Would you/have you considered part time schooling?

If you had asked this question a year or two ago when we were a homeschooling family, I would have said YES, that part-time school sounds great.

But now that my kids are attending school full time and I have a better idea of what the school day is like, I think it would be really hard to make it work, particularily in the elementary grades where schedules are usually more fluid and flexible. At my kids' school, the schedule changes depending on the day, although math and reading are usually at the same time every day. It also seems to be pretty common that most weeks there will be some sort of school-wide event that changes the schedule during the day- an assembly, a late-start due to snow, a visit from a person of importance, an extra practice for the school program, state-mandated testing, etc.

When my kids first started going to school, I was worried that the day would be too long for them, but my worries were unfounded. Six hours seems just about perfect for my kids, and they really would miss out on a lot of fun activities if they left school early.

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I agree with the above. I would personally love to have my kids home part time. However, I know that on days when I've taken them early for drs. or dentists appointments, they're reluctant to leave. Usually once they're in school they're pretty engaged by the activities of the day.

We have done part time school for DD this year. In our case it was because we felt she was to young for full time (she's 4) but it was always with the intention of being full time eventually.

For the first few months DD only went for mornings and lunch. Occasionally she would stay in the afternoon if there was something special going. The school were pretty good about letting me know when that would be.

It wasn't long before she realised that she was missing out on things that the other children were doing in the afternoons though. Such as not having her art work in the display because she wasn't there or not doing PE. We then moved to doing a couple of full days and now full time.

As I transition to full time it worked really well, however I can see how it would be difficult to stay part time. It was always difficult when lesson plans changed at the last minute (eg to fit in christmas play rehersals or due to the weather). I had to ask for letters as they are given to the children as they go home. Also home time was the time to chat to the teacher so I missed that too.

If it's an option for you I woudl certainly try it but definalty think how you want to handle the changes of timetable etc.

I did consider this, actually. It's one of the biggest reason's we chose the area we live in; the assigned school last year had a part-time option for homeschooled kids. It included going to school half days, four days a week. The day consisted of PE, Art, Music, and lunch/recess (optional). The problem was there was a long wait-list as it was a popular program, so my DD ended up going to full day 1st grade. We were very happy with the school, then they build a brand new one and changed the boundaries-- we are also happy w/the new school, it just doesn't have a home-school program.

Thinking about it now, I can see how it would be ideal in many ways. My kids both enjoy PE, art, etc. and I am confident in my ability to homeschool for subjects such as math, science, etc. The problem in my situation would be transportation. I LOVE that my kids ride the bus to and from school; this wasn't an option with the part-time school.

That all said, I'm glad to be in a district that offers this option (in CO we had this as well) and I may consider looking into it again if we end up homeschooling in the future (my DD goes back and forth about wanting to hs next year, so this may be the best of both worlds).

We would absolutely love this option!

I think we have decided to just jump in and try homeschooling with both kids (already hs one child) next year. There isn't a school that we know of with a totally flexible schedule where the child/family could choose when to come and go.

Thank you all for your input

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me too if it wasn't so expensive and time demanding (in my area).

There is only one private school that offers the option of picking and choosing from subjects for my children to attend and be homeschooled at the same time. The classes are quite expensive, only last 30 minutes and are spread out throughout the day and we don't live close enough for me to take them for a morning class and then back again later on for their afternoon class, not to mention the commute back and forth daily for us.