Several of you have asked about B's school situation. When deciding where to send him, we looked at the basic 3 options- public, private or homeschool. With SuperDaddy's crazy work schedule, we needed more flexibility than public school offers. Private school tuition for 2 children (B now, SJ in a couple of years- planning ahead as usual) was technically financially possible, but would have left our finances tight. With my son's wild, sensitive, creative nature, we did need some structure. Our good friends had sent their son to a Homeschool Co-op and it looked promising.
The Co-op we chose is a good match for our family, and it has worked beautifully. What it means is he goes to school 3 days a week and we teach at home 2 days a week. The school days are only 4 hours in the morning, still leaving afternoons free. The teacher sends the lesson plans home, so I just follow along when I teach-easy as pie! The school is a Co-operative, and that means that parents are required to work at the school 5 hrs per month. The school has been around for a while and is very well organized and structured, which I appreciate. The communication between school, teacher and parents is terrific. And the cost is 1/5 of what the private school we were considering costs.
For our family, it means that we can spend more time together. The kids can lounge around with Daddy on homeschool days. We can take off as a family after school and still have the whole afternoon. We can (haven't yet, but would love to!) take off for a long weekend and just do school whereever we are. Every weekend is a long weekend! The kids also still get to spend plenty of time with their grandparents, a huge bonus.
Another question often asked, "What do you do with SJ while you're teaching B?" Well, I bought her a few coloring books, workbooks, and jumbo crayons at Goodwill. I also downloaded and printed some favorite pages for her. I keep her workbooks and crayons with our other homeschool supplies, and only bring them out when it's time for school. She sits and colors and does worksheets happily the whole time. I don't make her sit there, but so far she's wanted to. I've noticed she's doing some actual learning too!
So for us, the Homeschool Co-operative is the best choice for our family. I don't begrudge anyone else's choices for their children, it just works for us. I'm thankful we each have the choice to make a good decision for our children.
And I'm happy to answer any other questions about the school, I'm just not getting very specific here in a public forum.
Baptism
9 years ago
3 comments:
I wish we had a co-op like that... sounds wonderful to me. Do you know about www.starfall.com ? Miriam LOVES that site.
I'd love more info on your homeschool co-op. Sounds like a good match for us! I am already stressing about what we're going to do for school, and Cakes is only 2.5!
I definitely want to pick your brain about that when I see you. We have Eva on a waiting list for a Montessori school (up through age 6). But, it will be pricey for 2 children (as would daycare). We will have to wait and see how our family dynamics work out and change over the next few years. I have only recently heard about a home-schooling co-op and I think it is wonderful.
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