Originally Posted by polarbear
somewhereonearth, is this an optional or charter school, or is it your neighborhood school? I'm not sure that makes a difference, but I'm just curious smile

I was also thinking about focus of the meeting a bit more - if the school's purpose in holding the meeting is to tell you they don't want your ds homeschooled, I am not sure that info about how he's performing how he *is* in their school is relevant, so in the meeting, I'd be very specific when things are brought up in terms of asking for clarity what the purpose of each talking point is - for instance, if they produce worksheets that aren't 100% correct, acknowledge what they have shown you and then clarify - what is the reason this is being discussed? Is there a concern that ds needs more help with his classwork? Is there a concern with class placement etc. None of that has anything to do with the homeschool part of his day. If they attempt to tie it into an argument against your current partial homeschooling situation, politely direct them back on track - ask them to tackle one discussion at a time, finish up the worksheet issue and they you can move on to their concerns about homeschooling (where once again, be sure they aren't mixing up unrelated issues as proof it's not working). It's so easy for meetings like this to boomerang all over the place as people start talking - so it's really important to just keep yourself nudging them back OT, one thing at a time, and don't let them confusion unrelated issues.

Originally Posted by somewhereonearth
In our state, I am required to show NOTHING to the school about progress at home. In fact, I don't even have to answer their questions. The burden is 100% on the school to demonstrate that I am failing at homeschooling.

This is the same in our state too, but I think in this situation, if you are confronted with statements suggesting your partial homeschooling isn't working out satisfactorily in terms of anything *you* are doing, then it would be potentially helpful in advocating to show them proof of what your ds has learned and accomplished at home.

Best wishes for your meeting!

polarbear

We are at a charter school.

So, the meeting went very very well. I went in just prepared to discuss meeting my son's needs. I had to steer the conversation a few times back to that. But they seem to have come around to feeling much, much better about our homeschooling. So, we are now doing it with more of their "blessing". Perhaps this means that they will stop harassing us. (Based on what I hear from DS, DS has started "showing himself" more at school. I think the teachers are starting to see that truly accommodating DS at school would take far more than an "enrichment worksheet" once a week.)

The big issue seems to be that the 5th grade teacher is getting cold feet about the acceleration. She is concerned that DS cannot keep up with the writing aspect (everyday math, folks). He DOES struggle with that. Mainly just with his speed of output. But the bottom line is that he has what would be an A- in the class just based on tests and quizzes. When the teacher figures in other things (minute math drills, the lack of shown work in assignments) it brings DS down to a C+. This doesn't bother DH and I in the least. But this teacher appears to be concerned and wants to send him back to 4th grade math.

Our task, as we see it, is to do some hand holding with the 5th grade teacher. We've thanked her for her ability to experiment and allow DS in her class. She really likes DS and helps him out a lot. But in the grand scheme of things, we think this subject acceleration has been a great success. So what if DS can't keep up with the notetaking or cutting with scissors? He feels challenged and is enjoying himself. I can't really see the problem actually. (Pipe up friends, if you can see a problem here!)