[carlychan]

There are many things that homeschooled kids are eligible for. That is not to say you won't have to fight for them, though. I think that this is pretty universal but not "advertised."

[Scrapsathome]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I wonder if anyone has been in a situation where a child attended school (as a foster child or not) and once the adoption was final switched to homeschooling? Was this tricky for the child?

Also, I wonder would the adoption need to be finalized to start homeschooling? Or would it be OK to begin once TPR is done and you're going through the post-placement visits?

We are just about to adopt our 6 and almost 5 year old sibling foster children. Last year they were in Kindergarten and Pre-K public programs. We've already begun homeschooling them. Our 6 year old, "Snow White", was very excited about the whole idea since we have older girls who have always been homeschooled. She is doing very well with it. Our pre-K son doesn't seem to even understand the difference. He's a little bit delayed and doesn't have a firm grasp of anything that would happen in the future.

The adoption will be finalized some time in August. I'm still pushing for an exact date from the CW. It was originally scheduled for July 15th. I asked the CW if, since she was pushing it back, I'd have to enroll them in public K and 1st grade for a couple of weeks and then yank them out again. She said that we wouldn't have to do that. We could just go ahead and homeschool them.

We are enrolling our four oldest (including these two) in a one day a week public charter school for homeschooled kids. They'll be taking things like science lab, drama, and art. There's no bus, but they get to pick out back packs and lunch boxes, which helps them to feel like they get a tiny bit of the public school experience. We like the opportunity to try out a classroom experience and make more homeschooled friends. Not to mention fun field trips.

Jess

[anilorak13ska]

I imagine that the same ("wait till finalization or get agency approval") applies regarding request to delay entry into kingergarten?

I just found out that kingergarten is not mandatory, and also that a parent can simply submit a written opinion that their child is not ready to enter kingergarten yet when they're 5.

If I could make that kind of request (I'd hope someone, either my agency or the school board, would see that sending a child to start school immediately after making them move to a new state, new home, new family may not be in the child's best interest!), then I should hopefully be able to finalize the adoption in time for the following schoolyear, and THEN I would be withing my full parental rights to homeschool.

Can anyone shed some light on this? I'm assuming the same applies - if we don't have full custody until finalization, and the schoolboard requires "parental request"... we wouldn't be full legal parents until finalization, eh?

Thanks again for all the feedback!

[MommyAlysia]

Originally Posted by UTbrie

I know in Ohio, you are not able to homeschool a foster child. They must attent public school. On the flip side, they don't allow foster children to attend private school, even if the foster parents pay for it! Crazy to me, but that is what I was told by the social workers in the private agency I am in the process of licensing with. (they are multi-county in my area)

I am in Ohio too. My SIL is going through a private christian agency as well and and I THOUGHT she was told its possible to homeschool, although, unlikely as you would have to get permission from bio parents. Maybe I am mixed up and read that here somewhere??

Would you mind PMing me what agency your with? I am curious if its the same one but mostly, I am looking for agency's in Ohio and would prefer a Christian one. Right now I am leaning towards SIL's agency but she has been licensed for since Jan without any calls and thats discouraging to me.though she wants one or 2 under the age of her oldest, who will be 3 in the fall and primarily wants to adopt so maybe thats why?

[ScrapMonkey]

The child is not yours, does not matter if K is not mandatory, the state will insist you start K unless they are receiving special services and it is proven it would be beneficial to wait a year (I have heard of people trying this and only one family I know has succeeded). The state has the say and they will say to enroll the child in K. Like so many, many things... when it is YOUR child, it is YOUR decision to make.

[Scrapsathome]

We were required to enroll our foster son in Pre-K even though school attendance isn't mandatory here until age six. They said he "needed" the speech therapy the pre-K offered. He definitely needed speech therapy, but all the school would/could provide was 60 minutes a MONTH. So, basically 4 minutes a day. His speech didn't improve, but he did learn to hit, bite, and throw temper tantrums.

Jess