Homeschooling vs public charter school

[bethben]

My 15 year old will be a sophomore in high school next year.  He has been going to a charter school the past two years and has done well.  He is mildly autistic so the mandated social piece has been really good for him.  When we homeschooled, getting him to do stuff outside the house was like pulling teeth.  We tried, he resisted. 
 

When Covid stuff hit, his charter school went to a three day a week e-learning schedule despite the district recommendation of four day learning.  For almost a semester, he went to high school 60% of the time. Next school year, they would split the grades up with the students going two days a week and possibly not at all and go to e-learning if Covid reads it’s ugly head again. 

I don’t know what to do.  School has been very good for him socially and the academics are decent.  He likes his teachers and they think he is this great kid.   But, his education is suffering due to Covid like most students now.  I could homeschool him again with online classes but his social interaction would be compromised.  Also, I really don’t want to homeschool again.  
 

Finally, anyone with high schoolers in public school this past year.  What was the standard?  I’m trying to figure out if we’re the norm or the exception.  

 

[GoodGrief]

The high school here hasn't announced an official plan yet. They have floated the idea of a form of block scheduling so that there are fewer classes per day: two core classes meeting for a longer period of time per quarter, along with two electives meeting for one period.

The online learning for high schoolers here did not involve meeting a certain number of days. There was just work assigned to be done by the student as it worked best. They did have issues with students not doing the work though.

[prairiewindmomma]

For us, we decided that our son needed an accredited diploma + transition services through his IEP. We are sticking with the not a good fit online charter and afterschooling to make sure the academics are in place.

(Back story, was in a brick and mortar for 2/3 of the year, switched to district’s online charter school program when covid hit because the district initially said remainder of year from brick and mortar would be review only...no new material. That wasn’t ever going to be a good fit for ds.)

 

[katilac]

For a teen with ASD who resists outside activities, I'd put the social ahead of the academic. 

[katilac]

2 hours ago, bethben said:

 Finally, anyone with high schoolers in public school this past year.  What was the standard?  I’m trying to figure out if we’re the norm or the exception.  

I forgot to answer this part: our local public schools were a red hot mess, and little to nothing happened after mid-March. Nothing online could be required, no student could fail based on bad grades or not doing work in quarantine. I'm not casting shade; no one was prepared for this and they did what they could, but a huge number of students simply quit working in mid-March. 

If your son's classes were meeting three days a week on a regular basis, they were way ahead of the curve. 

[Storygirl]

I would prioritize the social piece and keep him enrolled. And I would choose that even more, if he is more wiling to work with teachers than he is with you.

In fact, that is exactly what I'm doing for my son with ASD. During remote learning this spring, the academics were a mixed bag, with some teachers doing better at providing content and feedback than others. But DS was much more compliant with his schoolwork than he ever was with me when we were homeschooling.

Also, in our case, having a team of people working to execute his IEP is necessary and especially important as we figure out his transition planning for after high school graduation. I'm always looking forward by at least a few years, and the long term view for us means it's important to keep him connected and not have DH and me have the whole burden of getting him launched into employment. This may or may not be as big an issue for you as it is for our family, but it is definitely a factor to consider.

[Pen]

We are also trying to decide what to this next year (high school senior). We don’t have an answer yet. I am not eager to homeschool unless my son is the primary driving force to do that with buy in to the decision.   Mine loves the social parts of school.  Getting him to do the academic parts is the part that meets with resistance. 

[City Mouse]

Before COVID, my DS was attending a blended learning charter school. The core curriculum, and some electives, are all done online using Edgenuity courses. The school uses Rosetta Stone for foreign languages. The students are only required to attend school 2 days per week, but there are options for additional in-person including tutoring and some electives. There are many opportunities for duel enrollment  courses as well, It was the perfect mix for my child, and it is quite a popular charter school. There are always more students wanting to attend than there are spaces. 
I have found that having the accountability of teachers other than a parent is needed for some students. While homeschooling with no outside accountability (I mean student is not accountable to outside teacher) works well for many families, it doesn’t work for everyone.

When the COVID shut down happened, the transition to only online learning was a bit easier for this school than many others. The workshop classes that were previously done in person moved to Google Meet. Many of the teachers were not experienced with meet/hang outs/zoom, so it took a few weeks for them to adjust, but overall there was very little disruption in the curriculum. Most of the public schools lost a lot more curriculum and instructional time. 

[klmama]

5 hours ago, katilac said:

I forgot to answer this part: our local public schools were a red hot mess, and little to nothing happened after mid-March. Nothing online could be required, no student could fail based on bad grades or not doing work in quarantine. I'm not casting shade; no one was prepared for this and they did what they could, but a huge number of students simply quit working in mid-March. 

If your son's classes were meeting three days a week on a regular basis, they were way ahead of the curve. 

This is exactly what happened here.  For fall, they are talking about a hybrid system, like your school is.