When we started home schooling, we did so because we didn't think the public schools had enough to offer our family. Sadly, we still feel that way. We also knew that would continually evaluate and tweak our little school to get the most out of it for each child.
As with most kids, our home schooled kids sometimes think they are missing something by not going to 'real' school. And to some extent, they are. However if you had a balance sheet listing pros and cons, I think you'd see that the scales still lean heavily towards more pros for home schooling.
That being said, we have another consideration. In our state there is a scholarship program. I do not know all the ins and outs of it, nor do I know if it will still be in place by the time my children are of age to use it. Still we must do due diligence to make sure our children are in position to use that scholarship as well as others. So we began the search for accredited home school programs. (Now this issue can/could be solved by using a k12 online program which is our safety net)
We found one that we hope will solve both problems we seem to have, being the kids need to experience 'real' school and our need for an accredited academic program. We are going to try a 'trial' run for the rest of this school year in their 'arts' program, for Judson only. It meets 1/2 day a week and they study the arts. No academics and no grades. If we like it, then we will begin the academic program next fall which would meet 1 full day a week and the rest of the time we'd be on our own. (best of both worlds!?!?) At some point, we'd start the other kids. I don't really think they need to begin until late elementary/middle school.
There are pros and cons to this choice. It is small. Which I like. There are 12 kids in the 4th-5th grade class. They mix ages to some extent. (again, I like that) They use a Bible based curriculum. Not sure if that is a pro or con. I have found that sometimes this type of program can be watered down and if it is not 'your' flavor of doctrine, can be offensive or at least cause confusion. However, since it's only 1 to 1.5 days a week I think we can handle both potential issues. I like the limited days. The other 3.5 - 4 days they will have home work but it will also give us time to beef up any deficiencies we see and still give us 'home school'.
So, stay tuned. Time will tell if we like it or search for other options. The way cool thing about home schooling is there are so many options. I am optimistic that we will find something that fits our family.
