Question for those who travel and race

[QuadJunkies]

MY Daughter just registered for High school for next year today and we have been wondering how ya'll manage traveling with all the racing and balancing school ??
Right now its been pretty easy for the most part for Junior High. She is a straight A student and actually gets ahead when were one the road traveling.... but things I know are going to get much more strict in High school with absenses.We will most likely go to the board to try and get time off approved, but in our State I guess they are pretty strict if its outside sport activity.
A good eduacation in #1 and I think the racing has really helped her achieve those goals. I worry a little on that .
Do you all home school?
I just wanted to see how you all balance things out and still keep racing and a good education under your belts.
Kelsey wants to race as many years as she can and wants to shoot for some bigger goals in 2009,so were going to tackle this early.She is also on some kind of school watch for a few possible 100% scholarships if she keeps her head on track for College. I dont know much on that just yet.

Now if I could only get my Boy to do the same ......lol :o :p

[250r rider 88]

not sure how it works there but my high school here had to allow any student a certain number of days off for sports if the school did not offer them. for example one of my classmates did the horseback riding and showing etc. and since the school didnt offer it they had to give her so many days off that were excused. i would just make an appeal to the school board. as long as she keeps the grades up they should let her be excused throughout the year. hope that helps, good luck

[CannondaleRider]

That was a problem I had with regular high school....I could never fit the racing schedule and education schedule together right.

Taking off a couple days before, and maybe a day after(or more, for the WA rounds) with 8-12 big races a year.....school just wouldn't accept that.

I was able to make it work my junior year, not sure how, but I did it. It was so close though, driving through Vegas from Payette with only 4 hours till school started that day....being my LAST day I could miss before failing. Yeah, pretty stressful. You can try to plan it, and get everything to work with an alloted amount of days.....but you can't account for sicknesses, and emergencies and what not...outside of the racing days that you know will take it to the limit on absences.

...That problem, along with working, is the reason I'm doing my Senior year online.

[QuadJunkies]

Ive never been fond of homeschooling atmoshpere thing as far as kids getting there social skills and interaction with other kids,not to mention, I dont know if Im book smart enough to handle it :o lol.... but we have talked about it some yesterday. She would take online classes.... Just not 100% sure on that yet. Im not even sure how to find out info on online classes in my state either.The racing means enough to her that if given the choice, she would rather homeschool. I just want to make sure its the right choice of course.

As far as sick days... In the lats 3 years, she has only midde 1/2 day of school sick. She would much rather tough it out if she can than have any extra absenses.
I think the school here allows 5 absenses per semester or something like that and only excuse for in school Sport activities.
We Ave. 3-4 days per month for 8 out of 12 months per year.
And to think... that is just for one series! Thers kids who attend more than that!

[gbcap]

i would go make a presentation to the school board about how well this sport developes kids. why can they only participate in the sports the schools support. lets see a percentage of highschool football players that still play football after highschool. then lets see how many play football after college. i would put money on the fact that its less then 1%. but racers will still be racing LONG after highschool and college. why should the school board be able to shut a kid down from doing what they love and starting a life long SPORT and not just a young age sport.

make an agreement with them that she will maintain a certain GPA. 3.0 or higher or something. if she does that and passes the tests she needs i don't see any reason they won't let you do it.

[QuadJunkies]

Originally posted by gbcap
i would go make a presentation to the school board about how well this sport developes kids. why can they only participate in the sports the schools support. lets see a percentage of highschool football players that still play football after highschool. then lets see how many play football after college. i would put money on the fact that its less then 1%. but racers will still be racing LONG after highschool and college. why should the school board be able to shut a kid down from doing what they love and starting a life long SPORT and not just a young age sport.

make an agreement with them that she will maintain a certain GPA. 3.0 or higher or something. if she does that and passes the tests she needs i don't see any reason they won't let you do it.
I agree 100% with everything you said .Thats exactly how we feel.
Its made such a postive impact on her. Shes level headed, so I dont worry too much about certain things, but I do worry about all the pressures that are out there and getting sidetracked. If this keeps her focuced on something positive, Im going to do whatever it takes to keep her there.This is the only Sport she has ever taken interest in aside of Soccer when she was really young,so I hope they find it something they can work with or we will start looking at other options I guess.

[baldwinmx450r]

Talk to the principal, if he shuts you down go to the board. My dad was able to get absences approved when my sister was in high school. Now college is a whole nother ballgame I'm a 5th year senior that pays for my housing and tuition, on top of racing, and let me tell you it is ohh so hard. My advice, pick a college close to home. driving 2 hours home every weekend for the past month to get the bike ready for the race season is getting really old fast!

The one plus side about college, I have access to a full training facility that otherwise would cost me $250 yearly to belong to

[400sEXridr]

now i havent been in your situation before, but the only advice i have for you if you plan on presenting your case to the school board is to thoroughly cover every aspect of your proposal and cover every possible situation. if theyre anything like my school board in high school, they will nitpick about every detail they can possibly imagine. dont give them a chance to exploit a weakness in your plan. all of this stuff may make sense to us racing guys, but to most school boards, there is no life outside of school. as far as theyre concerned motocross is the devil lol

[WatersRacing]

I was lucky enough to go to a really small school. Also, my school doesn't go on Fridays so thats one less day that I miss. I think because it is so small they are fairly leanyent (sp?) Also, because I was always good about getting all my work before I left and all that stuff that didn't mind me being gone more.
For each WORCS race I would usually only miss 2 days of school leaving Wed. after school.
This year I was able to work my schedule so I don't have any real classes on Thursday so I wouldn't be missing anything.

[Pappy]

QJ, we have also discussed the homeshool deal. Several kids on the site are homeschooled and I would love for them to chime in on how it works for them even if they do not race.

Cody may never be a pro rider, but the expierence he is gaining from all aspects of racing, photography, the business side of things etc has to account for something. he is also an honor roll student but is wanting to curtail the honors classes due to the travel.

[Bradracer18]

I don't mean to offend any of you....but being in college(and going to high school) I know some people who are home schooled, and they are #1.....very out of the social loop, its very noticeable(as I'm even a nerd....lol). ....and #2, most of them can't keep up in the demanding classes, nor are they used to studying a lot or doing a lot of homework.

Ya see....at homeschool, you only have to impress one teacher(kinda).....but in high school/college.....you have a ton of people you have to learn to meet their needs/wants...or you won't pass.


I highly recommend high school, and would go to the board and try to appeal whatever policy they have. Like said above, make sure you have your ducks in a row before you go in....

[Pipeless416]

i kind of agree with the above post. i know some people that were home schooled through high school. they just don't have a clue about the world or what to do in any type of social situations. depending on kelsey's attitude and current level of social interaction, she may be different. before i would consider home schooling, i would try every possible way to get more excused absences. if not, she'll miss out on a lot of things that she will never have the chance to experience again. best of luck with your decisions!

[QuadJunkies]

Well, heres the curve ball...
I made many phone calls today to find out what my options are and this is where we might be leaning, this might be good for you too Pappy to check into in your State to see the options...

There is homeschooling and then there is "Virtual schooling" BIG BIG difference!
I had no idea that in many states(here in Idaho is one of them) that if you are homeschooled, you will NOT recieve a dilpoma upon completion, you will need to get your G.E.D-I had no idea on that ! I guess its not monitored by the state, BUT Virtual school and/or Dual schooling IS.
Also, alot of the kids here I guess homeschool until they are entering High School,then go into public school and you really need to know your stuff to find all the ciriculum to keep up to speed VS.online classes. .
MY biggest concerns was if I personally could hack it with todays teachings being very different from when I was in shcool.In virtual schools,you are assigned teachers ,approx. 5 hours a day of assignments,one outing a month with other classmates of the virtual academy,your able to participate in Sports,Band ect. with the public school and you do get a dimploma becuase its spported by the State. The nice things about virtual is that she can take her schoolwork with her like we do now, but there is that flexability to get things done early if we leave the State, and we can also work on everthing with our own schedule.
Another nice thing is, its State funded .. All supplies and a home computer with all the required sofware is FREE.

Now heres the kicker... I have until June to decide of this is what we want to do for enrollment. If we wait until fall, its too late and if things do not go the way we want, were S.O.L.

I dont worry about her social skills really, she has plenty of that every wk. end we ride and race with others.I think I worry more about my son that anyone on that. But then again, you cant shut that kid up for nothing most of the time so I think he would be OK too. lol
Both are pretty social kids,Kelseys just a tad bit shyuntil she gets to knwo someone.
:p

Alot to think about for sure! Its the Proms and stuff like that I hate for her to miss,but we all have different ideas of whats important to us and at this point,that isnt as important to her,so I want to support her as much as I can and make the right choices. If all else fails, she can always go back to public school the following year.
Oops... she just fell off her pedistal I put her on. She got a B- on todays report Card and now has a 3.8 GPA. LOL
We just missed getting in a graded paper coming back from WORCS race 2 weeks ago.

I would like to hear how other like Virtual schooling if that is there choice in Education as well.:)