Every so often, my daughter gets to see what public school students do vicariously through her friend who is one year older but at the same grade level as my daughter. For the past three weeks, we have picked her friend up from school at 3:00pm each day. The experience is helping my daughter appreciate homeschooling more.
For example, three weeks ago we learned that her friend gets one recess a day, not including lunch. Recess is typically 15 minutes. On days when we are home, she gets two recesses a day. Outside recesses are 30-45 minutes long and sometimes we take advantage of a great opportunity and just stay out for an hour or two. On days that we are home but not on schedule, we may start late or finish early...think of those long recesses at the very beginning or end of the school day. She's realizing that she has a lot more play time during school hours than her public-schooled counterparts.
We also learned that her friend has PE twice a week. My daughter also has PE twice a week but she gets to do it for longer (1 hour 45 minutes on Tuesdays and 1 hour on Thursdays). She also likes that she gets to do activities she enjoys rather than having to do those "boy sports."
Then there's the field trips. My daughter thinks it's "impossible" that public school students only get a couple a year. She's used to a couple per month.
My daughter is also realizing what homework does to your playtime. She looked forward to seeing her friend all day today only to find out that she had a lot of homework today. Homework was 4 pages of math, spelling (writing a story using the spelling words), and 20 minutes of reading. So, rather than playing with her friend, she had to wait for her to finish at least some of the homework. Over an hour later, they were finally able to play for 15 minutes before mom showed up to take her friend home. The girls asked if the friend could stay and play longer but it was explained that she had to get home to finish homework, eat dinner, and do some other things they had to do. They seemed disappointed.
So on those days when my school-reluctant daughter moans about "doing school", I can reminder her how good she has it with late starts, long recesses, early finishes, no homework, and lots of field trips.
For example, three weeks ago we learned that her friend gets one recess a day, not including lunch. Recess is typically 15 minutes. On days when we are home, she gets two recesses a day. Outside recesses are 30-45 minutes long and sometimes we take advantage of a great opportunity and just stay out for an hour or two. On days that we are home but not on schedule, we may start late or finish early...think of those long recesses at the very beginning or end of the school day. She's realizing that she has a lot more play time during school hours than her public-schooled counterparts.
We also learned that her friend has PE twice a week. My daughter also has PE twice a week but she gets to do it for longer (1 hour 45 minutes on Tuesdays and 1 hour on Thursdays). She also likes that she gets to do activities she enjoys rather than having to do those "boy sports."
Then there's the field trips. My daughter thinks it's "impossible" that public school students only get a couple a year. She's used to a couple per month.
My daughter is also realizing what homework does to your playtime. She looked forward to seeing her friend all day today only to find out that she had a lot of homework today. Homework was 4 pages of math, spelling (writing a story using the spelling words), and 20 minutes of reading. So, rather than playing with her friend, she had to wait for her to finish at least some of the homework. Over an hour later, they were finally able to play for 15 minutes before mom showed up to take her friend home. The girls asked if the friend could stay and play longer but it was explained that she had to get home to finish homework, eat dinner, and do some other things they had to do. They seemed disappointed.
So on those days when my school-reluctant daughter moans about "doing school", I can reminder her how good she has it with late starts, long recesses, early finishes, no homework, and lots of field trips.
Posts
2 Comments:
Hi! I found your blog through Hearts for Homeschooling Top 100. I love your design!
My kids have also come to appreciate homeschooling more through seeing some of the things their public schooled friends experience.
We typically sleep late (8:00 or 8:30am), but every once in a while we have to be up and out the door at 7:00am for a field trip or something. Once we were caught in the school traffic and my dd said, "Boy am I glad we don't have to do this every morning!"
I had to agree with that!
I'd say once a week or so I have to remind J just how lucky she has it...lol
Post a Comment