provenance61 Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Please excuse the cross-post, I also posted to general board. We have homeschooled our son for a couple of years, and plan to homeschool our daughter who is going to start 1st grade. However, we have been working the past year to get independent evaluations related to her special needs. It's a long story, but if she remained in school, the evaluators would be able to come out in September and we think may be able to turn around reports within a month. The school has agreed to pay for the evaIs it a lot harder to pull after a month or two? Has anyone done this, and how has it worked? Am torn -- know it is easier to HS pulling before a school year starts, and another transition -- not good. BUT...it would be very helpful to get evaluations and we have been requesting these for about a year and a half. She has an IEP, which is also in process of revision now. We would be pulling in part b/c of our desire to HS, but also b/c she is not getting needed services through the school or her current providers. The other part of this is that we already have curriculum and co-op registration in place for her, so I would have to hold that temporarily if she started school year. She has also been asking to homeschool and is quite determined. Any thoughts? provenance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 If the school has already agreed to the evaluations and you are just waiting on the evaluators schedule, then I would stay until that is all done. If you have to change and do the evaluations privately, it may take much longer to get An initial appointment, get on the schedule for the evaluation etc. not to mention the expense. At that age I don't think that starting homeschooling in the middle of the year will be any harder that the beginning of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Isn't the law that they have to do the evaluations anyway, even if you pull out to homeschool? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
provenance61 Posted August 25, 2013 Author Share Posted August 25, 2013 I don't think so in our state, and we are not even sure that they won't fight if we don't also wait until we have the actual reports in hand. We are having a rough time. But if we pull, they are not required to do ANY evals of any kind or provide ANY services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofkids&pets Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Wow! Do you mind sharing what state you are in? Does your state ed. have a website that lists homeschool regulations? Here in NY, we are still entitled to evals and services as hsers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Isn't the law that they have to do the evaluations anyway, even if you pull out to homeschool? It sounds like they have already satisfied the law by doing their own evaluations (there wouldn't be an IEP in place without the district evaluations). If the child no longer is enrolled with the district, I don't think she would be legally entitled to the independent evals at district expense. I would personally wait to see what the independent evals say before pulling the child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 I would also wait. Our school district will not evaluate a child who is not enrolled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyomarie Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Since the IEE eval is already in the works, I would wait until they have been finished. I might also wait to see how the IEP changes in response to what the independent evaluator finds. If the school responds to your daughter's benefit because of the IEE results, I would be tempted to have her in school at least through Dec. to see how it goes. But then, I don't know all the specifics of the situation so I can't say for sure what I would do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herekittykitty Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 If you haven't already, I'd find out what tests and assessments are going to be used by the school evaluators - to see if it is worth the wait. In my district, school evaluations essentially consist of academic achievement testing, ie how well your child is doing in school. They are designed to determine whether or not your child is discrepant enough from his or her peers to qualify for special education. They do not diagnose anything or necessarily look at reasons for any discrepancies (which is a MAJOR failing IMO). Anyway, if this is what you are getting, you are most likely going to need private evaluations anyway and it wouldn't be worth it to wait IMO. If your district offers more comprehensive testing with some diagnostic components I might consider it. I would just hate for you to wait and then be disappointed with what you got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
provenance61 Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 Hi, I'm OP -- Thank you to everyone who has given their thoughts. I guess my heart is just feeling a tug to let go and stop fighting. So much more positive energy in HSing and we believe we could give her a better education and get her what she needs faster than working through the school system. We are also concerned that if we get recommendations for more services, we may not get them without a fight. Herekittykitty, these are independent evals -- private vendors outside the school system, and the district agreed to cover the expense. She already qualified for specneeds based on her physical disability. The evals are all related to her specific area of disability, which hasn't been adequately assessed by school or regular constracted service provider (which has been the real gatekeeper in keeping her from needed services). If anyone has more thoughts, or warm fuzzies--please add them. Did others pull out specifically b/c of lack of services, or mixed reasons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geodob Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I would suggest that you change to HSing the day after the evaluations have been done. Rather than wait another month for the report, and maybe another month for a meeting to discuss the report. Once the tests have been done, they can't stop you getting the report. Where given that you and your daughter are keen to begin HSing, and the tests will be done within a few weeks. It would be good to shorten the delay, from a few months to a few weeks? Though as Kitty suggested, the school evaluations are quite limited. But once this is done, you are then legally entitled to a free IEE Independent Educational Evaluation. Which is where you'll get a far more helpful report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 I agree with the others who stated that she should stay in the school until after receiving test results. I don't know or understand the nature of your DD's issues. I pulled my own son from school over Christmas break during 5th grade. Our biggest issues were locating a cover that would accept us mid year and finding acceptable curriculum to finish out the year. Our state law requires homeschoolers to be under an umbrella organization. DS took no co-op classes the second half of that year. We kept DS very busy that 2nd semester. He missed his friends, so one or two friends came over for activities. DS participated in sports, two summer camps, and we took a week long beach trip during spring break, which was awesome. DS required some de-schooling, but I kept him busy to help reduce time spent thinking about the previous semester. A word of caution. Do not discuss pulling your DD from school in front of her. The uncertainty causes tons of unnecessary anxiety and stress. I realize that she wants to leave and is emotional. Blessings, h ETA: We pulled DS from a private Christian school after 7 years because the new elementary principal decided to no longer support our son's accommodations. The school is not legally bound to Wright's Law. Anyways, removing DS from the situation was a huge blessing. He learned to type and his standardized test scores soared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
provenance61 Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 Geodob, thank you for the thought about HSing sooner. That's something to think about. As far as the evals we are waiting for -- these ARE the IEEs so we are hoping they will be helpful. So, if we have the evals done, you think we will still be able to get copies of the rpts after we are HSing? I would hope, but not sure. When we pulled our son a couple of years ago we requested a copy of his file. And you know, it was 3 pieces of paper and not everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
provenance61 Posted August 28, 2013 Author Share Posted August 28, 2013 Heathermomster, thank you so much for your story. Reading about others pulling midyear is helping so much. It sounds like everyone is pretty much agreeing to stay in for the evals. I will try to set my mind to it. Just wish we could have started HSing from the beginning of this year as we have curric and co-op classes all set up. Hopeful though that we will be able to start it as soon as possible. I also have written HSLDA to doubleheck on any additional requirements about pulling once year starts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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