It's absolutely relevant. They're all legitimate questions and the answers are not simple. It is utterly at the discretion of ANY public school to ACCEPT OR DENY any credit earned at a private school or homeschool. You have the RIGHT to school differently. You do NOT have the RIGHT to demand that the public school accepts your idea of education, your credits, your curriculum (regardless of who it is accredited by). Some public schools are pretty accommodating to kids from private school and home school. Some are NOT. They can LEGALLY make this choice
I'm not DEMANDING they accept my idea of education. But I DO have a right to demand they teach my child AT THEIR LEVEL. That is FEDERAL law. That means that, if my child comes in with a knowledge of Trig, they are not placed into Alg. 1. You seem to forget that public school is for ALL STUDENTS. And homeschoolers PAY TAXES to support those schools; we have a right to use them if and when we want to. I have worked in the public school system. I know just how complicated it is. But if they TRULY CARED ABOUT THE KID, they would make attempts to place them appropriately, instead of punishing them for being legally educated in a way the school doesn't agree with. And many districts DO try to place them appropriately. In Ohio, we have two legal ways to be "accountable" each year. We can do a portfolio evaluation (by a certified teacher) or we can be tested. There was a woman on here who told me she wasn't "allowed" to do a portfolio evaluation. When I questioned her on it, she said that the super of the small town she lived in told her he refused to accept anything but testing from her, because "he" felt the person who did the portfolio evaluation was "too easy" on her!!! TOTALLY ILLEGAL!!!
LOL...Jackie, you kill me. You can be so....you. LOL. " You seem to forget that public school is for ALL STUDENTS. And homeschoolers PAY TAXES to support those schools; we have a right to use them if and when we want to." Um, Jacks? I paid tax to the public schools for eight years while also schooling my kid at home. Believe me, I haven't forgotten that. LOL. And...why, yes indeed....I am familiar with the idea that we have a right to use public schools. LOL. Since I DID for five years. Jackie, I think most schools DO make every attempt to appropriately place kids. The public school you signed Rachel up for did. The public school I signed Elle up for did. They did pretty well by both of us. I'm just pointing out what's on the books. Legally...public schools have the last say...when they're writing the diploma....on what credit they will or won't accept from private schools and home schools. Yeah, they might turn you down for calling soccer practice gym class, and piano lessons music class. Why? because it's not fair to other kids who play soccer and take piano lessons. No, they probably won't place your kid with demonstrable Pre-Calc skills...in Algebra One. Why? because if your kid writes a test for an independent agency, and does well....it leaves their butts hanging out for a law suit (and they know this). If my kid were in this position, I'd call their bluff. They want to start my kid in ninth grade as a senior? I'd have my kid start ninth grade, and start making phone calls. I'd have my kid write CLEP tests for all the subjects I thought s/he deserved credit for. A passing score on a CLEP test...is going to make a high school change their perspective about giving credit. Most schools are good. Most are gonna try pretty hard to accommodate kids. But sometimes you have to give a little, too. You're the one who changed your mind and decided to return after shunning them. LOL. Your kid is going to be out of sync, and will gobble up resources and time for a while....with innocent questions about how things work at public school. It's kind of a pain. Be empathetic about that. I've met darned few public school teachers who don't truly care about the kids. A couple, maybe. LOL. But largely, they're good folks who really care. And LOTS Of them LOVE home schoolers. LOL. We couldn't go to conferences without being told Elle was six shades of brilliant, polite, funny, creative....blah blah....the kid is SUCH a brown noser. LOL. A lot of schools are really wonderful about home schoolers if you give them a chance. The schools that are turning home school kids away have probably had terrible experiences with home school. We had a couple kids show up in late elementary who COULD NOT READ...the little dude in second grade didn't even know all his letters. Our teachers could handle it because we're a small school with smaller classes. Imagine being an inner city school. You've got 45 kids already in an overpacked classroom. How are you gonna give a kid like that the attention he needs? Then, there are districts where the majority of kids coming in from "home school" in the middle of high school are dangerous discipline problems. Kids who have been home schooled around their court dates and time in juvenile detention. At some point, overburdened schools make judgement calls...sometimes fairly, sometimes not...but they do it for the sake of the majority. We hear about this stuff, and we imagine our own kids, and how hard they work, and how angry we'd be if they were forced to have a setback like that... But did you ever consider... Would any of US HERE....EVER send our kids to a school that pulled that? Oh hells no! We'd find a way to keep home schooling, or we'd find another school. As far as your woman in Ohio goes with the portfolio problem...that's illegal and she should seek legal counsel. Or she should just move North to Michigan where the state leaves you completely alone. LOL.
One thing we all forget...is that our experience is only a fraction of how school works other places in the country. The fact that we have FIFTY entirely different educational codes...is sort of staggering. There are so many differences. From the differences in requirements for public, homeschool and private school....to the difference of what level of government controls graduation requirements. To the differences in homeschool law and how homeschool is perceived. It's an absolute maze. When talking about this stuff....there are so many ways to disagree...and still have every person be right. There are just that many differences....in region, education authority, etc. Just thought I'd throw that out.
You know, I didn't even try to read your post. It's late, I'm tired, and I'm fed up with this whole conversation. I'm quite content to let you have the last word.
Well, I'm glad you told me I had the last word. How would I know, otherwise? ROTFL! No worries Jackie, we can talk tomorrow. Sleep well
I fully agree with this. It would be great if ps accepted hs'ing classes in NYS but as I said before due to the testing system (and the test are required for graduation) unless the kids are testing all along it is nearly impossible for them to enter at the right place or be given the proper credit. And as I said before most public schools will not even look at the science labs because there is a certain criteria that they need to follow for a lab to be an approved regents lab and since the schools are not familiar with the particular hs curriculum they are not going to go through all the labs to certify each one. In an ideal world a school would be able to test and place the kids or even just take the parents word but there can be so much red tape within the district that it makes that impossible.
New York would be a nightmare. One of the reasons we chose to go full public school for high school was Elle's passion for science. I knew that some university admissions might have issues with Biology, Chemistry and Physics credits without approved labs. If we had home schooled through high school, I'd have dual enrolled her in community college for these classes for that reason.
CrazyMom, you're doing it again, acting like you're the only one who knows anything. Please stop. I operate as a private school. Legally, I could have graduated her myself IF I'd had the chance to. It's not the child who wanted to go back, it's her parents. If I had known there was a chance they would want to go back to public, I could have set her up with the Approved Home Study plan from 9th grade up, rather than the Private School option. I asked her mom about that, she said wasn't needed, so I didn't. My plan was to enroll her with the CLE plan, which is accredited, for this year and next. I have NO idea what this new program is going to do about the situation, because I haven't heard of it before this week. I KNOW there's no way she's going to get through 4 high school maths! It's not my problem anymore! I did have a plan to get her through Alg 1, geometry, and one other math, which is all the CLE plan requires. Even so, it might have taken us another semester or so to get all her requirements in. I'M not the one who's shocked that PS didn't want to give subject tests for each subject. I'M not the one who's shocked that PS wanted her to start back at 9th grade. I've been telling my friend all along. The child wants to go to a state university about an hour away. I don't know what she wants to major in, but I'll guarantee it won't be math or science. I'm just wondering at this point if my friend will ever speak to me again. NOW PLEASE DROP IT! I'll let you know what I find out when I find it out.
Lindina, you are doing it again. LOL! PLEASE STOP LOL! It's not that I don't find it sort of funny....but I think you're giving yourself an ulcer worrying about everything I write. Maybe you should just ignore my posts? Thought for the day: People have different perspectives. Other thought for the day: Why don't you try READING my posts before imagining you're being attacked? "I think you did what you could for this girl. Hopefully, at some point, her mom realizes that." As much as you've been a toad to me lately, Lindina, I'm actually on your side with this one. The girl's mother IS reacting unfairly and isn't doing what's right for the girl. She'd be a lot better off finishing with you or simply starting school in 9th grade, in my opinion. Sounds like you did your best to make her aware of potential problems and there was a communication glitch. (communication glitch with Lindina? Never! LOL.....just messin girl...I really hope you and your friend get through this and enjoy each other's friendship again.)
The whole point of a message board is NOT to be Stepford Wives who have ONE MIND....but to mix perspectives, get some conversation going, actually TALK about something other than who has what curriculum for sale. We've got Conservative folks here, Liberal folks, strict home schoolers, loose home schoolers, people who use the public schools, people who would NEVER use the public schools, VERY religious people, Somewhat religious people, different faiths, Dads, Moms, Grandparents.....People from different states and different countries! We've got a ton of different ideas....lets explore them! Knowledge is power
