From PS to HS-How long to de-school and what was it like?

[circuitsndaisies]

Title pretty much says it all.  Those of you who have pulled your children from public school, how long did you take to de-school?  What was it like?  How did YOU handle the big change?

[Ornery]

I'd love to see a response!  I'm struggling with the same question.

Today was my 1st grader's last day at ps.  We could no longer look past her teacher's nastiness and had to yank her early.  I'm giving her a week or two to relax with a few trips to the library and other fun things to do.  I am not planning on doing unschooling so I do want a schedule in place pretty soon.  I'm just going to take it a day at a time.  I think for the first bit of "school", I'm going to do some type of unit study on something that is fascinating to her.  Not push any type of formality, just a little reading and thinking out loud.  I'm debating on finishing out the year with unit studies and starting curriculum in June or starting it relatively soon.  We'll be doing year round.

[AAK]

Originally Posted by Ornery 
 I think for the first bit of "school", I'm going to do some type of unit study on something that is fascinating to her.  Not push any type of formality, just a little reading and thinking out loud.  I'm debating on finishing out the year with unit studies and starting curriculum in June or starting it relatively soon.  We'll be doing year round.

That sounds really good.  

I did pull my kids from ps.  My oldest was in 3rd grade.  She just didn't go back after the winter break.  Same deal (following year though) with my second child.  She was in first grade.  My experience with deschooling was pretty easy.  We pulled my oldest because of boredom so she was ready to go after the winter break.  We started out by exploring topics that interested her.  She really loves science so we got some experiment books from the library.  I did have her do some "academics" but we kept it really short in the beginning.  I tried to use games, experiments, reading together, cooking, and anything "hands-on" for our bulk of learning.  For my second child, we were already homeschooling the first.  She was so relieved at not going back (other issues) that she didn't care what I had her do at home.  At least at first.  So, she really liked sitting down with her sister for "school".  Sometimes though, she would try to drag in an element of school into our home that really didn't work.  They liked the idea of "circle time" but it didn't fly at our house.  She is a very hands-on learner, but also a real cuddler so we worked with that.  She is dyslexic though so it was such a relief to incorporate those remediations into our regular learning rather than going to school, doing homework, and then doing mom's reading lesson.  

I don't know.  Both my kids were part of the decision to come home.  They both help make decisions about what we learn.  They both do better with a bit of routine.  And, I am quite flexible about what/when/how we learn.  Therefore, the two week winter break was enough for us as long as we eased into our new routine.

Amy