[maric]

Hello, I currently homeschool my 2 children and we are considering becoming foster parents. We do not necessarly want to homeschool a foster child but we were wondering if the agencies for fostering frown on homeschoolers or are know to cause problems for them. If anyone has any experience or insight into this I would love to hear from you.

[DianeS]

In most cases foster parents are unable to get permission to homeschool foster children, so I'm glad you don't have your heart set on that.

But as to agencies' opinions of homeschooling families in general - that's harder to answer. Homeschooling gets both good and bad press nowadays, so you really can run into an individual social worker's prejudices.

Anything bad you've ever heard about other homeschooling families could come into play - lack of interaction with other children, not completing lessons, doing it just so your kids don't get seen by other adults, thinking you're better than the teachers trained to teach, etc.

But you could also run into positive ones - the fact so many spelling bee champs have been homeschooled, that lesson plans can be tailored so the child can excell, etc. (I'm sure you can quote all the other positive stories better than I can!)

But one issue that seems to crop up for most homeschooling families I know is that homeschooling families don't have any experience in dealing with the public school system. They have no friendly contacts, nobody they've gone to in the past for favors, nobody who knows them as a reasonable and intelligent family. So when a foster child is placed, and the homeschooling family has to enroll that child in school, have him/her tested for learning disabilities, get an IEP set up and used, and advocate for that child when the schools resist the changes that child needs - that's when the homeschooling family is at a disadvantage.

It's not that huge of a disadvantage in most cases - if you can navigate the laws required to homeschool, and annual tests or reports or whatever your area requires, and handle all the intrusive questions you run into about homeschooling, then you ought to be able to handle a few stuck in their ways people in one school district office. Just be prepared for that type of challenge to your abilities and you should be fine.

And of course, make sure you're following all your state and district regulations regarding homeschooling - have their papers filed whereever or whatever else is needed, because it's possible those would be checked.

Good luck! I'm sure others will chime in with their own experiences, too.

[sharkey]

I just got permission to homeschool one of my foster kids. I have three fsons, no bios. One is an infant, one is highschool age, one is junior high. The junior high boy is having a hard time right now with things going on with his biomom. This on top of the fact that he is a very angry, oppositional kid with no interpersonal skills who has decided to stop turning in his school work has made this year a challenge! He is a constant problem in class and since I send him to a private school, I am paying for him to flunk 6th grade. I'm pulling him out at the end of the month. However, I am going to enroll him in the local charter school which has a homeschool option. It looks like they allow the parent to choose a non-sectarian curriculum and they pay a stipend for extra curricular activities. My 15yro goes to the local public high school and does very well. I've had three other school age fkids. Two went to public schools and one went to a private school.

FYI...I was homeschooled for a couple years in high school and my brothers were homeschooled from 3rd and 4th grades through graduation. I also taught grades 3-5 in a homeschool co-op. I think it's a great thing. I haven't had too much of a problem navigating the public school system with my fkids but it was a bit weird signing them up and learning the workings of the 5 different schools I've had dealings with since becoming a foster parent. But on the other hand, I've done LOTS of things since I've become a foster parent that I've just had to jump in and figure out.