Interesting option. This International Baccalaureate Diploma does not have any stigma associated with it because of 1) higher standards and 2) Very few people have heard of it. I could see that the Free Republic version of International Baccalaureate Diploma (graduates will be called FRIBies!) would have a similar weight in trying to get into a good college.
Not many individuals are familiar with IB, but college registrars are. The standards are very high. As I recall, the year my daughter entered it, there were 900 accepted (district wide in system with almost 200k students). By her senior year fewer than 300 finished the requirements for the diploma. I note this year that there are only 233 IB diploma candidates with over 200k students so they haven't lowered standards. Actually they can't, since IB is an international organization in which final grades/evaluations are done on a "blind" basis by other instructors.
The curriculum does not allow for any fudging or easy courses. A senior research paper is required and the standards are not that different from a Masters' thesis. Harvard sent her an application, but she wasn't interested. She did get a full scholarship at a university and graduated summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA.
If IB is a model, it does require a detailed, tough curriculum. You need instructors who have masters degrees in their area (not education) and some type of double check on course content/grades such as the "blind" testing mentioned above.
Here's a link:
http://www.ibo.org/ibo/index.cfm?page=/ibo/programmes/prg_dip&language=ENExcept for the fact that the IB curriculum is sponsored by the United Nations and other mostly socialistic countries. Check out their social studies and science components. The biology contains a lot of P.C. ecology - pro-global warming, anti-capitalist solutions, pro government restrictions etc etc. It may be rigorous but its content is a bunch of cr%p.