Anyone use the PS for any classes?

[hsmom]

I finally got all our paper work turned into the superintendent the other day. Well he called me. Not a bad thing. Well anyways he called and said that he likes to talk to each homeschooling parent personally to let them know of any and all options they have.

 

Well first off he started with he signed my papers approving our year of homeschooling. I was able to take a deep breath and relax and listen. Then he went on to say that if they can help in anyway possible please call. That if I wanted my son to do music, PE, art, anything with the school let him know and he would set it up. Then he went on to let me know, that if life gets hard and I am not able to hs like I want to that there is the virtual school option that will supply me with all books, etc and that it was free to use. I do believe he really was trying to be nice and help or offer help if we need it.

 

I said I needed to talk to my son and dh first and would get back to him. Well dh thinks it is a great idea. It will give my son a bit more interaction with other kids. Ds says he needs to think about it and I really don't see that he is excited about doing it.

 

Have you used the ps for any classes? If so what was your experience?

Edited June 27, 2011 by hsmom

[morosophe]

Wow, that is a very generous offer from the school. I wish our local schools were so generous--they require that you do a lot of school (say, three classes, probably at very different times of the day) if you want to do any. Ouch! And the state sports are run by a NGO, believe it or not, that is very hostile towards homeschooling, although that won't affect me much until my kids hit high school and even then only if they're serious about sports.

 

That said, if I were you, I'd seriously consider that PE. I send my son to martial arts class twice a week because I am so not into sports and physical movement, and know nothing except that I could seriously hurt my kids and/or train them up wrong if I attempted any instructions beyond "Go run around outside." PE tends to have more of a social aspect, anyhow. Of course, that's not so good when kids are "picking teams" and playing up the school pecking order, but otherwise, it could be a good thing.

 

Art may offer lessons that are too messy to try much at home, along with a place to put masterpieces in the making while they dry/harden/need a little more work tomorrow?

 

If you want your son to explore ensemble music or choir, the local school may, again, be a good place to go. Actually, I can't think of anywhere else he *could* do band!

 

Just my thoughts. I don't have that practical experience, though. Sorry!

[Jen+4dc]

My two olders did ps band this last year. It was a serious pain for me time-wise as I had to provide all the transportation and the youngers and I did a lot of work in the van in the parking lot waiting for them to finish class.

 

That being said, I will be doing it again next year. The band teacher was AMAZING with my kids. He was patient and encouraging andthe experience could not have been more positive for them. I was not impressed with the rest of the school (admin and such) but the band teacher was fantastic.

 

So, it can work out really well. But, I wouldn't do it if ds didn't want to. Would it be possible to take ds to the school to meet the art/band/music/pe (whatever subject you think you might use) teacher this summer? Then ds could make a more informed decision.

 

HTH:D

[NittanyJen]

My son is taking trumpet lessons through the district this summer, just because it's cheap-- I couldn't pass up $6/lesson.

 

Even if you don't use anything, kudos to your district for being willing to work with instead of against homeschoolers.

[snowbeltmom]

Have you used the ps for any classes? If so what was your experience?

 

Our public school permits homeschoolers to participate in all extracurricular activities provided that they take one class. This policy begins in 6th grade.

 

My oldest took one class at our high school last year in order to participate in high school tennis. He enjoyed the class, but he has decided not to take any classes this year at the high school.

 

Homeschooling in my area is extremely rare. Many have voiced their disapproval that I am depriving my kids of socialization because I don't send them to school. In my son's experience, there was very little interaction between the kids in the class; many days the instructor lectured for 85 minutes without ever asking for any class input.

 

For my family, I would not have my kids take a class at the ps in order to provide them with socialization. I think there are far better ways to provide for that than sending them to school.

[2squared]

My oldest two have taken PE, art, and music at our local elementary school. They also participate in field trips and other special events. We have a nearly open door policy, but we live very remotely and rurally. I love our elementary school!

 

With that being said, next year they will only be taking PE. Their classes have always been in the morning which I like since it provides some additional structure to our day. However, I don't like that a 40 minute class takes 2 hours out of our day, and I have to provide the transportation. Our classes have been fantastic experiences.

 

We live in a very small town, and it is important to us that our kids are in touch with the public school kids. We are the only homeschoolers, so all friend options have to come from public schooled kids. I don't want to be viewed as the "strange" homeschoolers.

[DawnL]

We haven't done this, but we haven't ruled it out in the future, either. My boys are happy to know that when they get older, if they want to participate in any sport the public school does, they are able to, even if we are homeschooling. My dd can, too, of course, but she's not as interested.

 

When my dd was in public school, there was a homeschooled boy who always joined her class for PE. At this point, it isn't worth it to me. The primary and elementary school have a rotating schedule for all their extras. So PE could be Tuesday one week, Monday the next, etc. And after dd being in public school k-3rd, I'm tired of being beholden to someone else's schedule. We'll see what's available in the 6th-7th grade school, when we reach that point. At least their schedule would be more likely to be consistent from week to week.

[Tam101]

Our school district has a parent partnership school that I've used since K. My son loves it! He takes mostly extra curricular classes, although I did have him take two years of science. This fall he will take P.E., Art, Fun with Computers (they will learn the Office Suite) and he will be on a Destination Imagination team (but they only compete within the school). They also have band available starting in 4th grade, but our schedule doesn't permit that this fall, hopeful next year. Starting in middle school we will have access to the schools for classes, sports, band...ect

[fireball]

My kids have taken art and music at the neighborhood elementary school. The staff at the school has been very pleasant and very open to us. They offered us to participate in all their "specials" (library, technology, PE, as well as fine arts), but schedule-wise, it would be too hectic - might as well send them to school full time. So we just picked art and music. It was a good experience for the kids, but also somewhat disruptive to our days (I have a toddler who naps). Let's just say, I am enjoying the summertime. But, we will do it again next year.

[Momling]

Our school district has a parent partnership school that I've used since K. My son loves it! He takes mostly extra curricular classes, although I did have him take two years of science. This fall he will take P.E., Art, Fun with Computers (they will learn the Office Suite) and he will be on a Destination Imagination team (but they only compete within the school). They also have band available starting in 4th grade, but our schedule doesn't permit that this fall, hopeful next year. Starting in middle school we will have access to the schools for classes, sports, band...ect

 

We participate in something quite similar at our alternative PS. They do a great job with electives, but I haven't been all that pleased with the academic offerings -- so only some semesters do we participate in those. Still, I feel like we have the best of both worlds.

[JustGin]

My oldest was at the ps high school last year for two choir classes. This high school runs on a block schedule so her classes were 7th and 8th period, which meant, every day she had class the last period of the day and one day this would be jazz, the next concert, then jazz again and so on. It worked wonderfully for our schedule.

Both my dd's, 9th and 11th will again be in choir this year, but I don't think the schedule is going to be so neat and tidy because they both are in two choirs, but not the same two. YIKES!

 

Anyway - experience? Mostly positive. The school is a large one in a small city in a very rural county, so still a lot of small town good attitudes of helpfulness, friendliness, thinking outside the box. DD LOVED her year, and feels that she grew a lot musically, made friends including a best friend, all good things. She's excited about continuing in the music programs and was accepted into both elite choirs, again all good. The downside? She saw first hand the negative side of ps; getting cat called and verbally ogled in the halls, kids who hate learning and are just marking time, bullying, gang stuff, the stupidity of the clique thing, the amount of time that gets wasted even in her well taught classes. I think because of who she is, this all served to deepen her critical thinking skills and we had some incredible discussion over the year, so I feel we were able to redeem even the negative. She started the year still not sure if she liked home learning and it wasn't long before she begin to sing the praises of our way. LOL

All in all, for us it was very worth it and we will continue to use the high school as a resource.

Edited June 27, 2011 by JustGin

[ForeverFamily]

I don't have any experience with using PS classes with my own children. So I can't give you any advice from the perspective of being the parent. However, I myself was homeschooled from 7th-10th grade and I did take some PS classes during that time. Over those years the classes I took were Art, Science, Music, Spanish, Drama, and Seminary (Religious class). I really enjoyed taking classes over at the school. I think the biggest benefit was that those teachers were able to teach me skills that my mom would not have been able to (i.e. art skills). At times I did enjoy the social aspect of it as well (although most of the time it just reminded me of the negative social aspects of PS). The biggest downside of taking those classes was the time it took away from my other school work. I had the same amount of work (math, english, history, science, etc.) just less time to do it. If I were to go back I don't think I would change anything about the way I did those years of school. I don't know if that helps.

 

I know nothing about using PS classes in Elementary. So I am also curious to hear about others expericences with those PS classes!

[Just Robyn]

Technically my kids go to a public school once/week for art, music, gym, lunch, recess, and library time. However, it is a program just for homeschool kids.

 

If we did not have that in our area I would likely sign my kids up at the ps for gym, art, and music. I will be signing my oldest up for intramurals at the ps next school year. When I went and talked to them they seemed very nice and supportive of homeschooling.

[Tam101]

We participate in something quite similar at our alternative PS. They do a great job with electives, but I haven't been all that pleased with the academic offerings -- so only some semesters do we participate in those. Still, I feel like we have the best of both worlds.

:iagree:

 

I wasn't pleased with science classes either, which is why I brought that back home. I haven't tried any of the other academic classes. I'll probably have him in an American History class starting in 5th, because a) my son is a history junkie and b) I love the teacher! We'll continue with WTM history cycle at home during that time.

[raceNzanesmom]

We're in Iowa where dual enrollment has to be allowed. Our oldest took some graphics courses in 11th grade at one of the high schools. He had met the teacher thru a hs program and they really hit it off. Then, this past year for 12th, he took AP art, Spanish 1 & 2, forensic science, college credit web design, and was a teacher's ass't for graphics. He had a great year! He was allowed to walk with his class, which was really nice since he'd made some good friendships, and still graduated from home. It was truly the best of both worlds. :D

 

It, however, doesn't always work. He tried dual enrolling for orchestra in middle school and it didn't go well. The teacher, and school really, didn't have a clue how to handle part time kids. I think by high school it's such a norm to have kids coming and going that it isn't such a big deal. Once the guidance office realized they HAD to enroll him it all went well.

[Ali in OR]

We have dd signed up for 6th grade band at the PS this coming year--our first experience doing this. Some things will be annoying, like driving her there every day and waiting in the car for 45 minutes during her class. But we do have our reasons besides just music education. Our plan is to put our dds into public high school. Our younger one is likely to do sports and will get to know other kids that way. The upcoming 6th grader will definitely not be doing sports and is shy and introverted. Band kids are typically good kids. We hope she might develop some friendships and have a group and activity where she fits in when she gets to high school.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My dd who is going to be an 8th grader will be going to the PS this year for Art and Choir. We have not done it yet, this will be our first but she did do Volleyball with them this past year and will again this coming year.