Anyone doing a charter school?

xnbride

So I have been researching our options quite a bit and I really am intrigued by a local charter school. The kids go 2 days a week p/t and the rest is done at home.  I like the idea of experiential learning especially while DS1 is still young.  They go on alot of outings, organized field trips, school wide (200 students total k-12) events/activities. Since the student body is small they can offer some wonderful activities. They even have Mandarin Chinese as an elective.

I am nervous about the idea of homeschooling but it seems like going through a charter is a great way to add structure, accountability and support. 

What are your experiences with it? What was your reason for choosing a charter school and is it working for your child/family? Do you have any suggestions? 

TIA

sweetsurrender9

We do a cyber charter.  SS learns in a kind of "uneven" way.  He was a late reader, and is still a reluctant reader, so any subject that is reading based (i.e.: social studies, science, English) is a little bit of a fight, and is challenging for him.  However, anything that's more hands on and less reading based is more exciting for him.  In the typical school setting, it was a gigantic challenge for him to learn well and not get frustrated.  His grades and behavior both reflected these problems.

 At home, however, we're able to make the reading based subjects more fun and take trips to the museums, the science center, etc. to make them more "real" to him.  He's able to breeze through the things that he understands quickly without having to wait for the rest of his class. 

We also found that E doesn't function well on the regular school day clock, so school at home doesn't start until almost 9:30, when we get up and eat breakfast.  He then gets to pick the order in which he does his classes.  We do a class or two, depending on the work load, take a break, may do another class, eat some lunch, attend any required chat sessions, then finish up in the early afternoon.  At the end of the day, we scan or photograph and submit that day's work.  All in all, the day usually takes no more than 4 hours, depending, again, on the work load.

We love our charter and wouldn't go back to a brick and mortar school now for anything.  We socialize through extracurriculars, and that works out perfectly well.  My suggestions to you would be to find a place in your house, whether it's the kitchen table, your home office, or wherever, that you can devote to schooling.  Our first year, we didn't have that until halfway through the year, and at that point, everything became so much better.  Expectations were clearer, things were found and left at the school area, and the day went so quickly.  Good luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to page me or PM me!