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Hybrid schooling question and intro (Illinois)


Guest writermom333
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Guest writermom333

  I am in central Illinois and my dd has attended private school or public only.  She is now 13 and finishing 7th grade at our local jhs. 

 

Kate was tested in K, 3, and 5th grades--the last test was done by an outside psychologist the district hired (at my insistence).

 

Kate has dyslexia, ADD, and slower processing.  However, her IQ does not qualify for special ed (too high), nor can she have an IEP.

She is considered 'at risk for failure'  and 'falls between the cracks' (their words.)  She has some written accommodations, but since there is no IEP they are not enforceable and seldom used.  

 

We hired a dyslexia tutor for two years when she was in 4th-5th, and that helped her have a pretty good foundation for reading.

At this time she is failing math and science in the public school.  District has agreed to let us homeschool her next fall in those subjects, but she will continue her other classes at the JHS.  That way she can still have the sports and social interaction she loves.

 

My question:  I am considering alternating her math and science lessons.  We will use teachingtextbooks.com for math through the summer, and then stop math for three months and concentrate on science. At the first of the year we will switch back to math. This will allow Kate the opportunity to work on her public school classes and hopefully keep those grades up. 

 

Am I crazy?  I realize that Kate will need to refresh each time we switch, but that seems like a small problem.  Has anyone else used this method?

 

Also, I am puzzled about how Illinois law works as we go through high school.  Assuming we keep this schedule, will the public school give her a 'diploma' for just the classes she takes?  I have contacted the high school counselor, but haven't heard back yet.

 

Finally, can anyone recommend a science curriculum?  We will hire a tutor to help with her two classes, but would like something that would work best with Kate's learning challenges.

 

Thanks for any input/advice!

Debbi

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Welcome to the boards Debbi! Your daughter sounds very fortunate to have parents who are working hard to help her succeed.

 

I am not familiar with Illinois law nor am I an expert in dyslexia, so I will leave those questions for others to answer. I do want to address scheduling. I would be very hesitant to have a child who struggles with math take a three month break from the subject, I think you would lose a lot of ground and end up in a cycle of reteaching things over and over. I think your plan to focus on math over the summer is fine, but rather than drop math when you start science I would keep going just at a slower pace. Additionally, you may want to backtrack in math if your child has not mastered skills from earlier grades. Most curricula have placement tests available, you can use those to determine what she has mastered and what she hasn't. If you homeschool math year round, even if she starts out a level or two behind you should be able to get her caught back up to grade level in time, but with a more solid foundation to build on.

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Illinois laws regarding homeschooling are mostly non existent. But since you are partially enrolled in ps too you may have to abide by their rules. You will need to discuss with the school what they are willing to do. They may be unwilling to issue a diploma since she didn't take all classes at school.

 

I'm curious heat district you are in since I am in central Illinois too :)

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Guest writermom333

This leads me to another question.  How often do you work on each subject?  The math lesson takes about 45 minutes for her to complete.  What if i do math and science every other day, Mon-Saturday?

 

Debbi

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This leads me to another question. How often do you work on each subject? The math lesson takes about 45 minutes for her to complete. What if i do math and science every other day, Mon-Saturday?

 

Debbi

I think this could be a workable plan.

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In my household we do math, music, and foreign language every day (well, we aim for every day, the average is a little lower) Monday through Saturday, because those are skill subjects that need a lot of exposure and practice and build on themselves incrementally. Content subjects like science and history we work on 2-3 times a week.

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In my household we do math, music, and foreign language everyday (well, we aim for every day, the average is a little lower) Monday through Saturday, because those are skill subjects that need a lot of exposure and practice and build on themselves incrementally. Content subjects like science and history work on 2-3 times a week.

This is kind of how we structure a week, math is daily.

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Were you thinking of doing double the time on each subject half as often? If you were thinking of doing more than an hour maths you may have to build up to it as she will not be used to longer than that on one subject. How does it work logistically - do you go to school for those times or does she come home or does she do the homework you set during class and the lessons at home?

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We live in northern IL and my dd will be attending the local public HS part time next year for band and one or two elective classes that we cannot do at home, such as speech and debate or music theory. This HS will not count any homeschool classes towards a diploma so we will have to either make our own transcript for homeschooled classes or dd would have to make up classes missed in summer school if, for some reason, we would want her to get her diploma from the HS. I don't see this happening, so we will just make up our own transcript and also get one from the school for classes taken there. I am not sure if other high schools would accept homeschooled classes or not or if it is a state thing, but I would talk to the school and see what your options are.

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