Homeschooling is legal. Cps here can't do anything. I keep all his work. I have a note from public school that says homeschooler.Homeschool can be the best place for some kids.
I have no lesson plans. We are useing paces which are like a work book broken down into smaller pieces. Saxon isn't that way though. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I did it also just 1 day of St weekly wasn't enough for daniel. Sometimes that didn't even have it at all. I just do a lesson per day. If he needs a nother day we do it again. You don't have to give lesson plans to the school district or get any type of approval for cirriculum. Visit HSDLA, HOME SCHOOL DEFENSE LEAGUE and you will see what your rights are per state. If you are going to home school this is a great organization to belong to. They will legally defend you all the way to the Supreme Court if the sd decides to get bossy. You can also just sign up for emails from them (for free) and they will send you updates on legislation or case law that affects home schoolers. In AZ you can have it both ways, home school and send the child to school for some instruction (class or two) if you want. I am not sure honestly about the IEP rights terminating. I understand this is not what Tzoya was talking about but I didn't want daniel's mom or others to get stressed thinking you had to provide "proof."EVERY SINGLE STATE HAS DIFFERENT HOMESCHOOLING STANDARDS. CHECK OUT YOUR STATE'S STANDARDS.
Kristys is right. I am NOT talking about officially Homeschooling. I am talking about parents thinking the school is not doing such a good job or who are worried about their child's safety in school and simply remove the child without making official plans to homeschool (as mentioned, these rules vary from state to state). If you think your child might not be safe (bullying), immediately see an education lawyer. If you simply don't like the situation, advocate for your child with the school, including calling a new IEP meeting. Get a pro advocate if necessary. BUT DON'T TAKE YOUR CHILD OUT OF SCHOOL WITHOUT OFFICIALLY ARRANGING TO HOMESCHOOL OR SEND HIM TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL.
I have never been in this situation and hope not to be, but I did have a question.
If you are significantly worried about your child's safety and you don't know how to set up homeschooling immediately and you don't know a good education lawyer off the top of your head, would it be a bad idea to call your child in sick? I mean if the child is terrified of something that happened at school, some could almost make themselves sick I would think?
I hope I'm not suggesting anything illegal here - I know I'm suggesting lying though - but in an emergency and you don't have a back-up plan - I just wondered what the legal repercussions might be. I don't have a back-up plan right now - we just moved here and so far, our school has been just awesome. But anything can happen - you never know! I suppose I should investigate home-schooling (as a temporary solution - I could NEVER do that full-time! My ds and I would just totally butt heads!) and maybe all of us should just to be on the safe side. But not everyone has that forethought - I know I never thought of it until this post!
I don't think Tzoya is saying homeschooling isn't legal. If you pull your child out of school with the intention of homeschooling and have lesson plans and stuff set up, there shouldn't be an issue.
However, there have been cases posted here where someone is "pulling the child out of school" because of dissatisfaction with the services and/or school environment (could be a safety issue for example), and are asking for an IEP meeting, which may not be set for over a week or more. In these cases it sounds like the parent isn't necessarily intending to homeschool, they are just wanting to keep the child home temporarily until the school will agree to make changes in the school environment and/or services and supports.
If you truly are worried about your child's safety, you MUST get a lawyer to help you write a Gebser Notice. Then you can remove the child, put the child in a private school and take the District to a Hearing over reimbursement. ALL of this costs money. If you are not fearful of your child's IMMEDIATE safety but he's scared about something, do not keep him home (that IS illegal if he's of school age) but call an IEP meeting to have the school district find out what's going on and address it. Feel free to liberally use the word "safety" and "keep him safe." But if your child is of school age and you keep him out except for illness (and the district finds out about it), you can be charged with child neglect, you can have child protective services all over you and you MIGHT lose your child to foster care. I am not saying foster care is a frequent result, but CPS coming to your house and harassing you IS. This is exactly why I posted this topic. If the parents are worried about why a child is fearful, they must get to the bottom of it, NOT keep the child home. Of course, it's always feasible to find out what homeschooling entails in your state and teach your child yourself at home or enroll him in a private school at your own expense, but as I mentioned above, this gets the District off the hook for IEP services except those the might volunteer to give.Does this apply to taking a day off here and there? Occasionally I let Quinn take a day off because that's my day off. I don't do this as often as I used to when he was younger. Sometimes I tell the school that he seemed overwhelmed and I thought it best for him to take a day off. He's missed one day of school so far this year. I was thinking of letting him take this Friday off, now I'm not sure if I should.If you are wondering about what the "legal" reasons are for keeping your child home, you can get a list from the school district. I am certain the Attendance Officer has a written policy available. Many parents keep their kids out of school for one day here or there (travel, grandma is in town, mental health day, etc.) Tho this might technically be truancy and technically mean the parents are culpable, no school district is going to harass mom and dad for the occasional absence. But if a note is required DO NOT put down the truth unless it's one of the "excused" absence reasons (like illness). Lie.
One of the OTHER really important reasons to make certain your child's attendance is very, very good is that at the end of the school year, the IEP Team has to determine if the child has made progress. If not, the interventions have to be increased. If your child has had lots of absences (excused or otherwise), the IEP Team can claim that poor attendance is the reason your child has not made progress and that they are off the hook for his poor results, meaning that they do not have to increase the interventions. An important thing to think about.
Our son was sick frequently, and in a "special day class" that was doing nothing for him, so we let him stay home. After a bit we got a nasty gram saying that he was missing too high a percentage of days and in future we needed doctor's notes to prove he was sick or they would call him truant and start court proceedings.And, you can take your child out of school to travel. We are taking ds out of school the day before Thanksgiving as we are traveling 7 hours and couldn't do that after he gets out of school. So, maybe you just need to take a trip?
I think perhaps it depends on your state. I have worked closely with CPS/DHS and never heard of issues with keeping your child home for a day, even if they have special needs. I think if it was for a few days, there might be an issue. But, I think it's completely unrealistic to expect someone to come up with a lawyer in a matter of an hour (which is about what you'd have if you found out something happened at school after your child gets home) and have a plan in place. Parents are usually discreet and call their child in sick, which to me could also include emotional "illness" and stress.
But, that's just my opinion and I'm not a legal expert. Obviously you don't want to do something illegal, but maybe if you have serious concerns it might just so happen that you need to take a family trip!
I sometimes read posts on this Board about parents summarily removing their child from school because they disagree with what's going on there. If the child is OF LEGAL SCHOOL AGE, you MAY NOT do this. Of course, if you withdraw the child to officially home school him, that is OK. But in most states that ENDS the child's special ed interventions or at least curtails most of them (NY is the one exception I know of). You can also withdraw the child to officially enroll him, on your dime, in a private school. IF you give the school 10 days notice, in writing, you can withdraw him and take them to a Hearing to recover tuition (but it's a RARE thing to prevail in that sort of Hearing -- called a Carter Case -- so ASSUME you're going to have to pick up the tab). Please don't simply keep your child home. CPS will become involved and your child COULD be removed to foster care for "educational neglect."Here in FL there is a McKay scholarship as well...they give you a certain dollar figure (thru a matrix formula) that you can apply to private schools too.