Advice, DS high school options.

[calnativinva]

Hi,

First of all, I am not currently homeschooling - just the kind that comes with a global pandemic. My oldest DS is finishing 8th grade right now in Fairfax County. He receives special ed. services for inattentive ADHD and anxiety. School the past few years has been difficult for him. It pretty much highlights all his weaknesses. He has required a huge amount of handholding at home to get work done.  It's a lot of work for him, and me. So he struggles with attention but also self confidence which combines with anxiety to make public school not the greatest environment for  him. Until distance learning started, I worked with him to complete all his missing work from the third quarter. There was a bit. I helped him get it all done and, miracle of miracles, he passed all his classes. So now distance learning of new material has started. He has each class once a week online and then there's work to complete. I have found that him doing this, with me close by  kind of  demonstrating to him how to listen to a class, maybe take notes in the end is easier.  Full disclosure, I still have to work with him a lot but it is a less charged environment. When he was physically going to school he had to catch the bus at 6:50, spend the day there probably not really getting much out of it, come home, and then sit with me for sometimes a few hours in order to scrape by and sometimes get an F. He has commented that this current situation s a lot less stressful. (to be honest, the fact that he is not in class as much and has a lot more free time probably is the main reason for this view!) So this has me thinking that maybe there is a different route for him. I see that Fairfax County offers online classes and also PT enrollment for high school. Does anyone have any experience with this? This scenario is a new one for me, so I'm not even very sure what I am asking here.  I am grateful for any advice or past experiences.

[PeterPan]

First, welcome to the boards! My ds has an IEP with ADHD, ASD, Anxiety, and SLDs, so I hear you on the issues with how that works out in the ps. I've worked really hard to advocate for my ds' IEP because it gets him a disability scholarship. We homeschool, because that is, as you're finding, a more productive environment for him. That could change, but for now it is.

So just a tip, you might want to change your username to something less identifiable. Things you post will show up on google search, so maybe change that real fast to Awesome Mom or something.

As far as the distance learning options through the ps (=public school), I think take your time and look at your options. You would have those but also possibly charter schools and cyber schools or even independently homeschooling. The main reason a ps is going to offer those is because it gets them $$$. That school wants to offer something so they can count you enrolled, so those state $$ to to them not another school. But what the best option is for your ds, whether their offerings are a good fit or someone else's, that's for you to sort out.

If you have charter/cyber options in your state, one advantage can be flexible IEP implementation. You might also get funding to use for your choice of nonreligious items. Some of these charters are receiving say $15k a year when they have a student on an IEP. So they might fund counseling for the anxiety, social thinking if the needs goals for that, and even throw in $1000-1500 for you to use as you want. Some people will take that money to a vendor like Timberdoodle and buy a grade leveled "non-religious" kit or things from the kit to use with their dc. So it could get you things you'd really enjoy having.

So I guess see what your choices are in your state. I agree with you that decreasing the amount of time he spends in transition can be good. Also check whether your county is allowing homeschoolers to participate in ps sports. Our *state* requires the ps to allow homeschoolers to participate. So your ds could do his school work and then go do track or basketball or whatever. He might not need to be in the ps online service but could be in a different thing and still participate. It varies by state and county, so it's something to check.

Well good luck to you! I think you're on the right track. Yes it can be very good. Because he's looking at high school, you need to think through transition services and vocational training and how that transition would work if he wanted to go into say a vocational school in a couple years. It's just stuff to sort out. If he needs more bloom time, you could repeat 8th and then make that decision a year from now for 9th. But just know that if he you're doing high school work completely independently (not through a charter school or the ps online), then the ps can refuse to take your credits to allow him to transfer back. So for vocational schools, you'll want to see how that would roll and have a plan. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by PeterPan

[calnativinva]

Thanks for the advice. And I have changed my user name - thanks again. I'm going to look at some of the issues you brought up - I'm really very grateful. Thanks again!

[Ellie]

40 minutes ago, calnativinva said:

Hi,

First of all, I am not currently homeschooling - just the kind that comes with a global pandemic. My oldest DS is finishing 8th grade right now in Fairfax County. He receives special ed. services for inattentive ADHD and anxiety. School the past few years has been difficult for him. It pretty much highlights all his weaknesses. He has required a huge amount of handholding at home to get work done.  It's a lot of work for him, and me. So he struggles with attention but also self confidence which combines with anxiety to make public school not the greatest environment for  him. Until distance learning started, I worked with him to complete all his missing work from the third quarter. There was a bit. I helped him get it all done and, miracle of miracles, he passed all his classes. So now distance learning of new material has started. He has each class once a week online and then there's work to complete. I have found that him doing this, with me close by  kind of  demonstrating to him how to listen to a class, maybe take notes in the end is easier.  Full disclosure, I still have to work with him a lot but it is a less charged environment. When he was physically going to school he had to catch the bus at 6:50, spend the day there probably not really getting much out of it, come home, and then sit with me for sometimes a few hours in order to scrape by and sometimes get an F. He has commented that this current situation s a lot less stressful. (to be honest, the fact that he is not in class as much and has a lot more free time probably is the main reason for this view!) So this has me thinking that maybe there is a different route for him. I see that Fairfax County offers online classes and also PT enrollment for high school. Does anyone have any experience with this? This scenario is a new one for me, so I'm not even very sure what I am asking here.  I am grateful for any advice or past experiences.

Welcome to the forum. 🙂

What state is Fairfax County? I'm assuming Virginia but just want to clarify. 🙂

I'm almost always going to advocate for private homeschooling rather than any public-school-at-home option. You will be able to tailor your ds's learning instead of following the path that the public school says he has to follow. There will be a cost involved since homeschooling is *private,* but you have many, many options.

[calnativinva]

Yes, Fairfax Co. Virginia

[Jean in Newcastle]

If you do the distance learning will you still be able to provide the scaffolding that you are providing him now?  He's successful because you are doing that.  (Just for comparison my current college senior with ADHD etc. required scaffolding until 11th grade before I could start to hand over the reins more and more.  He even needed some help at the start of college.  Now he's able to manage his organizational and medicinal (yes, he's on meds) and executive function needs on his own with some assistance from the Disability Services office (things like extra time for tests in a quiet environment). 

[PeterPan]

5 hours ago, Ellie said:

I'm almost always going to advocate for private homeschooling rather than any public-school-at-home option. You will be able to tailor your ds's learning instead of following the path that the public school says he has to follow. There will be a cost involved since homeschooling is *private,* but you have many, many options.

In theory that's nice, but as a practical matter she has to be very careful about not closing doors for vocational options. Once you start down a completely homeschool path, that's the path you're on, no changing. Even some private schools will not take your homeschool credits. So this is a point where she has to research and be very *careful*. Also, if the dc has been doing WELL with his high structure educational plan, he might do best continuing with the high structure. And if he could benefit from services (which he probably could, given his IEP and list of challenges), then getting an option that gets them funding for those services would be wise. Odds are there's lot more that wasn't getting done re IEP services that could get funded by going through a charter school. Their overhead is lower, so sometimes people are receiving more generous IEP hours. And since many therapies are $100+ an hour, this is a pretty big deal to get access to those.

She just needs to take her time and sift through the options. She might like to look at https://www.socialthinking.com/  to see the types of services he might benefit from that she could be advocating for. Also https://efpractice.com  

[City Mouse]

A situation like yours is exactly why my DS did school at home. We chose to use an online charter school rather than home school for the outside accountability and to keep his 504 plan active and for some other reasons. Before we changed schools, My DS would come home from a full day at school with 3+ hrs of work to do that did not get completed in class and this was in 5th grade. I figured that if I had to reteach everything, I might as well be there the first time the material is presented.
 

For several years, he pretty much only worked if I was sitting right next to him, but over time, I was able to reduce the amount of support I provided. He is finishing up his senior year this week. This last semester, I only had to help a bit with time management (give him deadlines) and very occasional editing of his essay. He started some dual enrollment classes in 11th grade and found he actually did better with those that with many of his high school classes.  
 

The decision we made to pull him out of our local school, was the best thing we could have done for him, and I have no regrets in that regard at all. 

[calnativinva]

On 5/8/2020 at 11:49 AM, Jean in Newcastle said:

If you do the distance learning will you still be able to provide the scaffolding that you are providing him now?  He's successful because you are doing that.  (Just for comparison my current college senior with ADHD etc. required scaffolding until 11th grade before I could start to hand over the reins more and more.  He even needed some help at the start of college.  Now he's able to manage his organizational and medicinal (yes, he's on meds) and executive function needs on his own with some assistance from the Disability Services office (things like extra time for tests in a quiet environment). 

Thanks. I work part-time, at least for now, so it is possible for me to provide the scaffolding in the fall. It's reassuring to learn of a kid who needed scaffolding until later and is currently in college. Thanks again!

[Alice]

Hi! I’m in Fairfax County. I have a son just finishing his junior year and one finishing 8th grade (and a daughter finishing up 5th grade but that’s not as pertinent to you). We have always homeschooled. My middle son definitely has ADHD. I also work part-time. 

You can do part-time high school in VA. You can take up to two core classes (so not Band or Art) at a high school as a homeschooler. I believe that it is somewhat subject to availability, and that they are not required to allow it. I haven’t looked into all the details. I have not done it and haven’t known many people who do. Most of the homeschoolers I personally know enjoy their freedom and don’t want to be tied to the school schedule. For you, that might be different, since you are already used to that schedule.

You can also take online classes through Virtual Virginia. There are regular and AP classes. The classes are free to public school students but are $375 per course for a homeschooler. That’s a fairly typical price for an online class, cheaper than some we have used. We used them for one class, AP Computer Science. It was fine, actually much less demanding than other online classes that my son has taken from other providers. You can also take classes at Nova as a DE (dual enrollment) student. There is an application process that involves proving academic ability with either a standardized test or placement test. I know many people who have done that, usually for junior or senior year. My son will likely take at least a couple of classes next year. Nova does have online classes as well. My second son really wants to do ASL there next year so I’m looking into it, even though he will only be a freshman. 

Homeschooling in Virginia is fairly easy, as far as the legal part. There are also a LOT of homeschool opportunities in this area for outside classes and for social opportunities (perhaps not as many in the next year with covid-19). 

If you have other questions feel free to DM me. 

[Reefgazer]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:06 AM, calnativinva said:

Hi,

First of all, I am not currently homeschooling - just the kind that comes with a global pandemic. My oldest DS is finishing 8th grade right now in Fairfax County. He receives special ed. services for inattentive ADHD and anxiety. School the past few years has been difficult for him. It pretty much highlights all his weaknesses. He has required a huge amount of handholding at home to get work done.  It's a lot of work for him, and me. So he struggles with attention but also self confidence which combines with anxiety to make public school not the greatest environment for  him. Until distance learning started, I worked with him to complete all his missing work from the third quarter. There was a bit. I helped him get it all done and, miracle of miracles, he passed all his classes. So now distance learning of new material has started. He has each class once a week online and then there's work to complete. I have found that him doing this, with me close by  kind of  demonstrating to him how to listen to a class, maybe take notes in the end is easier.  Full disclosure, I still have to work with him a lot but it is a less charged environment. When he was physically going to school he had to catch the bus at 6:50, spend the day there probably not really getting much out of it, come home, and then sit with me for sometimes a few hours in order to scrape by and sometimes get an F. He has commented that this current situation s a lot less stressful. (to be honest, the fact that he is not in class as much and has a lot more free time probably is the main reason for this view!) So this has me thinking that maybe there is a different route for him. I see that Fairfax County offers online classes and also PT enrollment for high school. Does anyone have any experience with this? This scenario is a new one for me, so I'm not even very sure what I am asking here.  I am grateful for any advice or past experiences.

Welcome to the boards!  Have you considered just dropping the formal school and homeschooling?  It seems it works for you.

[calnativinva]

Thanks, Alice. I'm researching Virtual Virginia. So, you can either take classes through Virtual Virginia either through a supplement to public school or as a homeschooler? Sounds promising. It sounds like FCPS is trying to figure out what to do in the Fall. Sounds like the chances of full-time onsite instruction are slim. We will see.

 

Reefgzer, I have considered dropping the formal school route but finding it difficult to just make that decision. I'm curious to see how my son finishes out this year and will weight the positive and negatives this summer. Thanks!