from scratch 
Learn the principles of spatial design and interactive programming that make virtual environments feel real 
Build and explore virtual worlds with peers who share their excitement about what VR and mixed reality can do 
Gain hands-on experience with a technology that is reshaping gaming, education, medicine, and design 
Hey there! I'm Alex! I've been a game developer for 10 years, and I've worked for Meta and Target. I've also developed a few games, including Totally Reliable Delivery Service (A multiplayer physics game about delivery packages poorly) and Ollie-Oop, a 3D platformer about a skateboarding dog named Ollie who goes on the adventure of his dreams! I was also a home school kid all through elementary school up until college. I love all kinds of video games, puzzles, escape rooms, mystery/detective movies, retro gaming, mechanical keyboards, cooking, and I love dogs!
WHAT PARENTS ARE SAYING
Parents don't just see happier kids. They see sharper thinking, stronger friendships, and a child who actually wants to log on.
★★★★★
"My daughter coded a VR scene she could actually walk around in and gasped when it worked. Alex made something that sounds impossible feel completely doable for a teenager."
Laura N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My son is twice-exceptional and shuts down when he feels behind. Alex kept the group small and the pace right, and he built a mixed reality project he is genuinely proud of."
Angela N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My daughter coded a VR scene she could actually walk around in and gasped when it worked. Alex made something that sounds impossible feel completely doable for a teenager."
Laura N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My son is twice-exceptional and shuts down when he feels behind. Alex kept the group small and the pace right, and he built a mixed reality project he is genuinely proud of."
Angela N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My son logs off Alex's class glowing every single time. Whatever Alex is doing, it works."
Melissa N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"Alex turned a subject my daughter used to dread into her favorite hour of the week."
Nadia N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My son logs off Alex's class glowing every single time. Whatever Alex is doing, it works."
Melissa N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"Alex turned a subject my daughter used to dread into her favorite hour of the week."
Nadia N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"We would have driven past a hundred programs to find Alex. My son has never been happier to learn."
Carrie N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"Alex treats my daughter like the capable, interesting kid she is. That respect changed everything for us."
Bethany N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"We would have driven past a hundred programs to find Alex. My son has never been happier to learn."
Carrie N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"Alex treats my daughter like the capable, interesting kid she is. That respect changed everything for us."
Bethany N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My daughter coded a VR scene she could actually walk around in and gasped when it worked. Alex made something that sounds impossible feel completely doable for a teenager."
Laura N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My son is twice-exceptional and shuts down when he feels behind. Alex kept the group small and the pace right, and he built a mixed reality project he is genuinely proud of."
Angela N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"My son logs off Alex's class glowing every single time. Whatever Alex is doing, it works."
Melissa N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"Alex turned a subject my daughter used to dread into her favorite hour of the week."
Nadia N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"We would have driven past a hundred programs to find Alex. My son has never been happier to learn."
Carrie N.
YSA parent
★★★★★
"Alex treats my daughter like the capable, interesting kid she is. That respect changed everything for us."
Bethany N.
YSA parent
If you’re not 100% in love with the course, you have options depending on how you enrolled:
You can switch to another course of equal or lesser value that’s a better fit or get a credit to use toward a future course.
You can either get credit toward a future course, switch to another course of equal or lesser value that’s a better fit, or stop all future payments after a 30-day processing period.
No risk. No stress. Just the learning and belonging you have been looking for.
We can offer this because we know what we do works for thousands of other families. Kids become more self-confident. They find their people. And families tell us this is the place where their student finally feels welcome. We know it will work for your family, too.
All-Access Passes have separate terms and conditions. Please see the All-Access Pass pages.
It goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway... to qualify for the satisfaction guarantee policy, you have to actually attend the classes. This is not a cancellation policy. It’s a satisfaction guarantee. You can’t be satisfied or dissatisfied if you don’t attend.
Young Scholars Academy is a virtual village that offers one-of-a-kind, engaging enrichment courses and community for 5-18-year-old bright, quirky kids to empower them to develop their strengths, make like-minded friends, cultivate life skills, build confidence, and feel great about themselves under the loving care of expert mentors. description2: >- Picture a place where your child fits in, is celebrated, mentored, and loves learning the unique content their beautiful brain craves. That happens every day at YSA for over 1,200+ families, and it can happen for your family, too.
WASC Accredited · 1,200+ Families · 93% Re-Enroll · 47+ States, 17 Countries, 6 Continents
Learn more about YSAQUESTIONS ABOUT THIS COURSE
Everything you need to know before enrolling your child.
No prior experience is needed for our beginner-level courses. Our mentors meet students where they are and build skills progressively. For gifted and 2e kids, coding is a natural fit - it rewards the kind of systematic thinking, pattern recognition, and creative problem-solving their brains already do well. Students work on real projects they can show off, not just abstract exercises.
Yes. YSA families join from 47+ states and 17 countries across 6 continents. All you need is an internet connection. We schedule sections across multiple time zones so families worldwide can find a time that works.
VR & Mixed Reality Coding meets once per week for 50 minutes, every week from August through December. Your child joins the same tight-knit group of up to 8 students and the same mentor all semester long. Same friends, same mentor, a new challenge every week.
Our gifted and 2e students experience such asynchronous development that hard age limits rarely tell the full story. If your student should be aged up or aged down, contact us at support@youngscholarsacademy.org or click the chat in the bottom right corner of the screen. We do this all the time.
Please don't confuse reactive distance learning with what happens at YSA. When a kid is engaged in a course they chose, with a mentor who gets them and peers who share their interests, the screen disappears. They're not on a screen. They're with their people. Parents tell us their children fight to log on to YSA.
If your child isn't loving a course by the end of the first week, swap into a different course. Same semester. No questions. Not the right fit within the first month? We'll stop payments, switch courses, or issue credit toward any future course. The credit never expires. And you keep every bonus you've received. Over 93% of YSA families don't just stay. They add more courses.
No. Cameras are always optional. Always. Many of our students start with cameras off and turn them on when they're comfortable. Our mentors engage every student equally, cameras on or off.
No. If you're here, you're in the right place. We don't require paperwork, evaluations, or labels. Whether your child has been formally identified as gifted or twice-exceptional, whether you suspect it but haven't pursued testing, or whether you just know your kid's brain works differently and nothing else has fit, they're welcome here.
Yes. YSA is an approved vendor with 10+ state ESA programs including Arizona ESA, Utah Fits All, ClassWallet, My Tech High, Florida Step Up, and others. Enroll directly to secure your child's spot, submit the invoice to your ESA, and your payment method is refunded when funds transfer. Many families pay zero out of pocket.
Click "See Available Times" on this page, pick the section that fits your schedule, and your child's spot is secured immediately. No phone call. No placement test. No prerequisite.
Right now, a kid who thinks like your kid is in a course they chose, with a mentor who was once just like them, surrounded by friends who don't think they're weird... they think they're interesting.
Your child is one click from finding out what that feels like.
A: Meta Quest, Vive, Valve Index, etc.