Private school tells someone that they need to homeschool their child.?

If you are in the US, and your cousin might want to know how to proceed with homeschooling, there are two issues.

If she wants to do it herself, she can contact local homeschoolers. There are groups in every state.

But if she really wants him educated by teachers, and he is really sick, she may be able to have him qualified to have a tutor come to their home when he cannot go to school, all paid for by the public school.

IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, says that children must be educated in the "least restrictive environment" (by public schools...doesn't apply in the same way to private schools) which means that they would pretty much have to have him in a classroom when he was able, and have to have a tutor for him at home, if he was at home for long stretches, and often.

Is it legal for the private school to tell her that? They are giving her advice on how to educate her child, for better or for worse. If they had tried to diagnose him, that would not have been legal. But giving educational advice? Yah, legal.

Given his medical condition, he would most likely qualify for an IEP, an Individual Education Plan, in public school. Better to contact the local school that he would be going to if he were in public school, and talk to the principal about it. And do it right away, before the staff disappears over the summer. Your cousin can talk to the principal, discuss her concerns, and find out if the school sounds like they would be willing to accommodate her son, or if they will be a pain to deal with.

Some principals are wonderful and helpful. Some are difficult and stiff. She obviously will not get the help she needs from a difficult principal. But if the principal is nice, and helpful, she will be able to get all those kinds of questions, like the ones in your post above, answered.

To say much about how public school would be for this boy, without knowing what school, what kind of academic abilities he has, what his medical condition is, or his prognosis, would be, well, lame. I'd be talking out my hat if I gave you too many specifics.

But she can talk to the local school, and get all that information. She can even start the IEP process (the school can give her the initial forms to begin with, and will guide her through it) and still NOT send her son there if they don't offer the proper support for him.

Well...that is getting to be a mighty long post, so I'll end there.

Hope that helps!

Best of luck to your cousin and her son. I hope whatever is wrong with him, they can get it under control.

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It is legal for them to tell her this, and they do this in public schools, too, when they can't handle a child's needs. I know someone who has been kicked out of all the schools in our area, and is being bused an hour away from here to a school that is able to handle him. At least they're being honest, a lot of schools don't do that! I have to say, if a private school doesn't feel they can offer him the help he needs, and take into account his dietary issues, he's not going to get that help from a public school unless Mom packs his lunch every day. If she enrolls him in a public school they're transfer his records there. I would strongly suggest she consider homeschooling. It is beneficial to the child in so many ways, but as mentioned here, attendance would be the biggest factor. In public school they're not going to slow down for him when he's sick, and he can risk falling seriously behind and not being able to catch up. If she homeschools him, this isn't a problem. They can do school when he is feeling up to it, and skip days he's not. Typically they require 180 days of school a year, but you can fill that any time during the year, so you have much more freedom. It sounds like this school was taking all of this into consideration when they told her to homeschool, which is great!

Homeschooling is a calling. We have done all three: public, private and now homeschool. In fact we went from homeschooling to an ivy-league private school and went back to homeschooling. Your private school experience sounds great and looks like you will have wonderful memories. By your vocabulary and 'maturity' that comes through your post, you are on your way to being a great adult. We chose to homeschool again when our private school was getting too crowded and my youngest was having math difficulties. Many times private schools don't have the tools for those students that are 'below' the average, while there are opportunities like you have for being 'above' average. My olders boys were getting bored even though they were in advanced classes and they needed more challenges. Regarding the 'socialization' question, we are in a homeschool group of 37 familes that meet weekly. We have over 120 kids in our group so we are, in essence, our own school. :-) Every summer we have college recruiters hounding our group as well as others to lure homeschooled children to their universities. I want to address the statement that parents are 'qualified'. I do not have a degree in teaching. In fact I don't have a bachelor's (I'm shy by 9 hours) but I have taught in the public school system and also would substitute teach at a private school in our area when my boys were in private school. I am still on the roster for substitute teaching in our county public school system and occasionally will sub to get some extra money. According to the Department of Education, only 50% of the public school teachers in our nation have a degree in education. The rest have degrees that are not even related in their field of education (like a shop teacher teaching history) or a degree in engineering teaching math. Homeschooling is wonderful, but it is only as good as how much work the parent wants to put forth. I have seen homeschooling parents that should not be homeschooling because they are lazy and don't seek out opportunities for their kids to become involved with other kids in the community, etc. No matter what the choice, it's a challenge for we parents to decide what is right for our kids. Sounds like your parents have you on the right path for you. Good luck.

OK..a private school can suggest that your sister look for another school if they feel the child's needs can not be met safely or if the child is failing to maintain either academic or attendance standards (if the school has them). Private schools do not follow the same rules as public schools...they do not have to keep children if they feel it is not suitable or goes against school standards.

As for public school...that depends on a few things. If the child has a serious enough medical condition that he is missing signifigant amounts of school, the public schools (if he was to enroll) would have to provide home tutors if he was to miss more than two weeks of school. Less than that, and he is usually responsible for making up the work. BUT, even with excused medical abscences, many districts have limits on how many days a child can miss. If they miss more than the allowed amount, they can be held back. Also, it may be harder to control special dietary needs in a public school and many public schools do not have a trained nurse on staff full time. She should talk to the school (she should find out what school her son would attend) about both his medical issues and any learning issues. They can tell her what she would need as far as transcripts from his private school and any possible testing they would require for placement (usually math and reading).

I will be honest. If his medical condition requires a carefully controlled enviroment, causes him to miss more than 15 days of school a year and your cousin is or can be home all the time, she may want to consider homeschooling. Homeschooling would allow her to work with him when he is well, give her the flexability to go to doctor's appt. without missing school and, when he is ill, keep him caught up (because when you homeschool, school isn't limited to M-F or even Sept.-June). She should find out the laws for homeschooling in your state and area and look online for homeschool groups (both to get information and to have social connections for her and her child). The public schools do their best, but teachers simply can't be everywhere at once (and it is unfair to expect them to be..they are human).

Private schools are not required to and some are just not able to provide specialty assistance for some kids. The private school was right to let her know that they are not the best option for her child. They recommended what in their opinion would be the best option for her child.

If he has a lot of absences from public school he may get held back even if he has satisfactory grades. Here in Florida if a child misses too many days irregardless of grades they are retained. So the private school may have been looking at that as part of the (big) picture that they used for the basis of their recommendation.

Because it is a public school, it will be free. I'm not sure that a private school is allowed to tell a parent to do that, but it seems it is logical to, regardless of whether it is legal to tell or not. In a public school, there are no books, so it will be hard to keep track of homework. Keep duo tangs and binders. For the diet, tell the office about the diet, and Maybe (just maybe), the school may offer to help out in a way. There are no exams in a public school ( there are in high school though).

That is all I can think of right now. Good luck with your cousin's son!

The private school can tell her this because they are private and arent required to follow and federal education laws regarding disabilities. I have a friend her private school told her to send her son to public school as they couldnt provide him the services he needs.

I've got to wonder if part of the reason they suggested she homeschool him is that maybe they don't want to deal with his special dietary requirements, especially if he is the only one in their school with those needs. It being a private school, she may not be able to require them to meet his dietary needs.

no that is discrimination tell her to go straight to the Disabled rights Commission website if you email them they should be able to help you I have used their services in the past when my best friend who is physically disabled was denied access to our local cinema's restaurant because the cinema had not provided disabled access to the restaurant area. they were very helpful and friendly when i spoke to them over the phone the number should be on the site it depends of course on whether you live in the USA or the UK the DRC is UK based

i dont know i it is right for them to do it but it sure shouldnt be! also it happened to my 5 year old!