Wow, thanks so much for sharing all of your stories. It really is so helpful to hear from those of you that have walked this road before. I also appreciate the encouragement too! I should clarify that the school has never directly told us that we're lucky to be there. It comes more from the parents and people in our city who know about the school (but don't actually attend). The classes are very small so there is a long waiting list and that leads to the "lucky" talk among parents. I do feel fortunate to have been there for all of these years, and it has been an excellent foundation for our oldest kids with plenty of beauty and fun in the mix. We have a ton of good memories, and that's what will make it hard to leave. But like you said texasmom33, I've had that sinking feeling as I watch my older daughter progress, just knowing deep down that my son is going to drown in that same work that she's handling with relative ease. K-5 has been good, and not too overwhelming. When I sat through the orientation for the higher grades I knew it probably wasn't going to work for him without some real struggles. I should also say that he really isn't miserable. His teacher and the principal both tell me that he is engaged and happy and participates in class. He tells me every day that he had a good day and he's fine with going back the next morning. He's involved in activities and has lots of friends. He's just over the amount of work and the fact that it leaves no room for anything else in his life. He's also worried about the work he sees his sister doing, and he's just not invested in giving every minute of his weeknights and weekend days to homework. Our main hesitation has been that he's the type of kid that says anything he doesn't want to do is "too hard" - from homework to just putting his laundry in the hamper! So our waffling on whether or not to leave has been tempered by that - is it really too difficult for him, or is he not wanting to work hard? Or is he just afraid of failing under that school stress? I admit I worry that he thinks homeschool is all fun all the time, though we remind him often that he will still need to do school work of some kind. I think that's where co-op type classes will be my friend! Ultimately we've come to the conclusion that many of you stressed - he can be successful and have a great career/ life coming from any number of schools. We started out thinking this was the best and only way to go, but now we look around at all of the successful adults we know and remember that NONE of them went to that school! ;) We would pull him out now, but he really is doing okay emotionally (just not at all invested, which makes homework difficult) and unfortunately they would not let us out of the thousands of dollars we still owe on the rest of this year's tuition. :( I get so sad when I think about him no longer growing up with those same sweet kids that he's been with since Kindergarten, and no longer being at school with his sister like he has been for years. It will be a difficult goodbye for sure, especially since we will still be on campus often for her events and activities. Honestly, now I just need the end of the year to hurry up and get here so we can rip this band-aid off and move forward, ha! But I really am looking forward to seeing his spark return and I feel fortunate that we get to choose what's next for him. I'm appreciating him for who he is and I'm getting excited about the TIME he will get back to explore things that really interest and motivate him. I'm scared, but I feel like he can really take off with this. :)

Thank you so much! I'm sure I'll be eager to see what's available for next Fall!

Thank you. I'm actually in tears reading your responses, because I know all of you are right - this school isn't right for HIM. It really is an idyllic, one of a kind environment, but at home it's killing us. It's so hard to let go of the plans I had for him especially when I see them working well for his sibling, but what I want more than anything is for him to thrive and love to learn again. And Kiara.I, I have had the same thought - pushing him through is probably just teaching him to survive until he can run far, far away from anything even resembling education. I know my biggest struggle is fear of the unknown. I love homeschooling our younger children, but I'm only experienced up to second grade, ha! I know my older son will be happier at home (maybe with some co-op classes too!) but I also know the adjustment from such a rigid structure will be challenging at first. Luckily our city has a lot of resources for homeschoolers his age. My vision of the prefect schooling situation for him is just a more relaxed life. One where he can still do his work, but feel better about himself. His grades are good now but he's a slow mover, and his school often equates speed with intelligence. I can envision our perfect days and our very challenging days, but I know we have to at least try. I'm sure my fears are much worse than reality. I'll probably be kicking myself for not pulling him out sooner. I'll be looking to all of you for advice, ha! I very much appreciate your honesty with me here. :)

Hello! We are in what seems to be an odd position. We're considering pulling our son out of a K-12 classical school that has an excellent reputation. People move from other states to attend this school! We love what he has learned and been exposed to over the last 6 years and we have complete confidence in the school's ability to educate children well. In fact one of our children will be staying there, probably through high school. We have other children that we homeschool (using the same curriculum), mostly for the reasons listed below. The work load is crushing, and while his grades are good, he has lost all enjoyment in learning. We've watched as the work load has increased for our older child and we know he will struggle even more as he moves forward. Hard work is hard work, and we don't want to allow him to leave just because it's difficult. But so much of his work just feels like busy work (to him and to us). It's beginning to feel difficult, just for the sake of being the most difficult school. Does that make sense? After 7.5 hours in class, he then has hours of homework. We're struggling to see how this is beneficial for a child of any age, even though we're constantly told how lucky we are to be there. Our older child is all in, and sees this as a challenge to overcome. Our middle schooler is just DONE. He doesn't care about leaving teachers, friends, any of it. He just wants out. We're struggling to decide if we're just quitting when we should push through, or if we're being realistic and realizing that different kids need different things. My biggest worry is that he will regret leaving once he's older. I see hundreds of posts where people chose to homeschool because their school wasn't a good place, or couldn't meet the needs of their student. That isn't the case for us. Many children thrive there (including on of our own!), but others have left and sited emotional distress as their reason for leaving. We do not plan to send our younger children there. Has anyone else left a school that is perfect on paper? How did your student do at home after leaving an environment like that? Thank you for reading this far, and for any advice!