Am I the only homeschooler who *doesn't* like to do groups during school hours?

[Veritaserum]

We keep regular school hours for homeschool work. With four official students and a 4yo and a baby, school takes all morning and 2-3 hours of afternoon. So, finishing by 2 is a good day. I seem to be an anomaly of sorts in that I prefer not to schedule homeschool groups or lessons during the hours between 8am-2pm. I also avoid scheduling other appointments then as best I can.

 

I prefer music lessons and clubs to be after 2 so that we can finish a normal load of work. If we have anything scheduled for earlier than that, we basically end up doing half a day and have to make up the work by doubling up the day before it or the day after. I don't like doing that. Neither do the kids. They attend a co-op one day a week, so we only have four school days at home for our homeschool subjects.

 

My older two girls were in a homeschool club last year that they enjoyed. It was originally proposed to meet in the mornings. I suggested afternoons instead. It met from 1-3pm every other week. We are working on organizing the club again for this year. I suggested a later time, but people seem to prefer the earlier time. I'm not sure we will be able to do the club at the earlier time. It was stressful and I'm already feeling stressed with my increased load this year.

 

Do you like to do out-of-your-house homeschool groups, lessons, or activities during normal school hours?

Edited August 7, 2012 by Veritaserum

[Mrs Mungo]

Most of our activities are not directly related to homeschooling for this reason. I prefer to keep 8:30-1 reserved for school.

[Joani]

We've never done activities during the day, but the idea of having to leave the house at a scheduled time during school hours doesn't appeal to me at all. I think my oldest will have a training session every Friday at 2pm this year, but he can bike there and we've never been very productive on Friday afternoons anyway.

[fraidycat]

If we were running around during "school hours" even one day a week, school would probably not get done for most of the week.

 

We do park days once a week at 3 p.m.

[Amira]

We don't leave the house for anything till school is done for the day.

[GoVanGogh]

I voted yes because we recently had a bad experience with an after-school sports class. For several years, my child took the sport with the same coach but homeschool/during the school day class. It was canceled due to lack of interest so we switched to the evening class. It was awful. The other kids were so rowdy and two of the kids bullied the coach on a regular basis and cheated consistently. Because of that, I would much prefer a daytime class! Not that you avoid all of that with homeschool classes, but I have mainly had positive experiences with homeschool programs.

 

That said. I do have one student and we are fine with getting out for a morning class, then coming home to hit the books. I know it is very different with larger families or families with younger children.

[Ellie]

Absolutely not. No way. Nope. Not a chance.

 

These are different, BTW, from things like a monthly park day. I could do once-a-month park days, since we didn't do Official School Stuff on Fridays anyway.

 

Also, in our home, we did a field trip every Thursday, but it was just us, on our own schedule, always on Thursday.

[BakersDozen]

I cannot participate in groups during the school day. If I try our entire day is in upheaval, things are rushed, I'm stressed...it's not good. Afternoon meetings/groups don't work because of naps (it seems people forget about those who have napping little ones as their own dc get older...). So we don't get involved in very much which sometimes bugs me as I do enjoy the time with other homeschooling families, yet I can't bring that kind of disruption into our day.

[SilverMoon]

Nope. There isn't a group in my area with offerings I'm willing to trade even a half day of our schooling to attend.

[Tiramisu]

I hate groups during school hours, but I do a coop anyway because it helps motivate my dc and keeps them happy. And I really love the other moms in my coop. Their support has pulled us through some really tough times.

[PeacefulChaos]

I voted other because it depends on the actual time during school hours. We usually don't finish unt 1-2 (occasionally even later) but if there is something at 1 that we are really wanting to do, I see no reason why we can't just get up a little earlier and finish our day before we go.

That applies to things we want to do or occasional things like dr apps (though we often just take off a day for appts, depending on where they are ) -there are some things that just aren't important enough to me to bother, though.

[Momof3littles]

We are doing a 1x a week co-op, but that's academic, so I'm fine with that. This is the first year I'll be scheduling DD's dance class during our normal school hours. It isn't until 1:45pm though. I anticipate having DS1 bring something along to work on while we wait for DD. In a perfect world, I would have picked a different time for the class, but those times were even worse for us for various reasons.

 

I voted maybe.

 

My kids are young though (eldest is 8.5, and then DD is 5.5, and I have a 2 yo), so it is a little different than trying to juggle older kids' schedules.

[Mrs Mungo]

I should add that I don't mind so much when it is a co-op type situation, because they are still doing schoolwork. It was also okay when they were younger. But, now? I try to avoid extra-curricular stuff in the school day.

[cindergretta]

We do music lessons during school hours but Scouts and sports and so forth are in the evening and not part of a homeschool group.

 

I refuse to go to museums, zoos, science centers, the fair, etc. when schools are on breaks. Those types of things we always schedule during school hours. But those tend to happen once a month, so no big deal.

 

If we tried to schedule regular, weekly, outings (activities, whatever) during the school day, good heavens, nothing would get done! :001_huh: (We have a hard enough time without interference.... <insert the bag over my head here>)

[catz]

I like to do them IF and only IF they are highly educational and engaging. I really like to have our mornings open at least 4 mornings per week. Last year, on Monday mornings we did a Spanish class. My kids were not in the same class so they'd do school work in the library during the other kid's class time. That worked ok. I'd still prefer to have mornings.

 

We do take mornings off maybe 1-2X per month for a show or performance where I can get tickets for a greatly reduced price. I used to be much more laid back and signed up for a bunch of stuff. Now I really limit it and am very picky that it work for BOTH my kids (and especially my oldest - I find my youngest can work with it if it's good for my oldest). So many homeschool things locally are geared for ages 12 and under, and my 11 year old has pretty much been done with that age range academically for quite a while.

[FaithManor]

Two high schoolers here and a 12 year old with two high school subjects. Sacred hours are 8:30 - 3:00 p.m. Rocket team can meet any time after that up to three times per week during the season. Regular 4-H meetings are one Saturday per month from 9-1:00 p.m. depending on the project, they could get out at noon. Wednesday night youth group for them.

 

Rocket team is pretty time intensive. Therefore, we have to stay on schedule with schoolwork.

 

We are not a part of any homeschool group anyway. I tend to find these kinds of groups to be cliquish and many are very exclusive and I'm never the "right kind of mother" to be accepted. So I never have to say no to groups. Now, my mother, needing me to go with her to doctors' appointments or my MIL constantly scheduling airport runs during the school day when I've REPEATEDLY told her that she needs to go early morning or late afternoon/evening and refuses to heed this admonishment culminating last time in her being taken to the airport at 7:30 a.m. because ds had an AP exam that dh was taking him to, but I had to be home in time for the picking up, so she ended up sitting at the airport for FOUR hours before her flight....well, now that's just another story right there. :glare:

 

Faith

[Mom22ns]

We do a one Friday per month afternoon get together with a group of homeschoolers. Sometimes it is late afternoon or evening, sometimes it is as early as 1:00. That is as close as I get to interrupting school.

[ilanao]

Even orthodontist appointments threw off the schedule for the day, so we never joined groups. They always seemed to meet far away from where I live right in the middle of the day.

[LucyStoner]

We have outsourced classes, autism clinic, speech therapy and extracurriculars/music consolidated into 2 days a week (T and Th). This works for us for now but I only have 1 kid to homeschool so being at home 3 days a week is more than enough time to get everything done. He also gets a lot of his reading done in the car on TTh when we are out and about. I don't let anything intrude on MWF unless I can not help it - dentist appointment or a specialist appointment that we can't get on TTh. We still leave the house those days but it is our schedule- AM fitness, library for some schoolwork and then lunch, and home for more school, bike break and chores. For AM fitness we start the day at 8:30 or so with a run, bike ride or something physically active. By 10AM we are settled in for school work or on TTh at his classes or appointments.

Edited August 7, 2012 by kijipt

[regentrude]

I work, and that makes it very complicated to attend events during daytime hours. I have arranged my schedule so that my son can participate in homeschool playgroup meetings once a week at noon.

I also hate interrupting the school day. I have not found any homeschool activities to be academically worthwhile (that includes coop). We do school first, and extracurriculars in the afternoon/evening. DD is a member of the university choir, and I find that even their 2pm rehearsal time infringes on her study time... but it is so important to us that we work it in.

[NancyNellen]

The only thing I schedule during homeschool time is piano lessons, because she was willing to come to my house if I scheduled lessons in the morning. It works out, though, because as she teaches I am working with the other kids...so we all win!

 

Otherwise, 8am-2pm is school time.

[Mommyof4ks]

We do some outside stuff during the school day, but I only have three kids, so I can easily take school work on the road for the two not in the activity. We have lived in chaos most of our homeschooling career though, and we have schooled on the floor of the ER and in the hospital more times than I would like to remember. If I have a choice we try to do things from 3-6, but that is not always possible.

[SunnyDays]

For an occasional special field trip or performance, I don't mind, although we still try to do afternoon options. But I would never commit to any regular morning activities. For those, they'd have to be 1pm or later.

[Zebra]

That said. I do have one student and we are fine with getting out for a morning class, then coming home to hit the books. I know it is very different with larger families or families with younger children.

 

The homeschooled kids are so much more well behaved than the general public so I would really rather go to those classes. I only have one child who is not napping, but not high school age. So, a.m. classes aren't so much of an issue for us. I have a friend with 5 kids and it's a totally different situation for her.

[TammyS]

I really try not to, because it's a huge buster for us. We live 1/2hr away from the nearest town of size. So that means a 1 hr activity really takes minimum 2.5hrs (1 hr for drivetime, 1 hr for activity, and 15 minutes on each end for getting stuff, diaper bags, etc in and out of the car and settled back down).

 

But, I am raising two only children (almost 14 and almost 2), in the country, so for my very extroverted son's sanity, I have to get him out at least sometimes, so if something is worth it, I do sometimes compromise. Ironically, I find that those things are seldom academic in nature. Every.single.time. I have gotten involved in "academic" classes/co-ops, I've wished I hadn't. Maybe I just live in a homeschooling dead zone, but no one around here has any standards (or if they do, they are hiding their light under a bushel). So, I would rather take a part of a day for a gym class or social event where we at least aren't pretending to get schoolwork done.

 

Those of you who live in more populace places with great co-ops, I envy you.

[KarenC]

Mornings are our most productive time. I don't want to give up a morning for a co-op.

 

Karen:iagree:

[Bluegoat]

I guess for me it would depend. We did an art class for homeschool kids that was wonderful, and one of the things that was great was that it wasn't in the evening or Saturday. I find those things really cut into family time, and the kids at them are often kind of fried from a long day at school.

 

I guess I consider art and music to be part of my education program - if the kids didn't do them elsewhere I would be spending time on them anyway.

 

I do sometimes have trouble figuring out the best way to fit things in to meet the needs of all the kids. In the past for example we've gone to a playgroup on Tuesday mornings. This year I'd rather not lose the time for my oldest, but I think the other three could use the social interaction and chance to get out of the house.

[LaxMom]

Nope. We stopped doing a co-op on Friday mornings primarily because we lost a whole day of school. Field trips and other activities are mid-afternoon, and rare.

[HappyCrazyMama]

No, but I don't like doing them in the evening either.:tongue_smilie: We don't do much, right now just 4H and scouts. I try to do them as late as possible which for those activities is pretty easy because the are all timed for the PS crowd.:)

[MomatHWTK]

I don't do groups, they all meet to early for me to be out of bed. :D

[dangermom]

I really dislike doing things during the school day, unless it's a big field trip or something rare. There is a sort of class/group thing here in town for tweens/teens, and I wouldn't mind my kid going except that it's on Friday mornings, which would result in an entire lost day. Our time at home is so precious that I just can't do other things during those school hours.

[garddwr]

I don't like morning activities, but I do like to have them early in the afternoon. We do our main schooling in the morning (we start early, which may make a difference) and afternoons are pretty flexible. I don't like things to be running into dinner preparation time.

 

Our whole family is on an early-wake, early work schedule though. My husband leaves for work at 4:40 in the morning, so we all try to get to bed around 8:00 PM. Dh is home by 3:30 every day.

 

--Sarah

[KungFuPanda]

I put 'other.' for the first 6 years of homeschooling I preferred to reserve evenings and weekends for family time and do all pf our field trips, clubs, etc before DH got home from work. However, once my kids got to middle school and older, it worked out much better for their activities to happen later in the day. For us it was definitely a life-phase thing. I should probably mention that I only have two kids and live close to everything.

Edited August 7, 2012 by KungFuPanda

[*Lulu*]

First, I do not do co-ops b/c I have yet to find one here that is more than a glorified social group or that is academic but does not require a signed statement of faith.

 

In my dream world we would run a schedule similar to Ellie's, school at home 4 full days,(incl. Sat), do library plus field trips one day a week, and save one day for errands and appointments. Hopefully Bug will finish with speech therapy this year and my dream schedule will be realized! The older Punk gets, the more difficult it is to be gone from the house during prime school time. I carry school with us, but it is not as good as being home.

[elegantlion]

We have if it's a once a month type thing, but those were a bust for many reasons. I prefer to be at home. We're not morning people and leaving for a few hours throws off our day.

 

Plus I'm very punctual by nature and it seems many homeschoolers are not. I hate rushing around to be there on time and then have to wait for everyone else. It irks me to no end when it's a regular occurrence. So we try to avoid those irksome situations. :D

[NittanyJen]

We don't really do co-ops and I keep trying to minimize things, but I do want them to have some breaks in the routine. We'll do a class at the local arboretum every other month, a gym class in the middle of the day once per week, that sort of thing. I go both ways-- I hate interruptions that keep us from getting school work done, but I also prefer to have quiet, relaxing evenings. Kind of hard to have it both ways when I like the boys to be involved in activities and with groups of other kids :).

 

My solution is "Stay home Wednesdays" -- absolutely no classes or doc appointments on Wednesdays-- that is our sanity day with no driving around for any reason. We have 1-2 nights max with evening sports or classes. The rest we have to work into the day or start making priorities. We do have school for 42 weeks per calendar year, give or take, and I consider athletics, music, and art to be part of their education, so we do make some room in our day for some of this stuff. It's just about finding the balance.

[beezus]

No, I don't like to be running around too much during week days. I only have one kid I'm homeschooling, but I am self-employed and work from my home office. Generally, I like to be around during normal work hours so I can be available if someone calls with a project. Plus it gives my dd a time frame in which to focus on school.

[Mimm]

We attend co-op and will be doing orchestra in the middle of the day and there is a yoga class in the morning we plan to attend. We have scheduled piano for as early in the afternoon as our teacher had time for us and we plan to schedule archery for early afternoon. My kids aren't in high school, but I love the flexibility of homeschooling, it's one of the main appeals to me. I like not having to schedule stuff for every evening of the week, it gets so old. Now that my nine year old has quit dance, and both kids are burnt out on Tae Kwon Do, we don't have any evening activities this year. Oh, except Wednesday night church, which we haven't done in the past.

[Sahamamama]

Do you like to do out-of-your-house homeschool groups, lessons, or activities during normal school hours?

 

I have nowhere near your workload, but I still like to keep the prime-time hours of most weekdays free for school. It's tough enough to keep on track with my husband's erratic work and travel schedule, without adding in day-time activities. If I had four students, a preschooler, and a baby, I would stay home, get the work done, and not feel a bit guilty about it.

 

Instead of day-time groups, I've been looking for some type of "afterschool" activity, such as a community choir or book club, but so far haven't found one that would be a fit for us. These groups seem to meet from around 3:30--5:30 pm, rather than during "school hours." This would actually work better for us. We do NOT do well with regular evening/night activities! My girls' usual bedtime is 8:30 pm in summer, 8:00 pm or earlier in winter, and they are always glad to go to bed. By the time most evening activities roll around (e.g., AWANA at 7:30--9:00 pm! :svengo:), I am about ready to fall over and the girls are ready for sleep. :tongue_smilie:

 

How about an afterschool AWANA club? 3:30--5:00 pm gets my vote. ;) Plus, I can't drive in the dark (technically I can, but since I can't see in the dark, I don't drive in it). :glare:

[fractalgal]

But I do attend a Friday Morning Meeting group once per month. My children and I find it difficult to get back into school on Friday afternoon, and I often question whether to continue attending. ;)

[Crimson Wife]

Not unless it's an academic class. DD did a writing class that was every Tuesday in the late morning. This fall, I'm probably going to have the kids do a science class at a local museum that would be Mondays in the late morning.

 

Electives like art & music or social activities I prefer to have in the afternoons.

[TammyinTN]

Honestly...we need from 9-5 to get everything done. Nights and weekends are free for groups or other things, but my days are strictly for schooling now.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Nope, not the only one. I prefer to keep mornings free and extracurrics after 1 p.m.

[Veritaserum]

I suggested 2:30 - 4:30 as an alternative time. Given travel time, we'd still have to end school by 1:45 and get in the car around 2, but i think we could feasibly finish our school day before then if we crack the whip and the baby cooperates. The time everyone else prefers (1-3pm) means we'd have to be done with school by 12, which we could potentially do if we started at 6am. But that's unrealistic.

 

I like to avoid evening engagements, but we do have church meetings some weeknights for the kids. Thankfully we are close enough that the kids can walk.

 

I'm even stressing about piano lessons. My sister is their teacher and she is excellent, but we still have to drive to her for lessons. Someone who came to my house would be much easier.

 

I think I am realizing that I don't like to leave the house more than 1-2 days per week because we have so much work that needs to be done here at home. Next year I will have five students and a toddler. :svengo:

 

I think we will have to pass on the group this year unless the time moves to later. My kids will get socialization at their extracurricular co-op. It doesn't have the same girls that are in the group, but it might just have to be enough so that I don't lose my mind.

[ByGrace3]

We try to schedule all of our homeschool group events for 1pm. Allowing the morning for school but being finished in time for afternoon sports.

[ErinE]

We try not to. The kids have a regularly scheduled activity around lunchtime two days a week, but otherwise, if it's during the school day, I'm not interested. I see HS parents who spend all day, several days a week taking their kids to activities and it just looks exhausting to me.

[Hockey Mom]

I don't like disrupting our schedule at all during school hours. I went as far as laminating a sign that reads, "Homeschooling in progress. Please do not disturb." and I hang it on the front door every morning. Even the mailman knocking on the door, causing the dogs to go nuts, will throw us off schedule for a good 15 minutes.

 

We do attend ONE science class per month. I just plan on not doing school that day.

[PollyOR]

We did our first ever co-op this year (Shakespeare). It definitely sent my stress level up for the year and blew at least one day every week. During the last month the girls were practicing 2-3 times a week. We drove to MIL's for free piano lessons on the same day as co-op. The whole thing drained my time and wallet (gas money!). When it was over my teen girls were adamant that they did not want to do outside classes again. Well, one has already been talked into another class. I've warned her that I may not be able to drive due to gas prices. And, I'm going to suggest to grandma that she give piano lessons at my house. We need to stay home!

[LibraryLover]

Ime, museums are much less crowded right after lunch. (School field trips leave at lunchtime, for instance.)

 

If the right opportunity presents itself, we will leave the house for such things. Oh, and music lessons. It's nice to beat the crowd.

[Aelwydd]

I voted "maybe" because it depends. If it's an academic class, like French or art history offered at a local museum, that's one thing. We count that as part of school. If it's just an informal together, or something like a field trip, then only occasionally. Too many activities disrupts the "flow," and it's easy to fall behind in weekly and monthly goals for lessons/ concepts covered.

 

But our situation is obviously different. If I had a baby and a 4 yo, I don't think we'd outsource any of his classes at this point, because the time constraints would just be crazy.