Good Charter School Experiences?

[IfIOnly]

And now i am thinking I do not want to do it. UGH. I am the most indecisive person ever. I say yes one day. The funds would be awesome. But then I go back the other way and think I don't want to give up my freedom.

We haven't ever done it, I never even knew this existed.

 

I don't know. We travel a lot. Sometimes we are gone 2-3 weeks out of the month. Only usually 1-3 months a year.

 

But I like to just have the freedom to do that, and to not ask anyone permission about it. We always just school all year so if we take a 2 week break in May or Sept it isn't a big deal.

 

ARGH

 

2 days ago i was convinced i was doing it.

 

Honestly the only reason I want to is because of the money. Is that bad? Do you have other reasons for doing it?

 

I have to decide by morning.

It sounds like it might be best to pass? I enjoy having summers totally off from school, and we do our traveling then. I also need the accountability to get to science, especially as my kids get older. Ha! What does your DH think?

[mommyoffive]

It sounds like it might be best to pass? I enjoy having summers totally off from school, and we do our traveling then. I also need the accountability to get to science, especially as my kids get older. Ha! What does your DH think?

 

He goes along with whatever I sway him to.  When I am feeling yes, he thinks it is a good idea.  When I don't he doesn't either.  Honestly schooling is all on me.

 

Yeah I could see having the summers to travel.  I love off season travel though.  Crazy low prices and no crowds.  Doing it this way we have been able to take our kids places that we wouldn't have if we traveled in the summer.  And we get to go more places. 

I just don't want to have to say no to travel because we have to do a specific time period for school.

[IfIOnly]

Maybe think about it for next year? It was a rush with me too heading about it and then finding enrollment ended a few days later, so I feel ya. It sounds like you all have a great time traveling during the school year, which is really, really wonderful.

[mamakelly]

I've known friends to leave charter schools and no one had to pay anything back. The worst thing might be that you have to pay for a class or something if you don't finish it out.

 

I have friends who do Skype meetings with their Inspire teachers when they are out of town. It's really not a big deal.

 

Honestly, we do it because of the money. Our budget is very tight and using a chapter helps pay for lessons and classes. So I'm willing to jump through their hoops for thousands of dollars in extra curricular funds.

[mommyoffive]

I've known friends to leave charter schools and no one had to pay anything back. The worst thing might be that you have to pay for a class or something if you don't finish it out.

 

I have friends who do Skype meetings with their Inspire teachers when they are out of town. It's really not a big deal.

 

Honestly, we do it because of the money. Our budget is very tight and using a chapter helps pay for lessons and classes. So I'm willing to jump through their hoops for thousands of dollars in extra curricular funds.

 

 

Thanks for that.  Honestly that would be the only reason I would do it.  The $$.  I love our life now.  I love that we can take off 2 weeks a month and travel.  Whenever something comes up or a place we want to go has a deal we can jump on.  I love that when our life gets crazy, mom has a baby or the kids are sick we can take off as much time as we need to.  We just school all year round so it isn't hard to get things done under a time line.

 

This year if they did the school we would miss the first 2 weeks because we will be out of the country.   Do you feel that is hard to make up?

 

What do you do skype meetings about?  Honestly when I am on vacation, I am on vacation.  We don't do school.  I think the experience itself is learning enough.

 

Our budget isn't tight, but the extra money would be nice.  For what is worth only 1 of my 3 kids that is old enough got in since I applied at the last second.  Really the last second. 

If they all would have gotten in the $$ would be hard to turn down.  Or we go the amounts others have said they get. 

It would of course save us lots of money or allow us to do even more things.  

 

Today I am leaning no, and that I will apply early next year and try to get my 4 oldest in.  I still want my freedom honestly.

[IfIOnly]

Thanks for that. Honestly that would be the only reason I would do it. The $$. I love our life now. I love that we can take off 2 weeks a month and travel. Whenever something comes up or a place we want to go has a deal we can jump on. I love that when our life gets crazy, mom has a baby or the kids are sick we can take off as much time as we need to. We just school all year round so it isn't hard to get things done under a time line.

 

This year if they did the school we would miss the first 2 weeks because we will be out of the country. Do you feel that is hard to make up?

 

What do you do skype meetings about? Honestly when I am on vacation, I am on vacation. We don't do school. I think the experience itself is learning enough.

 

Our budget isn't tight, but the extra money would be nice. For what is worth only 1 of my 3 kids that is old enough got in since I applied at the last second. Really the last second.

If they all would have gotten in the $$ would be hard to turn down. Or we go the amounts others have said they get.

It would of course save us lots of money or allow us to do even more things.

 

Today I am leaning no, and that I will apply early next year and try to get my 4 oldest in. I still want my freedom honestly.

Can you call someone with the charter and discuss it? I asked a bunch of questions and called back 3 times and emailed some. Each place is different and it would be good to know exactly the expectations (when curricula is required to be finished by, they don't allow year round schooling in ours) and talk over your family travel and see if it would work with their requirements.

[yvonne]

Can you call someone with the charter and discuss it? I asked a bunch of questions and called back 3 times and emailed some. Each place is different and it would be good to know exactly the expectations (when curricula is required to be finished by, they don't allow year round schooling in ours) and talk over your family travel and see if it would work with their requirements.

 

Also try to talk to more than one person whose family is already using the specific charter you're looking at, preferably families who have used that charter for at least two years and who have children the same age or older than yours (so you can see how it might work for your own child and where things are going.)  Sometimes the actual experience of families in the charter differs from what the charter thinks/advertises the experience to be. They don't intend to mislead; it's just that the charter folks compare the charter experience to what they know of traditional public schooling, and the home schoolers compare the charter experience to the complete freedom they're used to with home schooling.

 

ETA: We used a charter for one or more of our children in 3rd-9th grades. Before high school, it was a good experience and worthwhile for us. The funds allowed our children to take classes they might not otherwise have taken. But, the most significant advantage for me overall was the accountability. We had to meet with our charter contact once/4weeks to let them know, generally, what each student had covered that month, and we had to provide a work sample for each subject area. I usually wrote up a summary of what lessons we had covered in any curricula we were using, what books we'd read, what major topics we'd covered in science, etc.  It was a very useful exercise for me because it kept me aware of the time passing and what areas we might be lagging in. Yes, I could have done this w/out the charter, but that monthly meeting meant that I couldn't just let it go, "just this time."  Most people are more self-disciplined than I and do this on their own. I tended to get lazy and/or let things slide. (I was very susceptible to the "Life happens" excuse at the beginning!)  When I could see exactly what we'd done that month, if we'd covered a lot, it was motivating to keep going, and if I'd let something lapse, I was motivated to get back on track.

 

So, between the funds and the accountability, the charter was definitely worth it for us. But, I know that the charter thought it was very flexible and "parent-driven." And, it was--compared to public schools. But it was less flexible and "parent-driven" than homeschooling independently.

Edited June 25, 2016 by yvonne

[ondreeuh]

And now i am thinking I do not want to do it.  UGH.  I am the most indecisive person ever.  I say yes one day.  The funds would be awesome.  But then I go back the other way and think I don't want to give up my freedom.  

We haven't ever done it, I never even knew this existed.  

 

I don't know.  We travel a lot.  Sometimes we are gone 2-3 weeks out of the month.  Only usually 1-3 months a year.  

 

But I like to just have the freedom to do that, and to not ask anyone permission about it.  We always just school all year so if we take a 2 week break in May or Sept it isn't a big deal.

 

ARGH

 

2 days ago i was convinced i was doing it.   

 

Honestly the only reason I want to is because of the money.  Is that bad?  Do you have other reasons for doing it? 

 

I have to decide by morning.  

 

I have not had to do anything that I wouldn't have already done otherwise. We don't have monthly meetings or phone calls, required classes, etc. Nothing that affects my ability to create my own schedule.

 

With our program, travel is no problem. They assume you are learning while you are traveling :). We took two weeks off to travel to Central America, and we just compacted schoolwork to stay on schedule. Actually we had gotten a head start in the summer, so we didn't have do to much differently. Our program does not micromanage at all; there is no requirement to get through a certain number of lessons in a certain span of time. We turn in work samples once each quarter, and I still had plenty of work to choose from when it came time to report.

 

I would ask if your program handles travel the same way.

 

[ItoLina]

With our charter you just aren't supposed to leave the state for more than 4 weeks at a time and you have to fit on your 2 web cam classes a month around your vacation. So, this year we took a 3 week trip to DC during the last 3 weeks of March. So, I just scheduled their 2 web cam classes for the month during the first week of March and we were good to go.

 

I think that sort of thing is going to vary widely by the school though. So I second calling to talk to a counselor or someone at the school as well as other parents in your area that use the specific charter you are looking at.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mommyoffive]

Also try to talk to more than one person whose family is already using the specific charter you're looking at, preferably families who have used that charter for at least two years and who have children the same age or older than yours (so you can see how it might work for your own child and where things are going.)  Sometimes the actual experience of families in the charter differs from what the charter thinks/advertises the experience to be. They don't intend to mislead; it's just that the charter folks compare the charter experience to what they know of traditional public schooling, and the home schoolers compare the charter experience to the complete freedom they're used to with home schooling.

 

ETA: We used a charter for one or more of our children in 3rd-9th grades. Before high school, it was a good experience and worthwhile for us. The funds allowed our children to take classes they might not otherwise have taken. But, the most significant advantage for me overall was the accountability. We had to meet with our charter contact once/4weeks to let them know, generally, what each student had covered that month, and we had to provide a work sample for each subject area. I usually wrote up a summary of what lessons we had covered in any curricula we were using, what books we'd read, what major topics we'd covered in science, etc.  It was a very useful exercise for me because it kept me aware of the time passing and what areas we might be lagging in. Yes, I could have done this w/out the charter, but that monthly meeting meant that I couldn't just let it go, "just this time."  Most people are more self-disciplined than I and do this on their own. I tended to get lazy and/or let things slide. (I was very susceptible to the "Life happens" excuse at the beginning!)  When I could see exactly what we'd done that month, if we'd covered a lot, it was motivating to keep going, and if I'd let something lapse, I was motivated to get back on track.

 

So, between the funds and the accountability, the charter was definitely worth it for us. But, I know that the charter thought it was very flexible and "parent-driven." And, it was--compared to public schools. But it was less flexible and "parent-driven" than homeschooling independently.

 

Great idea about talking to other families.  The only thing is that I heard about this from another family at our coop that doesn't meet until fall.  It was the last day of the meeting and I don't have the person's contact info.  I would love to talk to them about it.   

[mommyoffive]

Thank you for all reporting in.  I think that that next year it will be more concrete on trying it, if all my old enough kids get in.  4 kids times the grade money is hard to turn down.  I am so happy that you are able to have such freedom.  

 

I am hoping that this one runs the same way.  

 

 

[IfIOnly]

Mommyoffive, I asked our homeschool group via our Yahoo group for experiences and received a good amount of reviews. That might be an option for some.

Edited June 26, 2016 by ifIonlyhadabrain

[Peaceful Isle]

I love my charter I am in , here in CA.

Anyone want to pm me any questions, I would be happy to answer :)

Edited June 28, 2016 by Peacefulisle

[mommyoffive]

The other thing that throws the wrench in this is our local school offers a virtual school too.  The one I posted about is not local.  But in our state.

 

If you do the local virtual school you can go in the school and take advantage of classes.  However another hs family does this and they are not in the virtual school.  So i think you can do it any how.  

You don't get any money or a computer.  I do think they provide you with books although I am not sure that you get a choice.

 

You do however get a 50% discount on everything offered at the local university.  Which they offer a lot for kids as young as 18 months.  

 

Music, sports, camps, and on and on.

 

Honestly I don't know which one is better.

[IfIOnly]

Somehow I got lost in the mix, and after several voicemails and only reaching someone by calling again, I got through. Got a call back from a local teacher yesterday and was told I had to have all my curricula choices submitted by the end of July. Okay. Um. Yeah.

 

The good news is they're expanding there charter offering and will offer weekly classes like geography for the kids. So that's cool. They'll be some other neat things going on too.

 

But, seriously, I have two days? Arg!

[IfIOnly]

Does your charter allow you to keep the non-consumable curricula you ordered? I just found out that we don't get to keep ours! It goes to a charter library at the end of the year or can be borrowed for the next year. 

[Janeway]

We've been with our charter for 5 years. We meet once a month, and give our teacher one sample from each of the four core subjects, they have no idea how we use our curriculum or what percentage we use, etc., I could switch curriculum every month and no one would know or care.

 

I've heard that our funds are going up to $2,600 per child next year.

Where are you?

[mamakelly]

Does your charter allow you to keep the non-consumable curricula you ordered? I just found out that we don't get to keep ours! It goes to a charter library at the end of the year or can be borrowed for the next year.

You can keep 5 items per child over the summer if you plan to use it still or reuse with another child. But when you leave the school permanently, all non consumables have to be returned. On the flip side of that, you can get most non-consumables for free from the school. It's a win win.

[IfIOnly]

You can keep 5 items per child over the summer if you plan to use it still or reuse with another child. But when you leave the school permanently, all non consumables have to be returned. On the flip side of that, you can get most non-consumables for free from the school. It's a win win.

Thanks! It wouldn't have been a real breaker but would have been nice to know. Surprising and a bit disappointing at first.

 

Anyone else? I'm curious if this is a common thing.

[kitten18]

Where are you?

Edited, I shared too much. 😜

Edited October 6, 2016 by kitten18

[kitten18]

Does your charter allow you to keep the non-consumable curricula you ordered? I just found out that we don't get to keep ours! It goes to a charter library at the end of the year or can be borrowed for the next year.

We keep everything until we leave the school and then return non consumables.

 

It would be a BIG issue for me if I had to return things at the end of each school year.

[IfIOnly]

We keep everything until we leave the school and then return non consumables.

 

It would be a BIG issue for me if I had to return things at the end of each school year.

 

Thanks! Thankfully, they did say that they are totally okay with continually checking things out year after year. I hope I can just keep it though as long as I need it instead of actually returning each summer (which would be just weird.) 

[ItoLina]

Does your charter allow you to keep the non-consumable curricula you ordered? I just found out that we don't get to keep ours! It goes to a charter library at the end of the year or can be borrowed for the next year.

We have to return all non consumables, but I can recheck out anything I want to keep for the next school year. I can also check our resource room and borrow things for the year if they have them, and they have a lot. This is all for free, so I always check the resource room before I buy them out of my allotment. That way I can save the allotment for consumables and extra curricular classes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IfIOnly]

We have to return all non consumables, but I can recheck out anything I want to keep for the next school year. I can also check our resource room and borrow things for the year if they have them, and they have a lot. This is all for free, so I always check the resource room before I buy them out of my allotment. That way I can save the allotment for consumables and extra curricular classes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it's a fine system. I'd like to visit and see what our library has, if much yet. It's a newer charter. The teacher was stoked about my order because I ordered so great resources: IEW A and B, CC science and history cards and dry erase maps, Usborne science, history, and geography encyclopedias, Saxon math Art Reed dvds, and more. Like you though, I would have checked to see if these were in the library first (or ordered them much cheaper used off Amazon and been able to keep them, especially the Usborne sstuff $$$) and used that money for my kids to have some extra curricular money. As it is, I spent almost all of the allotment on curricula. A bit ticked off actually.

 

People are nice but the charter has some major administrative and communication issues. Thanky I know enough people 28th positive experiences to not be freaking out about it.

[mommyoffive]

I think it's a fine system. I'd like to visit and see what our library has, if much yet. It's a newer charter. The teacher was stoked about my order because I ordered so great resources: IEW A and B, CC science and history cards and dry erase maps, Usborne science, history, and geography encyclopedias, Saxon math Art Reed dvds, and more. Like you though, I would have checked to see if these were in the library first (or ordered them much cheaper used off Amazon and been able to keep them, especially the Usborne sstuff $$$) and used that money for my kids to have some extra curricular money. As it is, I spent almost all of the allotment on curricula. A bit ticked off actually.

 

People are nice but the charter has some major administrative and communication issues. Thanky I know enough people 28th positive experiences to not be freaking out about it.

 

 

Wow, I know that is a great savings for the supplies to your family.  Stinks that you don't have much left for classes.

[Peaceful Isle]

I spend on average about 1/4 on curriculum and the other 3/4 on enrichment and activities. I don't have my 14 year old in the charter though. I pulled her out in July. Just too many restrictions on curriculum. They really pushed online curriculum like Apex or ACE digital ( no offense meant here if someone likes those) They just didn't appeal to me. The other ones offered were SVHS and Acellus. Also, the student couldn't go ahead, but had to stay on a schedule.

We are loving it for our 3 youngest, and we will miss the extra funds for my daughter, but not enough to have her do it.

 

Every charter is different in what they consider "consumable" ;)

[mommyoffive]

The other thing that throws the wrench in this is our local school offers a virtual school too.  The one I posted about is not local.  But in our state.

 

If you do the local virtual school you can go in the school and take advantage of classes.  However another hs family does this and they are not in the virtual school.  So i think you can do it any how.  

You don't get any money or a computer.  I do think they provide you with books although I am not sure that you get a choice.

 

You do however get a 50% discount on everything offered at the local university.  Which they offer a lot for kids as young as 18 months.  

 

Music, sports, camps, and on and on.

 

Honestly I don't know which one is better.

 

So a friend tried the local school district virtual school.  Said she hated it.  I think it was K12 for supplies.  Not 100% sure.  They expected her 3rd grader to be on the computer for 5-6 hours a day.

 

So that is out.

[mommyoffive]

How are the new families liking it so far?

 

Has everyone started already?

[mommyoffive]

Ok

 

I decided to try it.  AHHHHHH

 

Here goes nothing. 

 

I have 3 school aged kids and only 2 got in.  I waited until the last minute to apply.  So I am sad about that, but oh well I learned a lesson.  I didn't even know this thing existed until a few months ago.  

 

I didn't know how the whole thing worked at all.  Even after lots of emails there was things that were not clear at all.

 

I thought it was going to be teacher led.  Like here is your stuff and this is what you are learning this year.  But it was really open.  You pick exactly what stuff you want.  What you want them to learn this year. 

I of course wasn't ready for that.  UGH.  Oh well.  

 

I am giving it a good score so far.  Of  course we haven't started yet. 

[mommyoffive]

How does the payment system for your charter work for lessons?

 

Have you had a hard time getting places to accept the payments or system?  

 

 

 

 

 

[kitten18]

How does the payment system for your charter work for lessons?

 

Have you had a hard time getting places to accept the payments or system?

Our charter and all of the others that I know about, have a vendor list of approved vendors. Our system is online now, I go onto the website and fill out a class request.

[mommyoffive]

Our charter and all of the others that I know about, have a vendor list of approved vendors. Our system is online now, I go onto the website and fill out a class request.

 

 

Oh that would be so easy.  Ours doesn't have that yet.  They should, it would be better for us and them.  This system is harder.

 

I have reached out to 3 places so far.  

2 I haven't heard back from yet. 

One said yes. 

[mommyoffive]

How is year going for everyone?

 

 

I feel like we are still just getting used to it.    I think next year will be a lot better since we know what to expect.   I am ok with it.  That is all.  I miss our old lifestyle of more relaxed home schooling.   I am not liking the deadlines, and all the things you "have" to get done.  

 

But that being said there is flexibility.  Just not as much as we had before. 

 

 

[ondreeuh]

I have been part of the same program for a few years, so this is normal to us. I order my own curriculum, so I've had most of that since July. We had a meeting with each adviser in August to set a schedule of classes, and my high schooler was given credit for the work he did over the summer. Both kids participate in on-site classes so I am at the building 5x a week, and I have checked a few things out of the library. I have switched science books for my high schooler and they were fine with that.

 

Our first quarter ends next week, so I need to pull some work samples for the kids. My advisers know me and trust me, so they aren't picky about what I send in. I still need to submit my receipts for curriculum too. It's not a burden to me, just a little paperwork.

 

I have always been a structured kind of homeschooler (cover all the major subjects every year, consistently do lessons on school days, etc.) so being accountable to someone else doesn't change any of that - I just tell them what I plan to cover and make some photocopies as we go. Speaking of that, I did list art as a subject this year so I need to make sure we do it and get something to show for a sample - it's positive motivation for me, not a hassle.

[mommyoffive]

Yeah I go back and forth.  Some days I am really happy that we did and then some days I am sad how our life has changed.  

It has changed some.  But maybe more so in my mind.

 

We are allowed to order our own curr. too which was nice.  I didn't know that is how it work.  I thought it would be a bit more planned out, by them. 

 

Anyway just getting used to it.  

[IfIOnly]

It's going okay here. The biggest pain is figuring out how it works. Next year will be better in that regard. Also, we don't have all of our curriculum yet. Arg. It has all been on their end, even though I made a most awesome, complete list with links. Things were missed or ordered wrongly more than once. All we have to do is send pics for the monthly samples rather than a meeting though, so that's fabulous.

[mamakelly]

We've been with this charter school for 7 years, so it's old hat for us. I don't mind the required samples and 1 form I have to fill out every 4 weeks. It's pretty easy. All my curriculum is in, they were really fast with that this year.

[IfIOnly]

Oh forgot! Had our first test out of three this year. The first one is just to establish a guage, I think. Each child took the test that is usually given at the end of the year and the charter is just lookin for improvement throughout the year. So my 8th grader was given a test on 8th grade requirements. So besides monthly pics of something in each subject and one math, scidnce, and lang arts work sample through the year, that's it for requirements. Not bad. I feel like it's a good fit for us w8th several positives.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I have 3 kids enrolled in a public charter, grades 1, 4 and 6. We get funds in exchange for filling out worksheets tied to state standards. My two younger kids also attend a weekly enrichment program where they get art, music, PE and cooking classes. They love it.

 

The worksheets are a little annoying -- we have to turn in one every two weeks for each subject: math, language arts, social studies and science. The subject matter is not usually aligned with the curriculum that we're using. My 6th grader feels like he's getting nothing out of the deal; he just gets extra work out of it. My 1st and 4th graders deal with the worksheets knowing they get to go to their weekly fun classes.

 

The funds are nice, but I feel like I bought more than I really need and won't use all of it. Next year I may just sign up the two who really like the enrichment program so that they can continue with that. 

Edited October 5, 2016 by poikar

[mommyoffive]

Oh forgot! Had our first test out of three this year. The first one is just to establish a guage, I think. Each child took the test that is usually given at the end of the year and the charter is just lookin for improvement throughout the year. So my 8th grader was given a test on 8th grade requirements. So besides monthly pics of something in each subject and one math, scidnce, and lang arts work sample through the year, that's it for requirements. Not bad. I feel like it's a good fit for us w8th several positives.

 

We did the testing too.  I was surprised how well they did when they had never done that before. 

 

Ours is a bit tighter run than yours.  That sounds nice.

[mommyoffive]

I have 3 kids enrolled in a public charter, grades 1, 4 and 6. We get funds in exchange for filling out worksheets tied to state standards. My two younger kids also attend a weekly enrichment program where they get art, music, PE and cooking classes. They love it.

 

The worksheets are a little annoying -- we have to turn in one every two weeks for each subject: math, language arts, social studies and science. The subject matter is not usually aligned with the curriculum that we're using. My 6th grader feels like he's getting nothing out of the deal; he just gets extra work out of it. My 1st and 4th graders deal with the worksheets knowing they get to go to their weekly fun classes.

 

The funds are nice, but I feel like I bought more than I really need and won't use all of it. Next year I may just sign up the two who really like the enrichment program so that they can continue with that. 

 

 

Yeah I did buy more than I needed.  I should remember that for next year.   

[IfIOnly]

Yeah I did buy more than I needed. I should remember that for next year.

Same

[Peaceful Isle]

I totally bought too much for my one son. The others I did a great combo of outsourced activities and curriculum.

[rebcoola]

Does your charter allow you to keep the non-consumable curricula you ordered? I just found out that we don't get to keep ours! It goes to a charter library at the end of the year or can be borrowed for the next year. 

You have to return it in but their is no limit to how long you can keep it as long as you are enrolled.  No limit to how much you can have either.  So I have had the LOF collection on my shelves for 4 years

[IfIOnly]

We did the testing too. I was surprised how well they did when they had never done that before.

 

Ours is a bit tighter run than yours. That sounds nice.

The testing was nice because it was much quicker than normal end of the year testing.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

We can keep all of our supplies as long as we are enrolled for the whole school year. After that, it is ours to do with as we wish.

 

You have to return it in but their is no limit to how long you can keep it as long as you are enrolled.  No limit to how much you can have either.  So I have had the LOF collection on my shelves for 4 years

 

[SeaConquest]

We started after Labor Day, then moved, and now are on vacation. So, we still haven't really gotten into a groove. This is our 3rd year with our extremely flexible charter, so I'm thankfully not feeling too stressed about being "behind" my mental schedule.

Edited October 7, 2016 by SeaConquest

[Peaceful Isle]

We keep all of our books and kits if we stay the whole year. Our charter says most things are consumable.

[mommyoffive]

The school has lots of field trips, extra classes like science, gym, art that are in person.  Which is really nice but they are usually 45 mins (one way) or more away from us so we haven't done any of them yet.

I am bummed about that.  I would totally take advantage if we we closer.

 

They do have extra online classes you can take too.   We have started one.   I would much rather do the in person classes.  Some are free and some are more money.  

[IfIOnly]

The school has lots of field trips, extra classes like science, gym, art that are in person. Which is really nice but they are usually 45 mins (one way) or more away from us so we haven't done any of them yet.

I am bummed about that. I would totally take advantage if we we closer.

 

They do have extra online classes you can take too. We have started one. I would much rather do the in person classes. Some are free and some are more money.

It's great they offer those but not for you since you're a distance. Bummer. Good to think about though when joining A charter, especially if you're not close.