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Afterschooling: why did you choose this option and what does it mean to you? One class? Two online classes?


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Hi,

we homeschooled classically for six years. My eldest for many reasons has chosen the local public. 

 

To say the experience of being on campus and meeting counselors as a homeschool family was sad, is an understatement. The singular positive I can take from this is he is now accountable to others.

 

that being said....there are no Latin or logic courses, and he didn’t get his public speaking elective.

 

why do folks “after school”,  as a verb—-and what does that look like? Adding a class? Requiring something else as a parent?

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My son only went to brick and mortar for one year of middle school. Even though we thought the school had some weaknesses, we chose not to after school during the school year. Science was definitely the weakest, but my husband has a PhD in chemistry, so they were always discussing science and he still spent time in his dad’s lab and classes. They didn’t remotely require enough reading in my estimation, but my son always loved to read, so he just continued to do that on his own. He also continued to do lots of audio books and current events reading/listening on his own and we continued our regular, normal everyday discussions. History and art, music, theatre, and foreign language were fine. The latter four were probably generally better than what we could provide at home, especially for free.

As far as I know, they did no grammar and while the math was fine, I generally think it’s good in math to have things presented in different ways and work on different types of problems. Had he stayed long term, I might have done Analytical Grammar and some math enrichment during the summer, but definitely not during the school year, unless he requested it. Although he usually finished all of his hw at school, I thought downtime to pursue his own interests/passions (he’s the type to delve deeply on his own in areas of interest) and just to relax, time for exercise (his main outside EC), adequate sleep, and time with family and friends were far more important at that age than after schooling during the school year.

Edited by Frances
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We afterschooled because the (well regarded private) school my son was going to didn't teach certain things that I felt were important.  So I either taught those things directly (reading history aloud, having him do Hake Grammar) or piggybacked onto whatever the school was doing (writing, math, science). 

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Why I send my kids to b&m school instead of homeschooling - the main reasons -

  • They like school & benefit from the social opportunities.
  • I work full time and am a single parent.
  • They are motivated by peers and by working for someone other than Mom.
  • There are a lot of things they need to learn that I don't desire to spend my limited family time on.

Why I decided to afterschool Kid 1 -

  • She already knew everything they were about to "teach" her at school.  I didn't want her mind to get zero exercise.
  • I started out "homeschooling" the first half of KG until her school accepted her a year young.  It became a habit, so we continued.

Why I decided to afterschool Kid 2 -

  • What the school taught wasn't sticking.  She needed a different approach / a lot more review.
  • She enjoyed working with me.

Over the years, our time for "afterschooling" has diminished to the point where it is mostly homework/study help (during the school year).  My kids do not desire to pursue academic learning beyond what their school assigns, and I need to pick my battles.

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I after school because I want my child to retain her heritage languages. I also see gaps in PS & try to fill them. I have a bright kid & see she requires the challenge. I place a high value on education & lifelong learning & self-study. I want to expose her to things outside the realm of regular curriculm. I like spending time with her. 

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My identity isn’t tied up in homeschooling and I don’t see stopping homeschooling as a failure. 

My kids went to public school because I can teach two kids well, not four. I sent off the younger three last year as a way to pause, reassess, and refresh after 12 years of homeschooling (counting the high level of interventions i did in the preschool years). My oldest is still home FT, my next in line does half days with me, and after my oldest graduates in May I will bring my older dd home.

I afterschool so that we can maintain solid foundations in academics and explore some interest areas. My kids perform significantly higher than most of their public school peers and their brains need to be fed.

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  • 1 month later...

The local schools are terrible, coasting off high SES parents and an abundance of tutoring centers. I wish we could home school but my partner refuses, so we afterschool. Singapore Math a couple days a week, handwriting one or two days a week, and then lots of reading around bedtime, especially when they're first learning. I ensure a steady feed of history and "quality" children's lit showing up on our bookshelves, and do my best to interest them in it.

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  • 1 month later...
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