using public school for non-core classes

Joy - posted on 01/25/2010

My older kids, age 10 and 12 don't want to go to the school for extras right now because they felt strange leaving 2 years ago. Maybe if you integrate your daughter from the beginning she, and the others, will accept her attendance as "normal" and it will be a good thing. Good luck! Joy

J - posted on 03/21/2009

Thanks, Lorinda! That helps!

Lorinda - posted on 03/21/2009

My son wanted to do band. So we signed him up. He had a couple of friends already, but he seems to not mind being around people he doesn't know. He has a knack for making friends. The hardest part was taking him. I live 15 minutes from town so it was difficult to do this and the other things we were already committed to, like karate and finishing our regular schoolwork. I would stay in town during his class and find something to do for an hour. But it was very time consuming. It was hard to keep things going with my other children. I have a friend who lives down the street from a school. She has no problem at all with having her kids take part in other activities at the school because they can walk. It is a good idea if you can handle it and make it work for you.

J - posted on 03/19/2009

Thanks, Amy. That is a good point! I actually had a friend mention that same issue to me today. She also thought that my daughter might not want to leave after finishing a class. She might not understand that we were going to leave her newly made friends to go back home for school.



My daughter loves art, and while I'm not artistic, I'm sure I could figure out ways to keep her creating with our own supplies. Gym class: she can get regular play time outside with her brother in the spring & fall. Since I live in Michigan, winter is a little trickier, but I could probably find a community class that meets for a 10 week or so session to keep her active. Music? I do want to get her started with piano (although we don't yet own one...could be a problem!), so that could work for her 'music' class.

Amy - posted on 03/18/2009

We don't currently take ours to school for non-core classes, however we do plan to for high school if there is a need for it. For example, my oldest is interested in fashion type things and I would let her take the interior decorating class, or hair style classes, ect.  

For us, we have  a gym class for homeschoolers at the Boys and Girls Club, along with homeschool swimming lessons at the local pool. For art-we do most of it at home and take part in some family days offered at the Art Gallery, and my hubby teaches the kids music. My oldest also takes sewing lessons offered in the community.

I think it would be strange to join a class for only a short period and what if they have gym at 9am then art at 11:30? What would you do for the inbetween time? It may be hard for your daughter to understand why she only gets to go to "some" school while the other kids get to be there all day. 

You might look in to if there is a program that offers the student to come to school once a week, the same day every week. We have a school here that offers that.