We have had issues finding other homeschoolers in our area. Now, with Classical Conversations coming, I think that would be good for us. My daughter has gotten a little, umm, grumpy and antisocial in recent times and I kind of blame the fact that we have not had much to do with other homeschoolers. Seems if you do something with non-homeschoolers, they get caught up in their own worlds at the public school and tend to have no interest in friends outside of there, at least that is how it seems here. BUT, it will be a 30 minute-45 minute drive each day to the Classical Conversations. The person who is leading it told me it actually took her 25 minutes each day last year and she lives near me. So I am guessing it will be closer to that. I do have tons of books on tape I have been wanting us to listen to for a long time now plus it is once a week only. Biggest problem is that I have 2 younger children that I do not want to drag along as I do not intend to enroll them. It meets 15 times in the fall and 15 in the spring. What do you think? Would you commit to this?
Last year my ds took karate 3x a week that was a little over 20 minutes away. It wasn't to bad, we live way out so I'm used to having to drive for everything, but I wasn't to disappointed when he decided he wanted to quite, either! Is there a park or something nearby that you can take the younger ones to? Or a grandparent you can leave them with?
My husband works from home so I will just leave the children at home and bring the newborn. It is it 25 minutes there then I will likely come home as she will be there 5 hrs I think. But I do have a friend who lives over there and it is in an area with lots of things to do if we wanted to get in to that.
I don't think it is that unreasonable of a drive if you think it will benefit your child. Especially if she is getting anti-social. Have you looked into girlscouts some times you can find chapters for homeschoolers or 4-H for homeschoolers?
we drove that far for years, it seems no matter where we were at if we wanted a group we had to travel, so I don't think that is far and yes I would for the kids if they want to go.
We drive 20-25 minutes every other week for a co-op. I thought, at first it would annoy me...but in reality, the kids loved the co-op so much that the ride there was spent talking about what they were excited for that day....and the ride home was what an awesome time they had. I struggled to enjoy it as much as they did BUT they LOVED it, so we signed up again for this year. If you feel that the educational stuff and the emotional/social stuff would be worth it for your daughter...I'd go for it!
I would drive as far as I had to, assuming what Ems was participating in was a benefit to her education. I do not think 25 minutes is a long drive. But I also do a lot of driving, not so much for homeschooling as for church ministries and other things.
That doesn't seem far at all to me. But of course it takes me a good 10 mins just to get to the freeway from my house. If I want to go to Conroe it takes 20 mins. Into Houston takes 20 mins. Shoot just to Walmart takes 20 mins!
It takes me about 20-25 minutes to get anywhere significant. The only places close to me are my church and the grocery store. To go anywhere else, I'm in the car for a bit. I guess I don't even see that time as all that long since that's been true pretty much everywhere I've lived. An hour in the car is long to me, but I'd even do that once a week if it were something I really wanted to do.
We also drive 30 minutes to co-op. This is once a week; I don't think I'd do it much more than that! It's mostly for Rachael's lab science, so I feel it's worth it. Rachael wants to take more classes next year. Many of the kids are there from 9-3. It's too far for me to drive there twice daily, and there wouldn't be enough for my younger ones to do. Not sure how I'm going to work this out, but we'll see!!! (Oh, Faythe and Phillip CAN take classes, too, but you pay for each class. That gets expensive!!!)
My younger children actually can take classes there also, but, I found out that since we will not be doing their math, my daughter won't start until 10 maybe, which will be nice as we would avoid rush hour. But then the littles would start at 9am. The littles would be done at noon and my daughter at 3. So...it would then be a nightmare of commuting. I would need to be there at 9, 10, noon, and 3.
Totally depends on if it's 45 minutes of actual travelling time or 45 minutes of sitting in traffic to go 10 miles time. :lol:
I use to drive up to 30 minutes to get up to our charter school until late last month when we moved up closer. However, at the time I thought it was worth it and would still be doing it had a rental not come up closer to the school. I have a 4 year old that would come with us and we would tour the library, playrooom and walk outside to entertain him.
I drive 25 minutes once a week for my daughter's violin and the same for Girl Guides. Next year my son will joining dance and it will be another 30 minutes trip. It's not a big deal once you've done the drive a couple of times. When it's familiar it doesn't seem long at all. One more benefit, especially if it's just you and your daughter, is that it's the perfect length of time for a chat. My daughter and I have some of our best talks in that time. Considering the problems you're having with your daughter at the moment, that might be a real bonus!
If it was only once or twice a week it wouldnt be so bad but every day I think it would take its toll on y'all especially if you have smaller kids too. I guess bottom line depends on you and your energy Sam
