dd, 9th grade, first year in ps, wants to come home I have questions

[Jeannie in NJ]

My dd went to a technical high school this year for 9th, that was hard to get into but she is miserable there. She is making all A's and B's and has friends but she still hates it. She says most of the kids are very disruptive in class and curse like crazy. She is also having health problems (chronic knee and hip pain that she may need surgery for).

 

Here are my questions, the 3rd marking period is about to end and she really wants to come home for the 4th marking period. I am concerned about how I would do her transcript eventually for college. For ex. she is taking biology lab, how could I count that for the year without having to finish biology and do labs at home which I cannot even think about the expense of buying an entire lab for just one marking period. The rest of her classes we could continue at home with no problems (geometry, english, history, spanish, etc).

 

How would I do her transcript with 3 marking periods of school and 1 at home? She wants to go to community college either next spring or starting fall of 2011 so I don't even know how important a transcript would be for starting cc at age 15 or 16.

 

Any opinions out there?

[Corraleno]

If she was in middle school, I would say to bring her home, but since she's in HS and is so close to finishing this year, I would just have her stick it out a couple more months and have a complete PS transcript for 9th grade. Then you can start fresh in the fall, add some CC courses in the spring, and perhaps even do dual-enrollment full-time at the CC for all of 11th and 12th. Put a big calendar on the wall with the number of school days left marked on each day, and let her cross them off each day in a "countdown to freedom," LOL. If she sees the end in sight, and can count off the days, it may be more tolerable to her.

 

BTW, I also despised PS high school, and desperately wanted to leave (in fact, I graduated at 16), so I understand how she feels. But I would still stick it out for one more marking period.

 

Jackie

[Faithr]

I think Jackie speaks good sense, but perhaps there is something more here? Is your dd being bullied or harrassed? Do you feel she'll crack if she has to stay one more day?

 

I think you could work around needing biology labs. It would take some thinking and creativity but you could probably pull it off, but you'd need lots of advice and brainstorming from other homeschoolers. Anyway, if she can stand to stay in, I'd say it would be practical in terms of getting credit hours for her to do that. If she really can't stay in, getting those credit hours are not a big enough hurdle to force her to do something that would truly damage her. So I guess it boils down to a judgment call.

 

Good luck to you and her whatever you decide to do!

[Karen in CO]

I pulled my ds out of ps in the middle of the 3rd quarter of 10th grade. The school was toxic for him although he was getting A's and B's and had friends which he had known since third grade and was involved in sports. I used the second semester report card for his grades for his transcript and continued the classes at home. He was also in biology with lab. I purchased Apologia biology and just purchased a comparative dissection kit from Carolina Biological to continue to do labs at home - they weren't coordinated with his book, but it was the best I could manage at the time. He was getting "lab" experience, and I did make him complete the biology book over the summer.

 

For the transcript, I just used the grades from the first half of the year to make it easier for me since the third quarter wasn't complete. I made a note at the bottom of the page that that semester was done at the school. I put * by the classes that were later taken at CC. None of the schools we applied to questioned the grades or the transcript and we provided the name and address in the applications for the schools that he attended so that they could request official transcripts if they needed.

 

I did explain to my ds that coming home was a one way thing - that he couldn't change his mind and go back. We sat down and figured out his path to graduation and agreed to it before he came home. It helped me to feel more comfortable. More than a year later, he finally told me more about why he wanted to come home. I have never had any regrets about bringing him home to finish high school.

[FaithManor]

When my brother was in high school, he needed surgery and had to be out of school for six weeks. The school was required to send a teacher to our home to tutor him. I don't think the teacher came everyday but helped him stay on track, get assignments completed, negotiated with the school for additional time to complete projects, and took care of grading. My brother had his best grades ever.

 

Could you convince dd's doctor to document her pain and recommend staying home? If he does this and sends the proper notifications to the school, she should be able to complete her last quarter at home. This would make it possible for her to have a "normal" transcript for 9th grade but get her out of the class. Obviously, the doctor would have to be convinced that going to school is hard on her health, but if she is having a lot of pain - and pain medications can really make people fuzzy and unsteady on their feet - and facing future surgery, there is probably a case to be made.

 

Faith

[Brindee]

When my brother was in high school, he needed surgery and had to be out of school for six weeks. The school was required to send a teacher to our home to tutor him. I don't think the teacher came everyday but helped him stay on track, get assignments completed, negotiated with the school for additional time to complete projects, and took care of grading. My brother had his best grades ever.

 

Could you convince dd's doctor to document her pain and recommend staying home? If he does this and sends the proper notifications to the school, she should be able to complete her last quarter at home. This would make it possible for her to have a "normal" transcript for 9th grade but get her out of the class. Obviously, the doctor would have to be convinced that going to school is hard on her health, but if she is having a lot of pain - and pain medications can really make people fuzzy and unsteady on their feet - and facing future surgery, there is probably a case to be made.

 

Faith

:iagree: I was wondering about this as well!

[Jeannie in NJ]

I am taking dd to her dr. today and will ask about a note for her to stay home and have a homebound teacher. I just got off the phone with my sil because my niece's last 2 months of 11th grade and her entire 12th grade had a homebound teacher (this was 12 years ago before any of us in the family knew anything about homeschooling). Sil said that what happened was that her dd was so depressed about things that were going on at the school that her parents finally decided to just let her stay home. After 3 weeks, the school called and offered to send a homebound teacher and my niece never went back to school. just finished her schooling with the homebound teacher.

[Storm Bay]

Yes, I think the idea of getting a homebound teacher to finish the year is the ideal plan to finish out this year if you can do it. If not, I'd base my plan on whether or not there is any bullying (if so, I'd take her out now) or not (then I wouldn't unless her health concerns are serious enough that she can't finish.)

 

However, after this year I'd be one opt to homeschool rather than have a homebound teacher, particularly if the health issues will be resolved with surgery.