Unschooling and P/T school?

[Jasmine]

Wondering if anyone has experience with this or has considered it?

Looking towards the future, I know there is a small school near us and I could probably send my child along on a part-time basis (one day a week, I guess).

This school is a small independent school with low fees and 40 kids from kindy through to grade 7. If I was to send my child to school full-time, this would be the one (even though it is decidely un-trendy :lol).

At the moment, I believe that using community resources fits in with natural learning. It seems they have a lovely community with family camps and families come in to cook lunches and clean the school etc. If there was something they offered that my child was interested in at an older age (over 7 yo I am thinking today), then this is where I would seek resources.

I wonder though, even in a relatively unstructured school environment, does this negatively impact on a child's intrinsic motivation and natural love for learning?

Would we spend the other 6 days in the week de-schooling??

[Ceres]

Interesting idea.
I know Beverley Paine has written about her experience with a part-time school arrangement in a small country school, but she concluded that it didn't work well for her family.
I imagine your issues would be getting the education department to be ok with it and negotiating with the school. It would probably force you to register as a homeschooler so if you were hoping to fly under the radar it might blow those plans.
What are you hoping to acheive with part time school? Is it mainly about making friends? What would be the other options for meeting those needs?
I don't think one day a week would be enough to institutionalise them or for them to lose their love of learning because it would probably still be a novelty to them.
From here (http://sahome-ed.beverleypaine.com/SApage4.html)

There are many reasons why families consider part time attendance at school in South Australia. Some just starting out on their homeschooling journey's feel apprehensive about how successful they will be teaching their children at home and aren't ready to leave the security of the classroom. It can take a year or so to 'find your feet' homeschooling and even longer to identify your child's preferred learning style and the approach to learning that works best for him or her.
Other families find that they need respite from homeschooling for a variety of reasons: finanical considerations may mean that full time homeschooling is no longer possible; or the child wants to 'try' school; if the family lives in a socially isolated location school may offer the contact with others the child needs; the school may offer specialist instruction in subjects or areas of interest to the child unable to be found elsewhere in the community; parent ill-health or disability; and so on. Returning to school should never be considered as 'failing' at homeschooling or 'homeschooling didn't work out'. In fact, families continue to contribute to their children's education in a very hands-on way when their children are attending school.
It is possible to part time school and homeschool in South Australia. In the past families have approached school principles and classroom teachers and suggested the idea. Some schools are okay with it and will allow it but others take a more conservative view and refuse. You can only ask. The Education Department of SA official position was that it would not support part time school/homeschool arrangements, but it would not interfere if the school approved. Many homeschooled students in South Australia have taken advantage of attending part time. For some schools it can be an advantage, particularly if the child is talented or gifted in a particular subject, such as dance, music or sport and participates in interschool competitions.


Anyway it's interesting to ponder.

[Jasmine]

To be honest, my main reason for thinking of it is as a respite, if I feel the need.

I think with time I will probably meet a lot of other unschoolers so will have that support plus the resources that come with the natural abilities of other adults. I know a couple of families (well, women and their kids) already, but of course most people we know are schooling which feels quite isolating already!

I went to the school and checked it out (along with many others!) and asked them about P/T schooling and they said it was something they had done in the past and were currently discussing it with another family at the time of talking.

I will check out Paine's writing, haven't read any of her stuff so far.

I hadn't considered the registering aspect. I have read all the information I can find about the registration process but don't know much about why one wouldn't. What are the benefits of registering versus avoiding it?

[Ceres]

From my POV the benefit of registration is being able to access centrelink benefits (with the exemption from job-seeking if you're a home educating parent). Benefits of not registering would be not having to come up with crappy curriculums and learning outcomes on a yearly basis.

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

Tried it :-( The fundamental differences of beliefs & understanding of how children learn and should be treated made it an impossibility ~ but hey, it was a good eye opener on how 'well' we're doing as far as respecting children & their learning goes ;-)