*Encouragement is the best medicine to give someone. If I were to pick any gift to have in helping others, that would be the one*

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Schooling at Home, Public School, or Homeschooling?

What is your preference?

My son Ryan schooling at home

Lots of talk at home with my husband about what we are going to do next year.  Usually we homeschool but this next year we decided to do Schooling at Home instead.  It's getting everything you would get at a public school but just taking it home.  I know some are for only homeschooling but this seems the best option for my older two.  I love the accountability and also how I can make sure all the bases are covered in what they need to learn.  However, I won't be using this for my younger two.  I'm a big believer that little ones should be mostly focusing on their reading and writing.  K12 adds too much extra stuff and time to the little guys work load.  I think in order for little ones to succeed they need to really grasp the basics before moving forward.  (My personal opinion for my family).

Anyhoo, this is an Aspergers blog so let me point out why I am considering this for Chaz.  While doing some research on it, I found this:


Spotlight interview: Meeting the Challenge of Aspergers

He talks about how fitting his schooling around his schedule and when he was ready to work really gave him opportunities. He talked about how he needed breaks in between subjects.

I know for Chaz this is huge as he can get overwhelmed.  He did very well before schooling from home and actually, he had a lot less anxiety. He was way more calm in general.  When he comes home he's very hyper, anxious, and tends to have breakdowns more.  My boys have schooled at home for 2 years but this last year I had decided to try a charter school again.  Once again, I hated how many hours they were gone. They don't get home till 4pm and then they have homework.  Literally, they have about 1 1/2 of playtime if you fit in their own personal chores (which is pretty basic), dinner time, showers, etc.  I have nothing against what they are learning at school. I just don't agree with them keeping my kids all day and then sending more work home with them.  They already get up at 6:45am and then come home around 4pm, then do homework will 5pm.  It's overwhelming for any kids but if you throw Aspergers in the mix, it's not always a good thing.  

We are pretty set in our plans for the next schooling year but I'd love to hear what works for your family.  Schooling at home? Homeschooling? Or public/charter/private school?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved your blog.We are a homeschooling family. Weve done public in the very beggining, than tried Charter, but found the same issues you did. another thing I found was with than 4 kiddoes I couldnt keep up with all they were doing! Crazy!I homeschooled all of them, than when all my 3 boys were done and recieved GEDS I only had Caili left she was in 6th grade and we ended up doing K-12 She loved it I loved it. the teachers and stuff were totally amazing! In highschool though its a different story it monopilized so much of our time we werent free to do any thing!So we put her in an excellent private Christian school where there is 9 kids in her class and the teachers work with us to teach her. our youngest is half homeschooled and goesz to a specialized school for special needs. I know long comeent huh? the point im trying to make is different kids need different schooling at different times hehehehe deep huh?

Virginia Revoir said...

You know, I've heard about that, actually seen that with my friend who's daughter is in the K12 high school program. She works with her daughter till sometimes 11 at night. Watching her work like that really chased me away. For now, it looks good for my 4th and 5th grader. :)

Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

What works for my family? I have no idea! I still haven't figured it out yet.

Unknown said...

I have an 8 year old son that has been attending public school for 3 years now and honestly I'm still struggling to figure out what might be the best for him. He gets up at 7, leaves for school by 8:20 and I don't see him back at home until 4. And then there is homework to be done at night. He was diagnosed with ADHD this past summer with probable Asperger's and the meltdowns because of school are very frustrating. He keeps telling me that I don't know how hard it is for him. The report cards shows good grades but when it comes to the "hidden curriculum" that's another story. I have been giving serious thought to keeping him home next year and going with one of the eSchools but this is leaving me wondering. I am getting the jest that some of the parents out there are actually spending more time doing this than when their children were in a classroom setting. Help?! I need clarification. Classroom or eSchool?

Virginia Revoir said...

I completely understand how you feel. My son goes through the same thing. Homeschooling is setting up your own curriculum at home for your child. Schooling at home is where you have a curriculum set up for you and you just have the child take what would have been in the classroom but at home. :) Is that what you are asking?

Bakershalfdozen said...

My oldest has Aspergers. He went to public school through the 3rd grade. He had many of the problems you've described so I started home schooling him. He is now in 7th grade and doing well. I also home school his other 3 siblings. We use Bob Jones' DVD program because I like the quality of the curriculum. www.bjupress.com

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