Homeschooling with IEP, originally posted in General Education board

[CortezFamily]

I had posted this in the General Education board and was told that the friendly contributors over here might also help! 

 

We are located in California.  

 

First post...

I think the best word to describe my last week has been OVERWHELMED.  My husband and I decided that we want to homeschool our 4th grade son....soon.  This decision to me was no biggie, I was home schooled through high school and graduated from an ISP and loved it.  We are consistently lacking communication with the teacher.  I honestly feel like he sees my son as a burden in his classroom.  We are all exhausted and it's only October.  Homeschool will allow us to focus on him and I feel helpless in our current situation.    I'm running into a lot of issues though and I not a lot of answers.  

 

My son is in 4th grade and currently enrolled in a public school with an active IEP.  He is taken out of class for 30 mins a week for speech, PE, and resource.  He also has modified classwork and homework and tests as needed.   He was diagnosed with ADHD and takes medication to help with his focus.  I have been researching my options to homeschool and I think a church ISP is out since we do not have a regular church and tuition can be pricey (we are on a tight budget).  Charter school is an option but how does that work with his IEP?  We are leaning in the direction of filing a private school affidavit but to be honest....it scares me.  How does a PSA work with his IEP?  (This next question I hope I do not get negative comments for...)  Am I required by the state to provide him those services?  This does not mean we will not continue to work on his pronunciation and other things that are in his IEP.  But do I need to hire a professional to prove that he is getting his needs met?  

 

Any advice I am open to.  We are considering online curriculum and supplementing a few subjects to finish the year then buying my books to start 5th grade.   I still keep in contact with my homeschool friends and they have been very helpful since they all homeschool their children.  But the IEP does mean I need to have all my bases covered before we proceed.  Thank you and I apologize if I was all over the place.

 

Reply post.....

My mother said the first thing I needed to do was join the HSLDA so we did that last week and I rushed the application.  Once approved I called and I have been playing phone tag with a very nice woman (of course my phone would ring when the blow dryer is on).  I'm hoping to talk to her and get a little more insight on how to legally handle this.  I have not mentioned this to the school and don't plan on it (words of advice from HSLDA's website).  I even am planning on observing in my son's class this friday since we have been having issues with him not finishing work and I am determined to not let the school take away his recess time anymore.  

 

 

He received his diagnosis through his behavioral pediatrician and we did not agree with it since my son is far from hyper but she put the emphasis on "attention".  We still struggle with that diagnosis because he has other quirks that are noticeable in his daily routines (prefer to not speak, sensitivity to sounds, daydreaming, hand/toy waving, anti-social) but the doctor says she cannot diagnose anything else since he does not meet ALL criteria for another diagnosis.  Last year he was also diagnosed with anxiety and depression after we noticed he was not sleeping, not smiling, not laughing and having nightly nightmares (and there had been no change to anything in our life).  Since on a new medication this has drastically changed but we still have days that he just wants to not speak, paces constantly and would rather be alone or playing a video game.  He has always went to the beat of his own drum and we have always tried to embrace that....diagnosis or not.  He was actually born with a soft spot fused shut (extremely rare) on the right rear side of his head and had the rear portion of his skull reshaped at 11 months.  He was meeting all his milestones that were age appropriate till this surgery, then everything and I mean everything stopped.  He did not speak for a few years and he tends to "look through" you when giving him a lot of information at one time.  Since this surgery was rare we are not even able to determine if this has caused any of the daily issues we deal with.  

 

It sounds like I really need to get in touch with the HSLDA.  I have a feeling that his school will not be supportive with us taking him out since I just received a letter yesterday about him being truant for being late a couple times!  I was just looking up what that meant (in regards to home school) when I got a letter from the school.  The school informed me that he has one day that was excused from his doctor for a medical procedure (that can't be considered since it was excused and he even went half day).  The other was 4 times that he has been a few mins late for class that they want a doctors note for!  These tardies were because sometimes he has bad days and he cries, we always comfort him before sending him to school, which means sometimes we are late.  I never knew that we needed doctors notes for being under 10 mins late for class.  The letter was just another nail in the coffin to make me want to homeschool him.  

[FairProspects]

No, you do not have to have school services unless you want them. You can go to private therapy or work on it yourself at home.

 

I don't know the specific rules for IEPs in CA (each state has different laws) but here in WA you can legally access just special services as a homeschooler if you so desire. Our charter had all our paperwork, so I would assume you can transfer your IEP to your charter school. They may have something worked out with local districts for services or they may have some other arrangement. I know our previous charter did.

[CortezFamily]

FairProspects, I contacted a charter that a friend home schools through yesterday and was told that they would not even accept him since they would not be able to give him his services.  Then I did a little research last night and found out that the IEP would be transfered to the charter so now I am confused on why she would tell me that he would not even be considered.  That specific charter has been crossed off my list anyways since she also told me that we are not in a county they serve. 

 

I think we've narrowed it down to either a PSP (in our budget) or filing a PSA and doing our own thing.  Anyone in CA who files a PSA?  I'm curious to how intimidating the whole process is?  I know the time to do it is oct 1-15 but when can we start home schooling?  Do we wait to be approved?  These questions might sound dumb but I really can't find a clear answer online.  Thank you!

[clemota]

No, you don't wait to be approved.  Start schooling as soon as you've pulled him from his public school.  The way someone else explained it: all schools file a PSA, and most of them start in August or September here in CA.  But they still have to school the children before then. :001_smile:

 

PSA's for this year are due by the 15th, though.  So if you're starting right away with a PSA, do it now.  If you decide to go a different route, you can always file next year if you change your mind.

 

I don't know if you're familiar with these sites, but they contain a lot of good info for homeschooling in CA - including the different ways to do it, listings of different charters/ isp's for different counties, and so on:

 

http://www.californiahomeschool.net/  this has a link to a line-by-line example of how to file a PSA.

 

http://www.hsc.org/home-page.html

 

Sorry you had a bad experience with the charter you contacted.  By law, they do have to offer the services if you join their charter, so I guess that maybe some of the smaller charters can't afford to do so?  I'm in the Bay Area, and the charters here are huge - I've heard that people have better experiences with charters here honoring IEP's than what they got in public school, but YMMV.

 

And there are no dumb questions.  There can be really dumb answers, but never the questions themselves!  Keep asking!

 

 

 

[geodob]

I would suggest that you reply to that letter about him being truant, and request that it be removed from his school record.

As this was in no way related to tardiness, and is medically related.

Also that you had not been informed that a doctors note was required, for even being under 10 minutes late for class.

Which you would have complied with, if you had been advised about.

 

Therefore, you request that this be removed from his school record and that you are noting your disagreement with their suggestion that he was being truant.

Keeping a dated copy of the your letter to them.

 

 

 

[Tokyomarie]

I know you are mostly asking for advice on getting your son set up legally for homeschooling since he has an IEP. But your story is screaming at me to mention some medical care you might want to pursue as you think about the best options for curriculum and methods for handing your son's schooling.

 

Has your son been seen by a neurologist at any time since the surgery? If so, for how long did you have follow up? The indication that he was meeting milestones prior to the surgery and that his development stopped abruptly, from the way you describe it, is a clear tip off that his developmental challenges are related to the medical events surrounding the surgery. As you try to sort out what your son needs most at this point, it might be good to do two things:

 

1. See a good pediatric neurologist to revisit the question of whether there are specific neurologic consequences related to the fused soft spot and the surgery to correct it. I'd be looking for imaging studies to determine whether there are structural changes in the brain and/or any other indications from an evaluation of specific neurologic deficits.

 

2. As part of a complete evaluation, I would want an evaluation with a neuropsychologist to test IQ, academic achievement, specific attention-related skills, memory, executive function skills (related to frontal lobe development- things like planning, organization, time awareness, etc).  You don't mention his motor skills, but these should also be assessed in fine detail by the neurologist or a highly qualified pediatric PT or OT. This kind of evaluation can give you tons of information that will help you in pinpointing more accurately his strengths and weaknesses as a learner and guide the way in determining how you can best handle his schooling and parenting. But it can also help produce data that might determine whether his neurologic symptoms are related to the previous surgery.

 

Given your dates, it seems like it was approximately 8-9 years ago that your son had his surgery. The collective knowledge of neurologic conditions and how they impact learning has mushroomed in the last 5 years and it might be useful  to revisit these questions with someone trained to consider the neurobiological aspects of learning and behavior, not just from a psychological/behavioral standpoint.

[Arcadia]

 

I think we've narrowed it down to either a PSP (in our budget) or filing a PSA and doing our own thing.  Anyone in CA who files a PSA?  I'm curious to how intimidating the whole process is?  I know the time to do it is oct 1-15 but when can we start home schooling?  Do we wait to be approved?  

The online form link and explanation is here on California's Dept of Education website.  You can start homeschooling will waiting for approval.

http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/rq/affidavit.asp

 

Charter schools in California can accept students from neighboring (next door) counties. They are suppose to honor the existing IEP too.

 

If your child's current school still give you grief you can call the below number.

"The Procedural Safeguards Referral Service (PSRS) is available to assist and to answer questions by phone at 800-926-0648 from Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m."

[CortezFamily]

I would suggest that you reply to that letter about him being truant, and request that it be removed from his school record.

As this was in no way related to tardiness, and is medically related.

Also that you had not been informed that a doctors note was required, for even being under 10 minutes late for class.

Which you would have complied with, if you had been advised about.

 

Therefore, you request that this be removed from his school record and that you are noting your disagreement with their suggestion that he was being truant.

Keeping a dated copy of the your letter to them.

 

I spoke to someone at HSLDA this morning and also mentioned this to see if this should be handled before we disenroll him.  She said no and the school/district may have their own policies regarding tardies but he cannot be considered truant for that because he did show up those days.  He did not have any all day absences and no absences that were unexcused.  The school might want more of an explanation to why he was late but after speaking with the office it really sounds like the letter was more of a threat to not continue to be late, it is not on his record and won't be unless there were more.  Since today is his last day at that public school and he will now be home schooled it won't matter.  Just in case, the woman I spoke to HSLDA had me email her a copy of the letter to have legal look over it and she asked me to keep the letter.

[CortezFamily]

I know you are mostly asking for advice on getting your son set up legally for homeschooling since he has an IEP. But your story is screaming at me to mention some medical care you might want to pursue as you think about the best options for curriculum and methods for handing your son's schooling.

 

Has your son been seen by a neurologist at any time since the surgery? If so, for how long did you have follow up? The indication that he was meeting milestones prior to the surgery and that his development stopped abruptly, from the way you describe it, is a clear tip off that his developmental challenges are related to the medical events surrounding the surgery. As you try to sort out what your son needs most at this point, it might be good to do two things:

 

1. See a good pediatric neurologist to revisit the question of whether there are specific neurologic consequences related to the fused soft spot and the surgery to correct it. I'd be looking for imaging studies to determine whether there are structural changes in the brain and/or any other indications from an evaluation of specific neurologic deficits.

 

2. As part of a complete evaluation, I would want an evaluation with a neuropsychologist to test IQ, academic achievement, specific attention-related skills, memory, executive function skills (related to frontal lobe development- things like planning, organization, time awareness, etc).  You don't mention his motor skills, but these should also be assessed in fine detail by the neurologist or a highly qualified pediatric PT or OT. This kind of evaluation can give you tons of information that will help you in pinpointing more accurately his strengths and weaknesses as a learner and guide the way in determining how you can best handle his schooling and parenting. But it can also help produce data that might determine whether his neurologic symptoms are related to the previous surgery.

 

Given your dates, it seems like it was approximately 8-9 years ago that your son had his surgery. The collective knowledge of neurologic conditions and how they impact learning has mushroomed in the last 5 years and it might be useful  to revisit these questions with someone trained to consider the neurobiological aspects of learning and behavior, not just from a psychological/behavioral standpoint.

He does currently have a whole team of doctors that we are working with.  We saw his neurologist about a year ago, but the Behavioral Pediatrician is who we normally have dealing with these issues.  I will look into all this more and see about getting him more evaluated.  With insurance in limbo and a tight budget I've had to get creative with continuing the push for help.  Thank you for the information and support!

[CortezFamily]

Just an update, and I also put this in the other board.  I spoke with someone at HSLDA and she really put my mind at ease.  With the information I got here and after speaking with her we filed our first private school affidavit today and tomorrow is his first day home schooled.  I'm excited, relieved and a little scared but I have so much more information than I did a few days ago.   :thumbup:

[Tokyomarie]

He does currently have a whole team of doctors that we are working with.  We saw his neurologist about a year ago, but the Behavioral Pediatrician is who we normally have dealing with these issues.  I will look into all this more and see about getting him more evaluated.  With insurance in limbo and a tight budget I've had to get creative with continuing the push for help.  Thank you for the information and support!

 

 I totally understand about tight budgets and insurance. Frequent appointments can also take their toll on energy and time. It's good that you have a whole team working with you. If you haven't had the neuropsych evaluation yet, that can be a stone yet to turn and possibly bring valuable information. Otherwise, sometimes getting an opinion outside the original team can be helpful, but it would likely have to be someone who has special expertise in kids with a similar history.

 

Glad to hear that you were able to work out the details of which way to go for declaring yourself as a homeschooler. Not being in CA, that's an area outside my experience- other than "hearing" others talk about it. I hope all goes well as you try to find your groove! Do remember that there will likely be an adjustment period that can last weeks or months.