Sarah0000 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 I'm planning to enroll my son in a charter with stipends next year for TK. Without those funds we could not afford any kind of outside lessons or activities, so its important to me to be flexible with the charter regarding state requirements. I'm wondering how they will handle an accelerated kid though. A local mom told me the charter won't pay for curriculum more than a grade level outside your child's grade. I don't mind paying for curriculum myself. Does anyone know if there will be any issue if I pay for curriculum myself? Should I be documenting his work this year to "prove" his level? Does it matter if the curriculum is CC aligned in that case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 We are with a charter in SD County, which has locations in other So Cal counties as well. The answer is going to depend widely on the charter, and sometimes, even with your facilitator. I specifically chose this charter because I have free reign to do what I want with my AL. My EF gets the books that I need without any discussion. Mine is in 1st, but currently has 3rd and 4th grade math books, middle school science and history books, and 3rd grade language arts books. The only area where I have had difficulty meeting my AL at his level has been in some of the field trips and enrichment activities. For example, we are studying geology this year, but he was not allowed to go on a field trip to the gemological institute because he wasn't yet in 4th grade. When I gave them pushback about it, they said it was the institute's rule. They also wouldn't let my son join the FLL team yet because of age. Stuff like that. We have onsite enrichment classes at the school, but I have kept my son with his age peers for those. I am mindful of the fact that he is still 6, so he takes the art, music, etc. classes at the charter with friends his own age. My advice is to ask a lot of specific questions about this issue with the charter's director, and, if they hedge or him and haw, find another charter. Depending on the county, there will likely be many options. If you are in So Cal, I would be happy to recommend more flexible charters. I don't know as much about the Nor Cal charters. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 I have ordered high school materials for my fifth grader. No problem in our charter. You can do as you please, as long as materials are secular. Ask before signing up, but I will be very surprised if the charter ends up being so inflexible. These charters come in all flavors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah0000 Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 Thank you. I'm going to ask but without having an assigned facilitator who has actually seen my child I'm expecting to get a canned response that might not be very illuminating. I plan to buy my own curriculum anyway so I'm not concerned about getting approval for it. I guess I'm more concerned that the facilitator will want to see something that shows he's met the standards for his grade and perhaps won't take samples that are several years beyond because the standards won't align at all. Maybe that's a silly worry. But then there's reading...since he's reading I don't intend to do a formal reading program with him. Would they still require some kind of phonics or spelling instruction or could he just not do anything formal the whole year if he's well beyond the standards? The only place for him to go in LA is into spelling, and I don't want to start that yet. Handwriting is easy enough at least since obviously that's all written down anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjdan Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 It all depends on your charter. Some only allow their "approved" set of curriculum, have grade limits, etc. We use Dehesa and they're very flexible. DS is technically in 4th grade, and using curriculum multiple grades above- and my EF is excellent and gets us our chosen curriculum. He also takes the enrichment classes up a notch (with the 5/6 grade- but not further due to the emotional maturity difference). You really need to look at how your chosen CA charter works, since they are all quite different, with different rules. As for the LA question, you'll need to do some kind of LA- and handwriting can work for vocabulary lessons too as part of LA. My EF just lists the standards that are what he's actually doing (so in our case, not the 4th grade standards at all!). But having the charter buy our curriculum or loan it to us from the resource center has been a real money saver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 We used a charter in CA for two years, and our teacher was able to keep us in the appropriate level for my children. I would be hesitant to use any school that wouldn't provide your child with the materials he needs at his level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 I've found that it not only depends on the charter but also the specific education specialist or facilitator assigned to your family. Sometimes, friends have loved their ES even if the charter was rigid and sometimes they have had to put in a request to change the ES but have wanted to remain with the charter for the funds. We have used 3 separate charter programs and all were quite accommodating UNTIL we got to the point where we clearly needed much more freedom in the way that his learning was being facilitated and documented. Usually up to 8th grade level (emphasis on level not age) seems to be fine (except for things like lab supplies and classes that involved using fire/ more risky materials). It's when the child is working at high school level that we and families I know faced the most pressing challenges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Usually up to 8th grade level (emphasis on level not age) seems to be fine (except for things like lab supplies and classes that involved using fire/ more risky materials). It's when the child is working at high school level that we and families I know faced the most pressing challenges. Can you elaborate on this? We will be hitting that point not in distant future. I would love to know what to expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I used Ocean Grove. What I did was try to minimize the number of PO's my ES had to write by using our educational funds for classes--nature awareness or choral ones mostly. That way there was never any question about having to, say, give the materials back for the summer, or of what specific materials I was using. For instance, I used Rod and Staff (Christian) quite a bit for grammar. I always bought it myself. No problem. In terms of acceleration, really I didn't emphasize curricula in reporting progress, so it wasn't really an issue. The only thing that was bad was I wanted to have DD do the state test for 8th grade that includes algebra, and due to a series of snafus OG first said yes, then no, then yes if you had used OUR curricula (2-3 months into the year--too late to change), then no. That was the only year I opted out of the state testing. They nagged me into the ground for it but we did not cave. So in summary, it's easy until you start doing high school level stuff, and then, although you can teach it, you might not end up getting full high school credit FROM THEM for it. OTOH, I told DD's prospective high school that she was taking algebra 1 and they accepted that without question. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Can you elaborate on this? We will be hitting that point not in distant future. I would love to know what to expect. My kids former charter is very bureaucratic once a-g requirements subjects are started, so very rigid when my oldest was going to start geometry. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 (edited) Roadrunner, on my phone so this will be short. They didn't accept classes like eimacs uni level math or advanced proof-heavy geometry or abstract algebra because these were not taught by a hqt and we also couldn't verify by exam. Essentially all the high level bunny trails ds took prior to calc were not counted which was unacceptable because these were the areas that reflected his passion. There were (edited for typo) also ridiculous conditions like not being able to take 2 math and 2 lit within same high school year. Edited December 4, 2015 by quark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Roadrunner, on my phone so this will be short. They didn't accept classes like eimacs uni level math or advanced proof-heavy geometry or abstract algebra because these were not taught by a hqt and we also couldn't verify by exam. Essentially all the high level bunny trails ds took prior to calc were not counted which was unacceptable because these were the areas that reflected his passion. There eete also ridiculous conditions like not being able to take 2 math and 2 lit within same high school year. That's really useful to know! It looks like a terrible fit for a non-traditional path, which we might also possibly take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 It looks like a terrible fit for a non-traditional path, which we might also possibly take. Sadly, yes. There are ways around it. A few families I know plan to go ahead with the charter and take the requirements as much they can and then pull out in 10th or 11th if it becomes too much. Others who don't mind following a more traditional route plan to stay till 11th and go on their own for 12th so that they can produce their own transcript. We like to be more non traditional and in the end, felt compelled to pull out earlier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 It looks like a terrible fit for a non-traditional path, which we might also possibly take. We just evaluate a semester at a time. When we felt it was no longer a good fit we quited. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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