Would you use a classical charter school?

[MistyMountain]

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Edited October 11, 2015 by MistyMountain

[Susan in KY]

Totally would, and nearly did (well, a private classical school), but I hated the math program and couldn't bring myself to do it. :)

[Bang!Zoom!]

It's been my experience that charters generally have something unique about them that set them apart; some sort of focus or goal that is not what you'd find in a generalized public school.

 

To tour and view curriculum is one thing; that's it's own animal. The one thing I'd caution you overview and look twice at is parental involvement and what it means to that charter and what that could mean to you as a parent.

 

I've seen some incredibly strict charters. Know what you are committing to as a parent in both time and effort before going through the lottery process.

 

The charter experience I had with my oldest was superb; however, it was not a charter that a daytime working parent would have an easy time with considering the outside elements required beyond the school day.

 

Look carefully at what the charter is also asking for commitment from the child in terms of hours of work which will realistically be occurring if you get in.

 

It was not uncommon for my oldest dd to do 7 days a week, and a schedule from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at night all things totaled. There may even be a summer dedication in the program. Look carefully, ask other families already involved and see if you can have a conversation.

 

If this is a high charged academic environment, be very sure it's a good fit and gels well with the temperament of your child and family.

[ThisIsTheDay]

If there was a classical school near you would you consider it?

 

I would absolutely consider it.

 

My dd attended an excellent classical-styled charter school for K and part of 1st before we began hsing. She later attended another classical charter as a part time student during 2-3rd grades. At some point, my kids were in the lottery to enroll full time, and I turned it down when we were called.

 

We now live in a state that has zero charter schools (well, one or two, but that doesn't really count). IF we had the opportunity, I'd definitely consider it.

[Ellie]

I'd consider that.

[abbeyej]

No, it wouldn't appeal to me. It might be a great school, but the longer we've home schooled, the more convinced I've become that home schooling is the right choice for us for *many* reasons, not just academic ones (though that was perhaps the overwhelming reason when we started).

 

But what *I* would do is irrelevant. :) You've got to pick what's best for your family.

 

Still, I have loved getting the *best* hours of my kids days. I don't spend most of our waking hours together trying to rush them out the door to school, trying to hurry them through soccer and homework and dinner and to bed. Trust me, there's still plenty of rushing. But it's balanced by all the hours we spend snuggled on the couch (yep, even my 12yo son) reading together, having hot chocolate together in the middle of the day, discussing together (today was a great conversation about the various characters in Empire of the Sun, their moral choices, their growth over the course of the movie)... We get more time to be *relaxed* together than many of my friends with kids of similar ages in school.

 

I love that my kids are best friends. They are a boy and girl, 2.5 years apart, and they've spent their childhood creating elaborate pretend play together. They've tried to escape Scylla and Charybdis, established sushi restaurants, dug holes to China, choreographed a ballet of the life of Galileo, and a jillion other things. They work as a team wonderfully well together, and part of that is the sheer amount of *time* they've spent together in creative play over the years. It just delights me to see that. (And yes, they squabble from time to time. But mostly they truly are best friends.)

 

I love going to Disney in the off-season. ;)

 

I love the flexibility to deal with illness and health-scares without *also* worrying about falling behind in school work. We can make up time if a 6yo develops a weird neuropsychological reaction to strep or if an 11yo gets mono and can barely walk from his bed to the dining table. I didn't home school for such reasons, but man, it makes life easier when you can focus on getting well without stressing about missing class time.

 

I love that my kids eat fresh, homemade food for most meals. They get some junk food from time to time, but it's not being thrust at them with every meal. Even the schools I've seen with "good" food selections are pretty pitiful compared with the fresh food we have at home. This is one that never occurred to me when we started, but I've seen the consequences of a steady diet (two meals a day, five days a week -- that's essentially half a child's meals for 9 months of the year) of institutional food too many times lately.

 

This week my kids are in a professional ballet. It's been an amazing opportunity to work with a famous choreographer and they're really lucky. They're also really lucky that with rehearsals that last from 1pm to 10pm every day (with a break for dinner), we don't have to be at school by 8am the next morning. ;) Other kids in the show have the same fantastic opportunity, but wow, they're tired right now! And they can't just put their work off and make it up over the next few weeks.

 

There are so many, many reasons I'm happy we home school. ... Even before we get to academics -- which are incredibly important to us.

[MtnTeaching]

I considered it, did the lottery and got them in, but after their experience in ps, THEY were the ones who decided they did not want to go to it.

 

At the time, they said they preferred me reading outloud to them about Ancient History while huddled in a tent in the basement with popcorn.:001_smile:

 

(To tell you the truth - so did I. My kids are now just a few years away from heading out into the world and I would not trade the years I had with them for anything in the world.)

[tntgoodwin]

Absolutely would consider it.