Parents Modified school schedules?

[gymratmom]

Would love feedback from anyone has modified school schedules to facilitate gym practices? I know I have seen threads about it before but can't find them now. Trying to figure out how we will handle a later school day when daughter starts middle school and 4 hour gym practices. Kids don't get home till almost 5 pm in our district, just not sure how we will fit practice in too. School comes first, but gym is important too! Haven't approached school yet, trying to figure out what options are out there first.

 

[bookworm]

Private or public? My girls went to small private schools ( 250 in K-8; 1000 in the HS) and we never had any problem with an early dismissal or days missed for travel/ meets...they were good students and proactive about their schoolwork so that helped. I used to sit down with the next year teacher in June and go over our schedule, and the teacher would schedule the "fluff stuff" ( their words, not mine) at the end of the day ..all the main/core stuff was done before 1 pm every day....they were dismissed at 1:30 every day ( school got out at 3:15 pm)

We had friends in public schools who were not able to manage as easily, if at all....most of them lived closer to the gym so that helped their commute time.

 

[gymdoc]

Our middle schoolers get out at 4:15. They take the bus directly to gym to start practice at 4:45. They usually run a few minutes late, but our gym just lets them warm up separately and jump in when they are ready. We looked at another gym that started practice at 4. Those girls use their snack break to catch up on the conditioning they missed, or they stay after practice to complete it. The school has been unwilling to change schedules for any of the girls.

Getting homework done is the other issue. DD does some after practice but mostly she just wants to eat dinner and go to bed. Since we start later in the morning (8:45 for her, 9:15 for the middle school), I know a lot of girls do most of their homework before school

 

[munchkin3]

In our district, PE is not mandatory as long as you have an alternate sport, (although the schools like to say it is.)
We have requested a PE exemption........now some schools allow early dismissal, others don't and that is up to the school. We are lucky that our school will allow early dismissal in the place of PE.
School gets out at 3:30 and She would be getting home at 4 and then practice is from 4-9. This would allow very little homework time and MUCH more stress........Now she can leave at 2:30 and be home very quickly without all the crazy dismissal traffic and have her homework done by 4:30.

A friend requested from her school a PE exemption and the school said no, it was not allowed, etc........once she printed up the policies and sent them off to the school, there was no problem.

 

[gymratmom]

In our district, PE is not mandatory as long as you have an alternate sport, (although the schools like to say it is.)
We have requested a PE exemption........now some schools allow early dismissal, others don't and that is up to the school. We are lucky that our school will allow early dismissal in the place of PE.
School gets out at 3:30 and She would be getting home at 4 and then practice is from 4-9. This would allow very little homework time and MUCH more stress........Now she can leave at 2:30 and be home very quickly without all the crazy dismissal traffic and have her homework done by 4:30.

A friend requested from her school a PE exemption and the school said no, it was not allowed, etc........once she printed up the policies and sent them off to the school, there was no problem.

This would be ideal! Will have to research our district.

 

[Pigeon]

Our district offers a "blended program" where students can combine in-school work with online courses. The online courses are provided by the district. We use it for one of my kids (he's not a gymnast though).

He does one class online, with that he gets out of school about and hour and half early. Nice thing with the online option is he works on it when he wants, he is provided a tutor through the school for the course if necessary (hasn't been, so far) and he can finish the course before the end of the school year. If my gymnast kids ever needed school modifications for training time I would use that program for them.

 

[munchkin3]

Even if you can get the PE exemption and they won't let you leave early, maybe they can and have a 'study' class or a time to do homework during school......that would be helpful!

 

[beachgirl]

My daughter has a modified schedule because she starts gym at 2:00. She is at a public school of almost 600 children. I spoke with the principal about it first and she talked to the teacher. My daughter goes to school 2 regular days and 3 of the days she leaves 45 minutes early. She misses things like computer lab and music and periodically has work to make up. She also has one day where she goes to gym late and leaves later. They only do PE 2 days a week, which is in the mornings, and she skips this too, to do homework or read. This all works because the school has gone out of their way to accommodate her schedule and I'm very appreciative. When she goes to middle school she will have PE and a flextime at the end of the day that she will miss to get to gym in time. It's not the middle school that I would choose for her because it's farther from our house, in the opposite direction of gym and is not where her friends are going, but it does have a schedule that will fit her gym schedule. My daughter's gym has about 20 girls that do the modified schedule starting at 2. They go to all different schools, in different districts, at different grades and they have all found a way to make it work.

 

[Tbrov]

In middle school, my daughter had a modified schedule where she had the core classes in the morning and waived electives. She left during lunch so was able to make it to practice 1:30-6:30.

In high school, my girls do Independent Study offered by the local high school. They attend classes T-Th and do the assignments at home.

 

[gymratmom]

I think our option is going to be taking a class (or two) online which will work, but am jealous of some of you whose schools are willing to be more accommodating. At least we have that option, sounds like some districts won't do anything. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

We are in NY. They do not allow a PE exemption. I would love it so when she gets to middle school she could have a study hall for homework. Release time is not an issue as around by us, Middle and High school start earlier. So she will be out in time for practice.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

We are in NY. They do not allow a PE exemption. I would love it so when she gets to middle school she could have a study hall for homework. Release time is not an issue as around by us, Middle and High school start earlier. So she will be out in time for practice.

Yes, NY is super strict with these things. No PE exemption, no partial homeschooling. Very frustrating. We're doing fine in third grade, but I worry as she gets older and gym hours increase. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it! Good luck, OP, I hope you are in a more flexible state than we are.

 

[sshreed]

We do 6th grade online public school. Washington state has this option. Our daughter attends classes via computer with a math, science, and language arts teacher. She completes her day at 1:30 and heads to gym. It works for us, even on the challenging days. I am thankful for this option. When she gets to high school we can do half time, plus Running Start Jr. College courses that will be earlier in the day. Our family time is precious, so her being home during the day affords us the best of both worlds. (I work from home, my hubby is retired)

 

[twinklytoes9468]

We do 6th grade online public school. Washington state has this option. Our daughter attends classes via computer with a math, science, and language arts teacher. )

I don't want to alarm you but can I just advise you to keep a close eye on this.i read some research on this recently that outcomes of online classes for children can be very poor

 

[dmbgymnast]

I'm in a less "intense" enviorment than most of everyone's DDs, (xcel silver at a ymca gym, going 6-9 hours a week) but I am able to get out of school early to get to practice on the days I need to. School ends at 4, and practice starts at 5, and with inner-city traffic, it can take over an hour to get to the gym. With the exemption, I am able to leave at 2:40, and get to the gym on time with time to get home work done. I used this mainly last year, and I only utilized it for the first marking period of this year. I am not sure if my city allows PE exemptions, not that I would use it with such low hours. I do know that half day plans are not allowed and online courses are not provided by the city.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I don't want to alarm you but can I just advise you to keep a close eye on this.i read some research on this recently that outcomes of online classes for children can be very poor

Would you care to provide some links.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I don't want to alarm you but can I just advise you to keep a close eye on this.i read some research on this recently that outcomes of online classes for children can be very poor

Would you care to provide some links.

 

[vbdb]

My DD is out of school two afternoons a week for training at 12:15. She catches up on anything she's missed when she gets back to school the next day but their day ends at 3:30 and the first hour she's gone is lunch and recess so it's really only two hours of instruction missed. It sounds like school in Canada is far less intense and we've never had an issue with missing school regularly in the last two years she's had to.
We get a note from our gym at the beginning of the season and set up the necessary arrangements with our teacher to make sure the kids keep up with anything missed. There's no PE exemption in elementary school that I'm aware of but PE at our school is generally just lots of dodgeball so I don't worry about her doing anything too strenuous.

 

[Mish]

I've heard from people that have lots more experience and knowledge than I do that one of the reasons why we here in New York may be less competitive as a whole, compared to some other states, is because the girls typically have a greater focus on school as well as gym. Of course there are outliers and many gyms have great, talented girls I'm just talking as a whole.

 

[Seeker]

I don't want to alarm you but can I just advise you to keep a close eye on this.i read some research on this recently that outcomes of online classes for children can be very poor

Would you care to provide some links.

The outcomes at many brick-and-mortar schools is exceedingly poor as well. Clearly, you don't sit an 8 year old in front of a computer and let them have at it -- you find a good curriculum, with a good instructor or a well planned syllabus with guidelines that you can execute. You work with your child, help them, monitor them and seek assistance if needed. We've had some amazing experiences and outcomes with virtual classes -- it just depends on the class, the provider and your approach to it....pretty much just like a regular school.