Kriston,
Thanks for your reply. It sounds like you are being really conscientious in finding the best path for your son's education. Does the choice feel as weighty to you as it does to me? I'm continually thinking about how to do things a little better.
What method of homeschooling do you use?
About the unstructured play time, it's something you can definitely find as a homeschooler (and it might be easier than if your kid had the time constraints of traditional schooling).
For us, playdates are almost totally unstructured. We know the other moms and kids well enough that a lot of the time it's a drop-off situation. As a matter of fact, our son has a friend over right now (another homeschooler) and the mom is off spending one-on-one time with her 3yo daughter. Our two boys will probably spend 5 hours playing today. We just fit lessons in around stuff like this. I like that I don't have to be social every time he wants a playdate. And since they only need minimal supervision/monitoring, it gives me some down time for computer work, house tidying, etc.
Nice to meet you!
E
