[pennypfiz]

We will be fostering to adopt two grade school age boys. they are presently in the public school. We want to homeschool them. Has anyone attempted to petition to home school and been successful ?

[sharkey]

I just got permission to homeschool one of my foster sons. I do have educational rights for him and will be enrolling him in a homeschool program through a local charter school. I currently have him in a private Christian school but he has stopped doing his work and does not relate or interact well with his peers which is a major distraction to him and his classmates.

[pennypfiz]

When you say you are going through a local charter school are you refering to something like a correspondence school or an actual school they attend? These two little boys are not doing well in the public school they are are in,one emotionally, one academically. I have home schooled my own three through high school for the past nine years. we do have a very active home school group right in my area. I am also willing to use any special services (one has add without hyperactivity) they have in the public school on a check in basis. Are you through an agency or DCFS ? How long did the process take from the time you first asked permission to get permission? We are anxious to start this process as soon as we get the boys (in early June) we hope not to have to put them in a very over crowded school system just to rip them out. We inquired in a local private school also but feel it will be too expensive for us.

[sharkey]

It is a charter school that also has a homeschool program. They let the parent choose their own "non-sectarian" curriculum and they also offer a $55 a month stipend for extra-curricular activities. I decided to go through the charter school so that his cw would feel like he was "enrolled" but I do believe that she would allow me to make whatever decision I wanted. I have a great relationship with her and just called up and asked and she said yes right away. I'm with DCFS. I don't know how bmom will feel about it but then she thinks that if she tells him to behave and get good grades he will. Out of touch with the reality of the situation that one.

I'm pretty familiar with homeschooling. I was homeschooled in high school, my younger brothers were homeschooled from 3rd and 4th grades through graduation, and I taught 3-5 grades in a homeschool co-op. This will be my first foray into homeschooling a child in my home and it should be extremely interesting based on his behavior issues and incredibly smart mouth and self-pitying attitude. I think I'm going to allow him to finish 6th grade in the private school then will homeschool for 7th and 8th grade.

[open2more]

I know that a cw I spoke with from ID had stated that that state was open to virtual school. That is where you register with a local ps and do school at home via the internet. We homeschool and will do this as our way of satisfying the state and yet being able to allow "our" future (adopted) children to not feel alienated from our family. We do school according to the different learning styles. My dd could self learn, do her computer school work all day. My ds HAS to be proded along and is very much hands on. He is also high funtioning autistic, dyslexic and it has to be shown to make sense to him. The virtual school will give me time to learn my childrens' different learning styles and be able to better teach them.

[pennypfiz]

Thankyou for the information. That does sound ideal but unfortunately Illinois does not offer that option. We are presently trying for a scholarship in a private school and if that does not work we will probably petition to homeschool in July. I also am sure they both need a hands on learning style. The older one is add and very behind,especially in math.

[leenab]

This is such an interesting thread. Sometimes it's really hard to work with the state. I've found a lot depends upon the caseworker.

My boys are young, preschool age. and I have one caseworker who told us one of the boys had to be in school. The other caseworker said it was ok to keep our f/a son at home and teach him the essentials, colors, numbers, letters, shapes, and so on. We fianlize this fall and I'm not sure what to do.

I'm pretty sure when the time comes I will send them to 1st grade publically, but am really unsure what to do before that.

I'm at the point where I want to pull them both from preschool. One is regressing and doesn't even remember all of his ABC song. Neither one seems to be flourishing in school. And they've both picked up some bad behaviors from the other children.

Working with the state is hard,
LeenaB

[pennypfiz]

If you have the ambition and the permission I would home school them both. We put all three of our biological children in pre-school at 3 years old and wish we wouldn't of. My youngest cried everyday. What I would give to have those times with him. We started home schooling him in 4th grade and wish it had been since the beginning. He is a very well ajusted, mature young man at 18. My 20 year old daughter who has been home schooled since 6th grade is also very mature and well ajusted. My 22 year old has struggles. The longer we seemed to home school them the better they become. Now I know that is not always true it also depends on their friends etc. That is just how it seemed to go in our family. My youngest was very involved in baseball and golf and still is. Our back yard was and still is the neighborhood sandlot. I knew what every kid in the neighborhood was up to at all times.If I was given the option I wouldn't hesitate but to home school them both. Even though I think the 9 year old will definetley be a huge challenge. One I might not want to take when they are new in our home. Best of luck to you!