I have been reading and posting some on here for a couple of weeks now. I have decided to hs starting next fall. However, I have been feeling frustrated about the amount of time we could be spending learning at home when instead he is at school. I guess that would sound silly to most but its just that I know he isn't learning a whole lot at school. He is in Kindergarten and it just seems like most of the day they are coloring or something like that. They aren't teaching them phonics. They have their site words that they are supposed to learn at home. Thankfully, we had already started phonics before he went to school and have continued. Anyway, all this brings me to my day today. I kept thinking all day how I'd really like for him to be home learning. I just hate to pull him out mid-year. I do like his teacher and teacher's assistant and don't want any hurt feelings. Not that the teacher's take precedence over my child but its still in my mind. So I was just feeling like I needed a push or something. Then I get a call from the school saying my son has 1 unexcused absence and 2 unexcused tardies and they will have to send me "the letter" home unless I can come up with a dr.'s excuse for one of the days. I don't take my kids to the dr. every time they're sick! So then my husband brings ds home from school and says he got in trouble for fighting today. According to my ds he was playing in the floor with 2 other boys and another boy came up behind him and wrapped his arm around my son's neck and pulled him back. So he stood up for himself and they both got in trouble. Add all that to the fact that he comes home every day from school talking like one of the other boys who talks kind of baby talk. I don't know, I just don't like any of it. I just don't know what kind of a big deal it would be to pull him out now instead of waiting. Has anyone dealt with this? I am in KY in case that matters and I have been told that the guy you have to deliver the letter to is a real jerk about hs'ing. Any input?
Hi there! I have been lurking for a few months and just this week set up an account, but I wanted to post you a reply. I pulled my DD10 out of her private school midyear...and everyone survived. It wasn't a big deal at all. I explained to the teacher that I had always wanted to hs and this seemed like as good as time as any to start. I think if you are wanting to hs and able to do it NOW, then go for it now. I live in KY as well, and got a very pleasant letter from the school superintendent stating they had received my letter of intent. HTH, Vicki
I pulled my son out of 5th grade mid year...but I put him at a private school for the rest of that year as I hadn't "gotten my head around" homeschooling yet. Check with HSLD on Kentucky law...but there isn't any rules about not being ALLOWED to pull them in the middle of the year. I personally would tell the school to send whatever letter they felt was necessary, but unless he has too many absences I just don't sweat the small stuff. (our ps students can miss up to 9 days.) All the other stuff is just public school. I think we don't notice it as much until we decide to do something different and then it starts to rankle. Do whatever you feel is right. The temperment of the person whom you have to send your intent letter shouldn't be part of it. Assume good intent and let the chips fall where they may.
Thank you for the responses. Vicki, where in Ky are you? I was told by another hs'er that we had to hand deliver our letter to the superintendent's office. It would be really nice if that wasn't the case.
I did this with my oldest. He did fine. IMO it is better to start sooner than later. Now don't stress about handing to the super.office. I do this to make sure all is done the first time and to make sure it gets to who it needs to , even though I don't have to. Our Sup. is really awesome.
I did this right after Christmas, my two sons were to be back at school on January 4th and instead I showed up at the school and withdrew them, didn't know at the start of the school holiday that I would be hs by the end but hey life happens. Anyway my children were fine and the school just said that the understood. My oldest was in fitfh grade and was AB honor roll his whole school life and when I did a placement math test on him he didn't even know all of his multiplication tables he couldn't tell me off the top of his head what 4x8 was so we new then we were doing the right thing by hs them. And my kinder was happy about getting away from the bully in his class. So I think we did right by how we felt our children should be thought and treated. Ok I am going to stap now I a rambling.lol
We pulled ds out when he was in 1st grade mid-year because of his inability to cope with the classroom dynamics. I am also in the process of pulling dd10 out in a week. In IL we don't have to submit anything at all, but if you don't want the truant officer at your door, it is best to let the school know. In our case, dd is going to still continue to take band at school so we had to make all of those arrangements. I our area, it hasn't mattered if we did it mid-year or not, the ps teachers always are saddened by it, and the administration is always put-off. You can't please them all, so we just do what we need to for our children. You'll be fine! Turning in your letter is the toughest part, and once it's done, it's done! .....oh, and WELCOME!!!! :lol:
If I had it to do over again, I would have pulled her the instant we decided to hs. Instead I waited till the school year was over and by that time she was so beat down emotionally it took her 2 more years to feel confident enough to learn to read. I had to undo alot of damage because I didn't want to "disrupt the schedule".
I just pulled mine out today- one because of harrasment from the school, but had been talking about doing it for a while due to not liking what goes on at the schools. I was actually going to let the 4th grader stay through this year- and just take out the 5th grader. But the absenses thing made my mind up for me. good luck!!
I pulled my son out right after Christmas break was over..he went to school for about3-4 days after break and then I pulled him out..He is adjusting just fine and is doing 100X better than he was in PS
I pulled my four children out this past fall. I actually worked at the school that my oldest two attended so I quit my job as well. The principal and the staff could not have been nicer about it. Many of the teachers told me they were jealous. My oldest still goes back once a week for band. We took off two weeks, and my children did fine. I have to admit I still wrestle with the socialization thing. I see how happy my kids are when they get to be around their PS friends, and I still question my decision. Unfortunately, there are no co-ops nearby, and our homeschooling group is quite small and only has meetups 1-2 times a month. I think you just have to go with your gut; everybody's situation is different.
I'm in Bullitt County...just south of Louisville. I mailed my letter to his office. I've done a LOT of research about homeschooling laws in KY, and never heard of having to hand-deliver the letter.
We started mid-year 3 years ago....we didn't pull them because we moved at the same time....we just didn't enroll them here and mailed in our homeschool notice of intent, etc. They only had one quarter left in the year and it still went well to start then.
We pulled ours out in November 2004. I got all worked up over it, and it turned out to be no big deal. I had my hs registration papers all in order and ready to show, and they didn't even ask to see them! Best wishes!
Send the letter certified - that way they canNOT say they didn't get it I didn't pull them out mid year as we decided late in the year to "possibly" homeschool.
I agree about mailing the letter certified mail, so you have proof that they received it. I also like to keep a copy of it at home just in case. I would just go for it and start to enjoy teaching your child right now. No sense in sending him off to color when you can do much more with him at home. Good luck and enjoy!
Here are the homeschooling laws for your state (KY) http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Kentucky.pdf It seems pretty relaxed, you shouldn't have a problem. If you do run into a problem I would come back on here and ask for help. I am sure there are hs's on here from KY who have experience with the laws and can guide you. Try to go into the office as prepared as possible, because they are likely going to try to change your mind. When they loose children, they loose $$ for the school.
I pulled my son out of school at the end of kindergarten. I pulled my daughter out two and a half months into Grade 3. In retrospect, I think I put far more mental energy into these decisions than was necessary. It all worked out great. In fact, by the end of kindy my son was only attending two days a week. His teacher was very supportive as we all recognized that he was under too much stress to attend every day. (His teacher even spontaneously suggested homeschooling, unaware that we'd already begun to consider it!) So, don't let the school bully you about absences. Find out your rights, and what the potential consequences are to skipping school. If there are none, then do what you like. Having my son miss 3 weeks of school in grade 5 because he got horribly ill with croup and had to visit the Emergency room twice, kind of put the whole issue of attendance in perspective for me. I decided that I'd rather spend a week in Florida with him, than worry about whether he was in school every day. Because anything can happen, at any time.
When we started homeschooling I kept my son home from K and sent my oldest off to third grade at the public school. She ended up being very unhappy with her class and teacher in third, so we ended up pulling her out in October at her request. The only downside was she needed several weeks of deschooling before she started to get used to the idea that homeschooling is different than school at home. DS went to preschool, and never wants to go back to school. Youngest DD has never experienced school. We are working on K level material with her at 4.5 years. It's going well! The only downside to pulling mid year was DD missing her friends. But we made sure she stayed in scouts, church youth group, and we joined a coops later than year. We also connected with other homeschoolers in town, and had frequent playdates in the afternoons after school work was completed. Make sure you keep up with playdates and your child will probably be fine! Edie
Thanks to everyone for the responses. I don't know why it feels like such a big deal to me to pull him out. I'm goint to take the rest of the week to think hard about this. Dh is supportive whatever I do so that's good. I appreciate everyone who shared personal experiences with me. That helps a lot.
