Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Homeschool to Public/Private School

If you homeschool and then plan to transfer back to public or private school in the future, how do you prove that your child is ready for the grade you want to enroll him in? Would they do grade-level placement testing? I'm trying to choose a homeschool curriculum, and I'm debating between an online public virtual school and an eclectic mix of curriculums. If I choose to select my own hodge-podge of programs, will we have trouble if/when we choose to go back to school in the future? Thank you!
Jen

I think they just look at what grades the kid has completed (whether homeschooled, private schooled, or public schooled in another district) and put them in the corresponding next grade up. They're not going to test for placement purposes for the most part. That said, in many states homeschooled kids are tested yearly. I wouldn't be concerned about how well these kids will do with a standardized test, though.

I've heard of parents having trouble getting appropriate work for their kids even in VPS. If you do go that route, I'd make sure you work out in advance exactly how you're going to get appropriately challenging work for a gifted kid who may work through the material more quickly than a ND kid.

Thank you. I've been reading LOTS of reviews of VPS programs in our area, and now I'm leaning more towards choosing my own mix and skipping that route altogether. Apparently, there is little flexibility, and if you don't like particuar subjects, you still have to do the whole program. A lot of people, especially parents of gifted children, started the program and then quit after a few months. In my state, FL, annual testing is required. I guess that takes care of the grade level placement issue if we ever decide to go back to school. I didn't even think of that! Duh! I'm hoping we all love it so much we never want to stop! Once I decide on which programs we're going to use, I'm sure I'll post again to get more opinions! I'll be so glad when this decision making process is over. It's been way too stressful around here! On a positive note, however, only two more days of private school! Thanks again!

I think it completely depends on the school, school district and state. If he is going into an age-appropriate grade, you will likely encounter very few issues. Grade-skips/acceleration (within the school) may require significantly more data to prove eligibility on your behalf.

For ours, we are homeschooling K for a 4.5 year old. We are doing a very "eclectic mix of curriculums" most being around the 1st-2nd grade level. Our hope for next year is to have DS enter a self-contained 1st grade gifted classroom at 5.5 years old (+1 acceleration in our state).

Our school is willing to consider this as long as we provide achievement testing (at our expense) indicating his academic level is appropriate for that grade. Our state does not require any standardized testing for HS kids at any age.

VPS will add a little more credibility to your teaching endeavors (especially for an older child) but don't offer the flexibility of customization that you can create with other curriculum choices.

I'm in Florida too (for the time being). When you start homeschooling, you file a notice with your district and then meet their requirements (testing is one way, but there are other options). So if you do that, you've shown that your kid has passed that grade. As far as acceleration is concerned, you'll not be able to get a kid younger than 5 into K or a kid younger than 6 into 1st, as it's against the law. After 1st, though, it may be possible, depending on your district.

Yippee JenSMP! One of the things we Giftie Moms rarely get to do is to talk through our problems aloud with people who care. One of the benifits of this is that we get in touch with our own problem solving abilities. I'm so glad that we are here to care about you while you 'connect your own dots!'

Smiles,
Grinity

I am in Florida too and we homeschooled for K last year....we tried public school this year for 4 weeks - the county was adament that he had to be assessed by the K teacher at his base school in order to prove that he was on grade level for First Grade (and I found the same requirements written for quite a few counties concerning placement of homeschool students) - we had a written report from a school psychologist from another Florida county from his testing we had done at the beginning of summer showing he was 2 grade levels ahead...the school paid that no merit and had him complete a math, writing and reading assessment before allowing him to be placed into First. They told me that they look at the child's age not what we had been focusing on in the homeschool curriculum or his above grade level work. Not sure if it is the same for private schools though...I would think that each private school has their own take on it :-)

Belle and Jen, I've followed your stories and don't think I really picked up on the fact that you were in Florida earlier. I'm not sure this would help your situations at all, probably too little too late, but wanted to share something that I think I understand about Florida gifted rules.

In Florida rules there is language that says the school district has to provide a written notice to the parents a refusal to initiate, or change the identification, evaluation or educational placement for a gifted student, or the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE)to that student. That notice must include an explanation of why the district refuses to take that action and a description of any other options the district considered and why those options were rejected. It also requres a description of each evaluation procedure, test, record or report the distrct relied on as a basis for the refusal.

I decribed in an advocacy topic above where when I met with the principal and asked for a grade skip for my DD7 from 1st to 3rd, she said "no" but when I put that request in writing, suddenly the school was willing to do a trial run in 3rd grade, that is a rousing success so far. Our whole story is more complicated than that, and I believe there was some behind the scenes stuff that I am not privy to. In my case it was only my school that was opposed, other schools in my district have accelerated and district-level gifted staff were supportive of the skip.

I believe that once they realize that they are refusing a request (in writing) that is contrary to the evidence, they realize that they open themselves up to more formal action, like lawsuits. I think it also really forces them to think about why they are refusing and if they cannot justify those reasons to an oustide party, they may back down and agree instead of refuse.

I don't think any of this applies to private schools, but I hope it helps a little, maybe for future reference.

Prissy, thank you very much for the information. It may prove to be very useful in the future. At this time, we are going to homeschool until we find a more appropriate placement. We are not opposed to the option of public school, however, our local public school is not an option for our family. It's a rough school, and we're just not comfortable with it at all.

Thanks to everyone who answered my questions. I really appreciate it, and I hope it helps someone else out there as well. We begin homeschooling Monday, so wish us luck!

Jen