Hi,
I had a request that is posted on Working with students with LD,
of “homeschooling” someone else’s kid. I had a different idea and thought I’d post it here. It isn’t impossible but it does present problems and maybe serious enough financial ones to parent.
I thought of offering that mom take her kid to me a few hours a week,
off school (during school hours). I know the schools have some limit on this. But I wondered what it was. Basically I thought to offer her
a few hours twice a week.
I could do great things with him in 6 hours a week, say; the parents wouldn’t need to worry about what he wasn’t learning in school; he’d still have whatever socialization etc he was getting in school; and I could charge them a lower rate as they are hours I couldn’t fill anyway.
(although I have heard of people working in the schools with kids as
tutors hired by the parent). I think more than an hour of that would be threatening to the school.
But how much time can he miss like this?
Anybody take their kid to lots of outside therapies (vt, im, pace, fastfoward, reading, speech, etc etc.) and take them out of school to do so??
Thanks,
—des
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
I don’t think he’d be missing much (and neither do the parents).
In 5 years, they haven’t taught him the sounds for letters, much math, etc etc.
—des
withdrawing kids from school
All of the schools that my children went to would have a fit if a child were removed during the school day. They didn’t even like it if a child had a dentist or doctor’s appointment during the school day.
it would take a very laid-back school to allow this. What might work in my state is if the child were registered as a homeschooler. Here homeschoolers are allowed to attend any part of the school day they wish to.
In any state, you’d have to check out the student’s schedule and look for the ‘softest’ part of the day to take him out. Maybe he could leave 2 hours early 2 days a week or only go half-days two days of the week.
A lot of this scheduling would fall on the parents’ shoulders unless the school is willing to allow his classroom teacher to talk with you directly about when best to take him out.
Good luck. It’s an innovative approach to the problem and I hope you can work it out.
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
I take my ds out of school one hour early 3 days a week to see a reading specialist. (It is a parochial school.) To do this, we had to have an evaluation and a diagnosis, and they consider this an accomodation for us. We don’t have a formal IEP, we just had a meeting and agreed upon a couple of accomodations that would benefit him.
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
It depends a lot on which state you live in. Our state allows a child to be taken out of school for any kind of medical appointment, therapy, or tutoring. I know several families in different schools who were able to arrange this easily (missing school for up to two hours per day five days a week).
My understanding is that California is impossible in this respect, because schools are penalized financially when a student is not in school in his seat. In our state, students are counted present for financial purposes as long as they are in school any part of the day.
Nancy
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
Nancy probably hit it on the head.
Our school is [i]very[/i] flexible about missing time, as long as you are there at least part of the day. And it doesn’t have to be much of the day! One time my son had several long appts so I pulled him for the day. On the way home from the doctors, we stopped at the school to pick up some papers. The “attendance” lady asked if David would like to drop into his classroom to pick up homework and a field trip notice. He did and she proceeded to ask me to sign him in so he would count at present. This was 20 minutes before the end of school!
Good luck on your plans,
Barb
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
In CA there is a minimum day, something like 3.5 or so hours. If the child is in school that long, then the school gets its ADA money. So, the way to do this is by either bringing the child late or removing the child early, just after lunch, so the minimum is satisfied. The school may fuss and fume, but this can be done.
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
Thanks Anitya,
I think there may be some minimum here though I can’t find it on the pages. I’m sure the school might have a hissy fit. OTOH, she’s like some
of you’ll with lots of complaints and maybe they will feel that she is going to be happier if she has it her way. We, on the other hand, get along just great.
—des
Re: hours you take your kid out for therapies??
I think your best bet would be to look up the state’s laws and how funding is allocated. Then go to the school level and discuss it there.
I think our previous school would have had a very difficult time with daily pull out, but the school my son currently attends would be fine with a half-day. Alot has to do with the principal.
I had the school send my child to a clinic and I now work in a clinic setting where we see kids all through the day. While I hate to see them miss part of the school day, I also strongly believe that it is not fair or productive for them to do the hardest work in their day after a long day at school. I think reading lessons and special therapies should be scheduled during the best time for them to learn.