mom2l&j Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Hello. My name is Julie. I have 2 kids that are now in public school. DD is in 5th and DS is in 2nd. We live in a great school system but I have always felt the desire to home school. DH is open to the idea but is not opposed to leaving them in public schools. We are happy with the level of education but feel like there is a lot of wasted time that we could be filling. I am considering open enrolling them in the Des Moines Public School system to take advantage of the Home School Assistance Program. Anyone have experience with this? Unfortunately, the deadline for next year school year is March 1. I'm not sure if we're in the position to make that decision in the next 2 days. I'm looking for a purely secular curriculum that I can supplement with our own religious information and materials. I look forward to reading all the great information on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 welcome to the board. Are you trying to decide whether or not to homeschool? Or have you decided to homeschool and aren't sure if you want to join the district's program? Obviously my family loved homeschooling and I can recommend it, but every family and student is different. I have heard mixed reviews regarding school district supported homeschooling. You have extra resources and support, but you give up a lot of the independence that makes homeschooling great. I would not choose this path. Your children are young enough that you might find unstructured education to be good for you. If I were making this decision I would take them out of school and spend a year or so trying different approachs and see what fits best. I would not lock myself into the school's program unless you or your dh are particularly nervous about the children learning at home. Maybe someone with more experience using this approach will chime in. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeteranMom Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 school homeschool program. They attend the program 7 hours/week and have about 2 hours of homework/week. It provides for many of the "specials". They have gym, music, art, Shurley Grammar, writing, Spanish, and a little bit of Latin. I'm having to supplement the Grammar a bit and the Latin hasn't been enough, so I'll be using my own full curriculum next year. Overall, I've been happy with the program. Their teacher is a former homeschooling Mom, so she understands how our family functions. My kids were in public school for 2 and 3 years and this is our first year homeschooling. I think the 1 day a week in a classroom setting has helped ease the adjustment into homeschooling. They have made a few friends, get to have recess, celebrate holidays, and have a little of the classroom structure they were so used to in public school. I sat in on a class before I made the decision to sign my kids up. I noticed that the time wasting issue wasn't as much of a problem as it was in full time school. Also, I talked to the director (another former homeschooling Mom). I knew that I could pull my kids if I didn't feel it was a good fit for them. Good luck with your decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2l&j Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 welcome to the board. Are you trying to decide whether or not to homeschool? Or have you decided to homeschool and aren't sure if you want to join the district's program? Obviously my family loved homeschooling and I can recommend it, but every family and student is different. I have heard mixed reviews regarding school district supported homeschooling. You have extra resources and support, but you give up a lot of the independence that makes homeschooling great. I would not choose this path. Your children are young enough that you might find unstructured education to be good for you. If I were making this decision I would take them out of school and spend a year or so trying different approachs and see what fits best. I would not lock myself into the school's program unless you or your dh are particularly nervous about the children learning at home. Maybe someone with more experience using this approach will chime in. :bigear: I really want to home school, but I need to get DH on board. I won't pull the kids unless he agrees that we can make this work for our family. He's worried about me being able to handle it. I'm going to call a couple of homeschooling families we know to get together with DH and I. I've been talking to them about homeschooling over that last several years and it has really put my mind at ease. I think DH needs to hear what they have to say. I'm great at starting things. I love researching and buying thing, but I lack follow through and completion. I tend to be a "quitter". I'm afraid that if I'm not accountable to someone (the school) I won't be good at keeping the kids on track. Also, since I'm not sure this is a lifelong decision, I want it to be easy for them to integrate back in to public school if they decide to. That being said, the flexibility is what is really drawing me more towards the homeschooling now. I'm scared to make this decision. Is that normal? I'm trying to teach the kids that we don't make, or avoid making decisions, based on fear. I'm trying to realistically evaluate all the pros and cons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2l&j Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 school homeschool program. They attend the program 7 hours/week and have about 2 hours of homework/week. It provides for many of the "specials". They have gym, music, art, Shurley Grammar, writing, Spanish, and a little bit of Latin. I'm having to supplement the Grammar a bit and the Latin hasn't been enough, so I'll be using my own full curriculum next year. Overall, I've been happy with the program. Their teacher is a former homeschooling Mom, so she understands how our family functions. My kids were in public school for 2 and 3 years and this is our first year homeschooling. I think the 1 day a week in a classroom setting has helped ease the adjustment into homeschooling. They have made a few friends, get to have recess, celebrate holidays, and have a little of the classroom structure they were so used to in public school. I sat in on a class before I made the decision to sign my kids up. I noticed that the time wasting issue wasn't as much of a problem as it was in full time school. Also, I talked to the director (another former homeschooling Mom). I knew that I could pull my kids if I didn't feel it was a good fit for them.Good luck with your decision. Thank you for sharing your experience. I don't think our Assistance Program would actually include any classroom time unless we want it. I think I would use it mainly for the curriculum, use of textbooks and the teacher guides. We would also have a teacher to meet with a couple of times a semester to evaluate how we're progressing. I'm glad to know that you started this way and gained confidence. I'm glad to know it can be done. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzyfizzle Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 (edited) I really want to home school, but I need to get DH on board. I won't pull the kids unless he agrees that we can make this work for our family. He's worried about me being able to handle it. I'm going to call a couple of homeschooling families we know to get together with DH and I. I've been talking to them about homeschooling over that last several years and it has really put my mind at ease. I think DH needs to hear what they have to say. I'm great at starting things. I love researching and buying thing, but I lack follow through and completion. I tend to be a "quitter". I'm afraid that if I'm not accountable to someone (the school) I won't be good at keeping the kids on track. Also, since I'm not sure this is a lifelong decision, I want it to be easy for them to integrate back in to public school if they decide to. That being said, the flexibility is what is really drawing me more towards the homeschooling now. I'm scared to make this decision. Is that normal? I'm trying to teach the kids that we don't make, or avoid making decisions, based on fear. I'm trying to realistically evaluate all the pros and cons. Hello Julie and welcome. I would think it can be very normal to have anxiety about making this decision. We used a charter school our first year home, and the following year when I decided to make a go of it 'on our own' I felt like I was jumping a long way down into the dark unknown. I was scared! But it really all works out. My DH was iffy on the whole idea of homeschooling to start with. He agreed to it because our middle son was really struggling at PS. We needed to try something else. Now he panics if he thinks I am having a meltdown and considering PS again. :D You might find that after awhile, you don't want to be accountable to something like that PS system. :tongue_smilie: I won't sugarcoat it, it is a ton of work. But it is oh-so worth it. Our family does have the additional chore of animals to care for. Sometimes the housework or laundry doesn't get done when I would like. There are ways to help yourself stay accountable to your plan. Last year I used a notebook method- each day I wrote the date and what each child did for that day. It was a handy reference and did help keep me on a track. This year I changed some things up and went a little different route that suits our life a bit better, but like those merits of that notebook idea. I have a headache, so hopefully I am making sense tonight. :grouphug: Edited February 28, 2011 by jazzyfizzle typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in PA Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Welcome!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2l&j Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Hello Julie and welcome. I would think it can be very normal to have anxiety about making this decision. We used a charter school our first year home, and the following year when I decided to make a go of it 'on our own' I felt like I was jumping a long way down into the dark unknown. I was scared! But it really all works out. My DH was iffy on the whole idea of homeschooling to start with. He agreed to it because our middle son was really struggling at PS. We needed to try something else. Now he panics if he thinks I am having a meltdown and considering PS again. :D You might find that after awhile, you don't want to be accountable to something like that PS system. :tongue_smilie: I won't sugarcoat it, it is a ton of work. But it is oh-so worth it. Our family does have the additional chore of animals to care for. Sometimes the housework or laundry doesn't get done when I would like. There are ways to help yourself stay accountable to your plan. Last year I used a notebook method- each day I wrote the date and what each child did for that day. It was a handy reference and did help keep me on a track. This year I changed some things up and went a little different route that suits our life a bit better, but like those merits of that notebook idea. I have a headache, so hopefully I am making sense tonight. :grouphug: Thank you! I appreciate the support. I submitted my open enrollment paperwork today as the first step to our homeschool jorney. Hope your headache is better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2l&j Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 Welcome!:D Thank you. I'm loving it already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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