Home School or Public School??? HELLLLLLP

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I had no choice but to place my 10th grader in a homeschooling tract. The stress was too much, and other complications happened too. But enrolling her in K12 schools was probably the best thing to happen to her this year. All in all, I think it has its positives and its negatives.

The K12 school she is in (K12 has different schools associated with it, but I think you can go through K12 directly as well) has everything layed out for her. The teachers make up schedule, but they typically give a student extra time if they are sick or something like that (usually up to a week). Since my daughter usually gets extended time anyway, she has three weeks past the due date to finish assignments. She can start classes at any time she and I decide for the day (but if she starts at noon, she works later - she may have extended time, but I do not encourage her to use it unless she needs it). One thing I really love about them is their curriculum. There are many classes to choose from, and they do a very good job within the classes explaining the materials.

A couple negatives are the lack of social involvement and very little encouragement in the fine arts. She is not "forced" to be around other kids and interact. I am not talking about being bullied or the negatives, but she is not around the kids who are her friends (distance, time and a lack of knowledge of how to communicate with them outside of school). She is not with the kids she wants to be, and she misses them. She also is not exposed to the situations that would help her grow socially. We are trying to work on all that though. As for the Fine Arts, I really wish there was some encouragement for the kids to play an instrument. Kids have ONE class that is for music, and it is not a repeating class either. They take it once, and that is it. To get her in the band (which is a requirement for the class - Band or Choir), I have to enroll her in the local university. I don't know if she will pass the ACTs she needs to do that.

Honestly, this is not an easy decision. For the younger grades, like your son, I have heard that it is time consuming, but I can't imagine that it is as time consuming as with my daughter. My other two daughters, who do not live with me, are also in this school, and they are usually finished by noon. They are in the 3rd and 6th grades. The way K12 works is that you have "class connects" for each class once or twice a week online. These are meetings with the other kids in the class and the teachers of the course. It can last up to an hour. These are scheduled at the same time each day, and cannot be changed, BUT they are typically recorded, so if you miss a class, you can go back and watch it. As for the other work, it can be done at any time during the day. You can do it at 8 in the evening if you really want to. You also can count almost anything as a class. If your son goes out and plays for 45 minutes, you now have 45 minutes credited towards his gym class for the day. Go to the library? Reading time credit. I took my daughter to the opening of a very special bridge in the city last October and counted it as History credit. To me, it does take a lot of work to home school your kid, BUT it also gives your kid a lot less stress than if he was in regular schools and having a dreaded time.

Good luck!

We are having some trouble with our 6 year old, and are considering alternatives as well. Our school is fantastic. We can go and visit any time, eat lunch with our kids any time, and I have even had the ABA therapist observe for 6 hours in our school... no issues with the school. Our only trouble is that the school day just seems too long for him and that his learning is a little different than the others. We talked to our ABA therapist and she recommended Advantage Learning Center... the kids can go for one on one hourly tutoring (and she said you could probably pull him from the school if you add this to his IEP, especially if it is when they teach a subject he struggles in) and they have a homeschool where kids go in the morning (8 to 12, I think). The homeschool kids are placed in small groups according to ability, not age. She also mentioned to make sure they have a teacher with special ed credentials. During summer they also have weekly enrichment classes... like building rockets, for example... if your kid has any special interests like this.

Looking at what you posted I would homeschool him. It doesn't look like you have the kind of school you can work with and you don't have the time anyway. You probably will need some child care help since you work. I would not try K12 with him at least for now. This is a high level program you will have to scale back. I always found that hard to do. I would give him at least two weeks to do basically nothing which will allow him to unwind from his bad experiences. Maybe go on field trips and to the library. Then I would try something like timeforlearning.com. It is good, it will cover your basics, and it will teach your child. He'll probably like it too b/c it's all online. Best of all, it is not teacher intensive. I would have him do most of it while you are at work, then you come home and go over the reports and help with the writing. Poor little guy. No one should have to experience what he does.