ondreeuh Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Dh was offered a job in Europe! Although I have already planned everything out for next year, I am evaluating our options. Does anyone have experience with DODEA schools for the elementary years? I was thinking my rising 4th grader could take music, art, PE, etc. Maybe French too, although I would probably rather hire a tutor for the family. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 (edited) Dh was offered a job in Europe! Although I have already planned everything out for next year, I am evaluating our options. Does anyone have experience with DODEA schools for the elementary years? I was thinking my rising 4th grader could take music, art, PE, etc. Maybe French too, although I would probably rather hire a tutor for the family. The elementary years are tough. I choose not to do it for a variety of reasons but I had a friend who tried it this year. It didn't last. Her chief complaints were as follows. Too much wasted time. Specials are scheduled in random intervals throughout the week. It's not necessarily a consistent time each day. Depending on how far you live from the school (TRAFFIC!), you have to drive there in time for specials and then drive home and twiddle your thumbs in-between. You may have to do this several times a week to get PE, host nation, art and music with each activity being 60-90 minutes. This eats up a lot of the day. Frustrating pace. If your child is used to being able to move to the next thing, having to wait for the group, settle into the class, etc. can be very frustrating. Quality varies. Some specials may be great, some may be a waste of time (e.g. more crafts than art). If you're committed to trying it out, get some recommendations from parents about where it might be worth it and where it might not. Friendships. It can also be hard/disruptive to the class and your child to come and go and not be able to spend time with the friends he/she has made during the specials. It may also be hard to develop those relationships because the interaction is so fleeting. That said, I have a middle schooler who's fully enrolled and loving it. This is my social Sally though so take that with a grain of salt. There's a lot less messing around going on in her classes as students are expected to come in, sit down, and begin some version of independent bell/board/morning work until the teacher calls the class to order. The morning work is typically graded too so it generally gets done. Edited March 21, 2017 by Sneezyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 All good points, thank you! Both kids want to homeschool, and are out of sync academically, so I was thinking specials or nothing. I would hate to have it scattered all over the day. And you're right that being there only for specials may be awkward and actually even harder to make friends. I have asked to join FB groups for the local homeschooling community (Americans, I assume) so I will ask what kind of opportilunities there are. Right now my kids are able to take outside classes and I would want to continue that, even if it is informal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sneezyone Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 All good points, thank you! Both kids want to homeschool, and are out of sync academically, so I was thinking specials or nothing. I would hate to have it scattered all over the day. And you're right that being there only for specials may be awkward and actually even harder to make friends. I have asked to join FB groups for the local homeschooling community (Americans, I assume) so I will ask what kind of opportilunities there are. Right now my kids are able to take outside classes and I would want to continue that, even if it is informal. The problems are less of an issue with older students with a fixed M-F schedule but DD, for ex, has a block schedule with A/B days so EVERY.OTHER.SCHOOL.DAY. she has classes 1-4 then 6-8. This is a serious pain in the butt, especially with random in-service days and holidays thrown in. This is mostly why continuing to homeschool math was unsuccessful. The trade off for DD is that she basically has math bootcamp with mom this summer because her class was moving too slow to cover a year's worth of material. In our area there are a lot of homeschool classes and opportunities, I'm not sure about Europe but wouldn't be surprised to fine a good group there with many options. Lots of spouses offer classes in their areas of talent (music lessons, art classes, language instruction, etc.). I've been able to sign DS up for mosaic, pottery, painting, and more through community art centers. Also, the after school programs at local international schools (sports, musical instruments, debate, minecraft, etc.) are good too. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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