Half Homeschool, Half Private School--Ever heard of this?

[Architectlink]

Have you ever heard of this unique model of Homeschooling? We have over 400 kids in our 9 year old program and this program is being copied all over the country by parents who want to homeschool, but also desire the need for their kids to fellowship with other Christians and to be schooled 2-3 days a week by excellent teachers:

The INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SCHOOL

http://icsfla.org
http://icsfla.org/academics.html


Our kids are homeschooled 2 days a week (M & W OR T & TH)
Our kids go to private Christian school at ICS 2 days a week, a wonderful Christian school with EXCELLENT teachers (T & TH OR M & W )
ALL kids have the OPTION of an electives day every Friday at EZONE where they ice skate or cook or are in drama with a day full of fun electives
ALL parents are required to be in the classroom about once a month, helping the teachers grade papers, etc, etc.

Everyone WINS...

These kids get more learning time than many private schools
These kids get more learning time that ALL public schools
These kids are done with their homework by 3 pm so they can be kids
These kids get better parenting by the community
The parents are better informed about their children because they homeschool 2 days a week
The parents can see their children learning, because they are in the classroom at least once a month
The children stay on a tight schedule that is accredited because they have a rigid curriculum that is published online and is available at the beginning of the year for all parents to coordinate with
Kids own their own books, so they can write in them, take them apart and use them with their parents at home to learn from.
Papers are graded every single day and parents have a daily assessment of how their child is doing.

Most people say that they cannot homeschool their kids, but EVERY parents could easily work with their child once or twice a week to get their work done.

[Cookies4me]

we have several homeschool isp programs around here just like that. :nod
I have several friends who's kids attend it too.

However it's not for us. :D

[NewWorldOrder]

I've never heard of that, but it sounds intriguing. But, how is that really any different than co-op classes that we go to twice a week. Also, how much is it to send your kids to private school part-time?

[wife]

My kids go to one.

I have likes and dislikes

1) like-- My kids make friends, they are learning how to listen to other people and I get 2 days to do stuff

2) Dislike-- The one that we go to has A LOT of homework. It sometimes takes us longer to do the homework than to do our work.

There is one in our town that is enrichment vs tutorial. I would rather enrichment where there is no homework and the kids learn in a fun way and get to be with other kids. We are considering pulling them out of the 2 day and going to the one day enrichment

[Cd4u_2]

I have... along time ago. One of the girl I know went to private school everyday for a few hours for certain subjects, and goes home for the rest. It worked pretty well for parents who lack skills like writing.

[MidnightCry]

Our church started a school like this two years ago. It's growing like crazy. We will continue to homeschool, but this is a great option for when/if we decide to stop.

[Architectlink]

I think of it like a homeschool on steriods...the parents are busy helping the teachers at school and watching the kids and helping grade papers while the teachers teach.

AND, the homework is completed in class, because the kids are being taught and are doing their work and then the parent partner is grading the papers that day...and all is complete by 3 pm...

The teachers are EXCELLENT, by the way, and there is no way that I could teach my two children who are 4 years apart in the manner that they are getting from these teachers in various departments....science, math, grammar, english.

Financially it is not cheap, because we are all stay at home moms who have two days off...to do bible study, cooking etc...and the other 3 days we are with our kids...it works for us and provides accountability.

If I homeschooled 100%, I am afraid it would take me all summer to catch up...this way, both the kids are on academic level with 15 kids their age and their belief.

If you desire more info, email the contact on the website...they are speaking at conferences all over the US

[HSmomto4]

I have friends in the school you are talking about, the one in Central Florida. I had another friend ask me about it and after hearing all the info on it she decided it wasn't for her either. I need way more freedom than it offers!

[EmmieAZ]

This is something I would definitely be interested when the kids are a bit older. But I am also curious as to what this costs as we have no extras at this point in time. If you don't mind sharing, how much is this costing you per month?

[CircleSlide]

We did this last year. A church in Indy offers it, they called it Wisdom Builders. Two days a week they full classes, and the other three days the kids are home. Now the two days you can pick just a few classes, choose just one day, or choose both.

It was a fun experience, the teachers were highly educated and excellent in their field. They offered classes like Greek, Spanish, Hebrew, Chess, Biology, Drama, Ballet, then your basic classes like Reading, English, Math, and PE. I know there were more classes I just can't think of them all.

As for the price that did to get a little much, I think it was something like $900 a semester for all three of my children, and we just went one day a week not the two days. The parents were also required to work 6 hours a semester.