Anyone send one kid to school and keep other home?

[2bluefish]

My in laws sent one son to private school and another to public at the same time. They just thrived in different situations. I just wondered if anyone homeschooled one child while sending another to school. How did that work for you? What were your reasons for doing that?

[kathymuggle]

Yes. I beleive school is a choice (unless it is clearly not working), and my oldest child chooses to go to school part time. It has its pro's and cons'.

The biggest pro is my children feel empowered over the educational decisions they make - and see school and homeschooling as avenues to learning. they both clearly understand that there is more than one way to secure knowledge.

My son enjoys seeing his friends daily

Another slight pro -my kids bicker and tease a bit (not a lot) - so I get a break, and my children get a break from each other when my oldest is at school: Please note I love being with my kids, but a little break is a nice side benefit (not the reason we choose to live this way....)

Cons:

-always having to be home for when the oldest child gets home fromschool. It interferes with home-schooling activites

-some jealousy. My daughter has had a spree of fun homeschooling stuff lately - and my son is jealous. It has gone the other way on occassion. I do take my son out of school for some fun homeschooling stuff, though

-I think, academically, the public school my son attends is inferior to the education he could get at home.

Both pro and con:

-The public school is really nice to me. I think they are afraid i will vote with my feet and withdraw my child. This is mostly a good thing. The only negative is, I occassionally wonder if they tell me the whole story of what is going on at school due their fear of me.

-my son is very irked by their conformist group-think and classroom management techniques because he knows better. Some of his classmates are much more accepting of this. He might be like thi swithout a homeschooling family, though.

[Monkeygrrl]

we have 7 kids...
16y, 13y, 10y, 9y, 4y, and 10mo are homeschooled...
15yo is in public school...

it works for us...

peace...