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Due to personal reasons, for spring, we've been on an Independent Study Program for my older son through a pubic school district.

Signing up was easy, since all of the grades have been recorded under the same district, there were no obstacles there for us. Schools do have deadlines to fill an application by a certain date throughout the year so make sure you don't miss any of them. We attended an orientation weeks in advance and then picked up a Chromebook that's designated by the school to complete school work. They didn't provide headphones, but here are some headphones online that you can pick from with a mic for school meetings with their teacher. This is great to have in case your family is traveling or the home has some distractions from noise.

As that name of the program implies, your kid independently studies from wherever they are. You can study at night, early mornings and set your own schedule, but you should aim for 3 hours a day and make sure you complete all of the assignments. That is their rule. If the grades are not up to par, they will not let you continue the program.

Unlike homeschool, assignments and week-by-week deadlines are set according to district standards for the Independent Study Program. So, when your child is ready to return to a regular classroom setting, nothing is missed and the report cards are up to date in their database. My child still has to go to the school in person to complete all district tests that happen every few months. This makes sense and we're all happy when my kid gets to get out of the house, especially my kid!

Now, that we're on Month 4 of Independent Study, I can see that my child is starting to miss social interactions with kids his age that he'd normally get when going to a public class room regularly. On Fridays, at his Independent Study school, he does get an opportunity to see kids from his school for a few hours but they all range from kindergarten through 8th grade. He is one of the bigger kids and although he enjoys all of the activities that he gets to participate on Fridays, he does miss a couple of older friends from his old school. 

We're grateful for this Independent Study Program. It has helped our family as our kid was going through a some things, but now I think my child is ready to go back to the classroom this fall. We're going to finish Independent Study for the next 5 weeks until the last day of school and then gear up for getting back to a more standard routine for the new school year.

Pros of Independent Study

There are many pros for your kid going on an Independent Study Program, especially on a temporary basis. It's like a reset and a way to have your child complete their district school commitments, but without the stress of bullies, distractions, and rigid schedule.

Cons of Independent Study

[This is still in progress...]

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