To those who send some kids to school

[Faithr]

and keep some home. Why do you do it? I am seriously thinking of sending my youngest two to a sweet little private Christian School up the road. In fact I'm going to observe some classes tomorrow morning.

 

I am feeling really intimidated by next year. I'll have a senior trying to apply to colleges, my ADHD 11th grader (who is a whole 'nother story) and my newly 13 yo son who wants to go to a rigorous classical high school in his 9th grade. So we want 8th grade to be a really solid, productive year for him in preparation.

 

I feel like I neglect my youngest two. I'm ashamed to admit it but the TV is on way too much to entertain them while I am working with the older ones. And I just feel so burned out.

 

My dh is really pushing the idea. He thinks I really need to focus on the teens. I'm never on top of housework, I can't even seem to plan meals anymore. I wanna go on sabbatical!

 

I must be hormonal right now. Anyway, I was looking for someone to tell me I'm not a homeschooling failure if I send two out of five kids to school next year.

 

Thanks.

[hsmom]

You are not a failure!

There is a lot of hslers who send some to ps and keep some home. I think you need to go with what your husband thinks is best. Maybe this way you can get everything you need to together and then bring them home when you are ready.

 

Personally the only reason my dd goes to ps is because she lives with her dad.

[Kelli in TN]

You do realize that if you send them to the school it is not a lifetime commitment, right? Maybe this is for a season? It IS overwhelming to do high school and littles' school at the same time. Honestly, if I had the money I would strongly consider giving my youngest daughter a year or two at our local classical Christian school.

 

If the school is a good fit for your children and sending them there aids you in meeting your family's goals, you ought to at least pray about it. If it is a great school they will probably have a fantastic experience.

[Mom2jnb]

My situation is that I have a son that is severe ADHD. I will not allow him to take meds because for 2 years he did NOT grow AT ALL. The school system here was not the best for a child with these needs. Many, not all, of the educators blamed his behavior on parenting skills etc.

My daughter had a fabulous Kdg teacher and she is with the most requested teacher in the district for 1st. I adore her teacher. She just does better at school. I want to pull her home I really do. I will definately pull her home by 5th grade. If she gets the teacher I am willing for her to have next year i will keep her in public school. If not, I will pull her out for 2nd.

I believe you need to treat each child individually. Life cannot always be "equal". My daughter would love to stay home....but I believe a lot of that is the fact that she thinks it is all fun and games during the *school day*.

You have to do what is best for your family. Do not worry about what others may think. You are in NO WAY a failure.

 

HTH,

Alison

[JFSinIL]

We started out with public school. Then private Catholic school for a year. Then homeschool. First I had two kids, plus one in sped an one is diapers.

 

Then had three at home, as the toddler became a kid. Then one year all four - but the son with autism (etc.) took most of my time, so the youngest got short-shift. the older two were more independent and got plenty done.

 

Next year autism boy went back to special ed. I homeschooled three kids. the next year started and oldest dd, then a fifth grade kid, was soooooo belligerent, stubborn -just impossible to work with that I sent her to public school after two weeks at home. She has been in public school ever since, is honor roll, and as an 8th grader was one of the few kids selected to attend one of our large (40,000 kids!) district's gifted high school academies. I might add - we are on much better terms now - she is 14 and fun to be with. We just do better if we are not together 24/7 :-)

 

Her older brother, thinking he was missing out, asked to go, too - so I put him in 7th grade. He HATED it and ended up back home for 8th - now he is in public high school and, again, in Honors and AP classes and getting mostly "A"s.

 

The youngest went to kiddiegarten, was home for 1st and 2nd, repeated 2nd in public school with a great teacher who used to be the reading specialist for the district, then 3rd had a novice teacher in a 2/3 split class - I kept her home for 4th to make-up all the ground she lost in 3rd grade with a poor teacher. Then, after letting her do a semester in 5th grade at school - I pulled her back out end of Jan. and she'll be home through next year (6th grade) so i can be sure she is taught well. Whether or not she goes to and/or does well in middle school (just 7th and 8th here) remains to be seen. At any rate - I am hoping to get her into one of the gifted academies, too, when the time comes.

 

It all depends on what a kid needs each year and can they best get it from school or moi.

 

I might add - ALL my kids have had speech services through our district - and three of them were also in special ed preschool, and all of them on Depakene at some point (one still is on it) for either seizure activity, migraines, or bi-polar tendencies.

[mcconnellboys]

You're not a failure if you send all of them to school. You do what you have to do for the best interests of yourself and your family at any given time in your life.

 

My oldest son returned to a private school this year. He's extremely social and even with the group opportunities I could provide for him here, it was not enough. He wanted to be a part of a large group of kids together in one place for the entirety of a school day.

 

He realizes that the classes are not as rigorous as what we accomplished at home. He does have other opportunities there that are part and parcel of the teen experience and he's getting a good perspective on life (and learning that I've always steered him straight, LOL - I *so* love to be proved right day after day....) Academics is not all - gee, he'd fall over to hear me say that.

 

Do what you need to do to get your older teens out the door and on their way. Then you can bring the younger ones back home and rehab them, if necessary. Give yourself some breathing room,

[Mandamom]

had one in school and one at homeschooled (or two) the entire time I homeschooled. I had a couple of unique issues in that I was homeschooling my stepson and his mom wasn't for homeschooling (at first anyway) so she finally agreed to homeschooling the one that was not succeeding in public school. So, that meant one brother was home and one stayed in school because that was the only agreement I could get at first. My younger stepson always did well in school and since it was working so well we left him in there. The school is a great school (my girls are there now) and it just worked really well for our family -- including biomom and stepdad).

 

I started meeting a lot more families who had one in school (either public or private) and had one at home. Many families made it work really well because it was what made things better for their family.

 

You are not a failure.

[Christy B]

Our oldest of two dds will be in 8th grade next year. I am finding myself increasingly burnt out; just lacking the enthusiasm and energy to be an effective teacher. There are The Christian school is very close to our house and I have a friend who teaches math and science there. So, it seems like it will be best for all of us if we at least let dd try it for a year. I'm going to keep my younger dd at home, and enjoy getting back to elementary years, and if the school works out, honestly, it will be a relief not to have to try to teach high school math and science at home, keep up with transcripts, etc.

 

I personally would be more inclined to keep the younger children home, and send the older children, but it sounds like you have a solid plan. There's a lot to be said for those fun early childhood classroom experiences, too.

 

As someone else mentioned, it certainly isn't an all-or-nothing scenario. Nothing to lose by trying, right?

[chiguirre]

Last year I had both my oldest and my dd in school. Two different schools! Other than driving to hither and yon, it worked fine. This year only the oldest is in school and that won't change for the forseeable future. He loves going to school and if he were home, he'd absorb all of my time.

 

I'm glad dd had the opportunity to attend a Montessori school. She learned a lot and enjoyed herself immensely. She also loves to hs and we've been able to do a lot more field trips this year since I don't have to juggle my schedule so much.

[Mom2GirlsTX]

We homeschool one and public school one. I tried to keep them both home this year but youngest dd was miserable, totally not wanting to learn from me and rocking the boat for any reasonable learning experience. So after much soul searching, dh and I decided she really did do best at school and returned her there, and she is thriving. She has a totally awesome teacher and she is thrilled and I'm too! My oldest is an over achiever and homeschooling works for her. It is kind of a pain doing both types of school, but we have done it 4 years now with one in school and one homeschooler and it works well for us. I see it alot now with parents homeschooling one and having one in school, it really isn't that odd.

I can certainly see where the highschool years would eat up all your time, and I think it is neat you have a nice private school close by.