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:

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 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.

I spoke to someone at the HSLDA this morning and got all my questions answered. We file our first Private School Affidavit and will be starting tomorrow morning! I know the road will still be bumpy with this being our first year but I hope that this will make things easier and less stressful for my son to learn. I'm excited to start this new path. :driving:

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!

I posted my original message in the LC/SN board. I'm still learning how forums work, I've never done this before. I called HSLDA again but since I'm west coast I will have to wait till tomorrow. Already closed. :( Thank you for your information, I have never heard of apraxia. We will be now looking into getting another specialist so we have another opinion. That would be my fault that we have stuck with her for so long, I get comfortable and tend to forget I can pursue other options. My husband was very hesitant for many years on this issue with diagnosing and medication (strongly against medicating but after he was injured in Iraq and now disabled, his view changed). We used to disagree that he needed additional help or that there was something wrong. This caused me to learn a little later than most of our rights. I was always led to feel that I was "fishing" for something and now I am more focused on helping him as an individual that putting him in a category. Now my husband is very involved and is more open to the fact that our son is special.

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.

In response to what he does in resource. How I consider it is a special education class that helps him catch up on his classwork or something that he might be falling behind on or needs additional help with. His teacher for this class is amazing and she is very knowledgeable but he only sees her 30 minutes a week and a portion of those minutes are for her to touch base with his teacher. The system only works if everyone is on the same page, and sometimes that is hard when his teacher forgets to relay messages or update the team. I requested that this service be added to the IEP in our last meeting to give him additional help but you are exactly right, it wouldn't be necessary with homeschooling.

First I would like to say thank you to the repliers and the support!! 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. I'm sorry if this seemed like a vent post. As you can tell I have a lot on my mind. I'm calling the lady at HSLDA now and will update on what she suggests.

Im sorry I forgot to include that info. We are In CA

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.