Those whose kids have played sports with the schools...

[VeteranMom]

What has been your experience?  Has the coach been good to your kid?  What about his/her teammates? 

Our experience has been mostly good.  My oldest son did have a coach tell him last week that he was not going to be allowed to be a team captain because he didn't go to the school.  Team captains meet with the refs and the opposing team for a minute before the game.  My daughter was allowed to be a team captain on her team.  It's not a battle I'm going to pick.  Just wondering what others have experienced with school sports- good, bad, or indifferent.

[FloridaLisa]

Overall, we've had very good experiences. My kids have so far played sports for 2 private schools and one public. Picking a homeschool friendly or at least homeschool open school is very important but even more so is choosing to play for a certain coach.  Even within the same school, we've had various levels of satisfaction based on the coach. The coach can make all the difference for communication, integration and opportunity for your child. 

[kewb]

Both my kids swim for our local high school.  They have both been varsity swimmers.  The coaches and other kids have been nothing but kind.  It has been a positive experience once I got the school to agree to let my oldest participate.  However, team captain was not allowed due to the fact they did not actually attend the high school.  Not a hill any of us felt the need to die on.

Edited February 22, 2016 by kewb

[clementine]

Good experience here too.  The one nice thing (especially with a girl) is that our dd had not been involved in any drama good OR bad during the school day, so she was a 'safe friend'.  

 

The only thing that our dd missed out on was Academic Lettering with the team - they wouldn't take into consideration her gpa to earn a certificate.  No biggie.  

[AK_Mom4]

Nothing but positive experiences with sports and activities.  There are always a few kids on every team who go to charter schools but do sports with their local high school, so coaches and other adults at activities are used to having kids they may not know well.  The other kids are used to it as well - it's no big deal.

[MEmama]

It's been great for my son all around. His coaches are terrific and he's never felt anything but accepted by the other kids. At the middle school in town where he does track, cross country, and hockey he already knows a lot of kids so that's been very easy. At the middle school in an adjacent town where he does Nordic skiing, he made new friends and is always chatting with someone. It's been nothing but positive.

 

I should add that in our state, kids who go to private school, charters, or who homeschool are all eligible to fully participate in school extracurricular activities. They can also take classes at the public schools, and many homeschoolers do. So it isn't unusual for teammates to not actually attend the school.

[snowbeltmom]

It's been great here, too.  Homeschooling is a non-issue.  In fact, the vast majority of the other parents don't even know my kids are homeschooled.

[Tenaj]

Our experience has been very positive with a private school.  We've been involved with the same private school now for about 7 years and honestly, the home school kids are not treated any differently than the school students.  

 

We did have a little blip in that relationship this year with a situation with our sixth grader but it was quickly remedied and I really think it is just one person at the school who doesn't appreciate the home schoolers and decided to make a stink and treat the home schoolers as second class citizens.  Like I said, they remedied it pretty quickly so we were satisfied.

 

It does help in our case, that the school, especially the high school, is too small to field the teams with their own students so the homeschoolers get pretty important, pretty quickly - LOL!  Our oldest son was the first home schooler to play on the teams but now the home schoolers really outnumber the school students.

 

I'm sorry that your child was denied being the captain.  That really stinks!  At our school, some teams just take turns with the captain duties but on the varsity team one of the captains is a home schooler.

[northcoast]

We have done one year and sat out almost one year due to injury (IT Band Syndrome). Other than an overuse injury, the experience has been good.  I do wonder though why when a write up is done in the local paper it is always stressed that our son is homeschooled.  Why should it matter?  He did well before the injury because he worked hard and had good coaching.  Like a pp has said: it's not a hill we are not willing to die on.  Maybe it is a novelty because he is only the second homeschooler to do a sport at this small high school.  He also had an awesome first year as a sophomore in his sport.

[linders]

A couple years before DS15 actually went to school he was on the public school swim team. The coach treated him like everyone else, and half the other kids knew him and valued him because he was already a competitive club swimmer. He missed out on a few inside jokes about teachers, but overall a very good experience.