Homeschool Due to Health Issues

[Anonymous]

DD is currently in 8th grade in MCPS, and is going through a an illness that will take at least six months to resolve. We will need to have a fair number of hospital visits and therapies for quite some time. We are not sure if repeating 8th grade is an option that the school would agree to. She is definitely not socially/emotionally ready for 9th grade. DD is also not so keen on doing 8th grade all over again, although she really did not have 8th grade due to all her health issues this past year. She has few friends in school so socially I am not sure if keeping her behind one year is an issue.

Due to all the therapies sessions and hospital visits we will have, I like to prioritize her health first. I was thinking about the possibility of just home schooling her. We can repeat the material of 8th grade and enroll in 9th grade the following year. So essentially, I will keep her behind one year with the option of home schooling. Does anyone know if this is viable in MCPS? Any insights is greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If they allow it, have her repeat 8th. She will get sympathy from her classmates, any of them that know.

[Anonymous]

We went through similar but it was high school and FCPS in VA. It was a fairly easy process to unenroll to homeschool for the remaining of the year. Like your situation, going to school everyday became too much with a health situation and numerous appointments and our kid not physically able to get there on other days because of what was going on. The counselor at school was helpful and we looked into many online schooling options that were flexible, in addition to homeschooling. There was no issues to re enroll later. When we took off the pressure of school, we were able to focus on health and my kid was able to catch up with a lot of content that first summer. We didn’t end up needing to repeat any full grades, just a couple of isolated courses.

[Anonymous]

If she's not physically able to attend school, they're temporarily disabled. You need to talk to your school and Local Education Agency (LEA) about that. One way - you could request an IEP meeting. Bring documentation showing she can't physically attend for X time. She'll qualify temporarily for special education under the Other Health Impairments classification. The Local Education Agency will be responsible for ensuring she continues to have access to the curriculum - perhaps through tutoring, through online schooling, etc. Once she is able to physcially return, she'll no longer qualify for special education. Maybe the LEA will try for a 504 plan instead but I don't see how that could work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she's not physically able to attend school, they're temporarily disabled. You need to talk to your school and Local Education Agency (LEA) about that. One way - you could request an IEP meeting. Bring documentation showing she can't physically attend for X time. She'll qualify temporarily for special education under the Other Health Impairments classification. The Local Education Agency will be responsible for ensuring she continues to have access to the curriculum - perhaps through tutoring, through online schooling, etc. Once she is able to physcially return, she'll no longer qualify for special education. Maybe the LEA will try for a 504 plan instead but I don't see how that could work.

10:15 again and in my child’s situation, we did qualify for homebound services. It was a personal choice to unenroll instead for us since we wanted the flexibility of the summer and we didn’t know how long the medical condition would last or if and how long there would be hospitalization. Ask about homebound services if you haven’t and the options this poster suggested.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for this information.

We are in the thick of everything and still chasing down all the diagnosis. It seems unsustainable with all the doctor's appointments, the different therapy sessions, etc. Missing school and trying to make up the work/tests when a child is exhausted is stressful on her and all of us. Moreover, it takes away from the focus of getting her better healthwise, although she feels a need to still have some exposure to school/peers. We are thinking of asking for a shorten schedule of just the core class to be done in person. And depending on how things go to repeat eighth grade again. I am just not sure on when to ask for the consideration of the grade repeat for planning purposes? We certainly have also had push back by admin when this was brought up previously. We can also try to see if any private school would consider having her repeat 8th.

If we do homeschooling next year to "repeat 8th at home" and re-enrolling in 9th in MCPS (assuming health improves), who do we contact to get the homeschooling process initiated?

Any additional opinion from those with experience in this space would be incredibly helpful to us at this point. We feel already lost with our child's health, and now we have the added component of academics if she enters high school.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP. I’m so sorry you are going through this. My child isn’t medically ill but has a lot of challenges that mean he struggles in class and missed class and homework. I’ve decided that letting him have as normal a life as possible is an important priority and grades cannot be the end-all be-all. So I’d really hesitate to isolate her from “normal” life and homeschool unless absolutely necessary. Being at home with parents 24/7 is not developmentally appropriate for a teen, and you do say she has “some” friends.

I’d work on developing an IEP that lets her stay with her class and includes accomodations for part days, scheduling, making up work. Tutoring is extremely effective especially given (I am assuming) she has no learning issues. Yes this will require additional effort and stress but stress isn’t always bad.

[Anonymous]

Also, do you see a therapist? A health therapist grounded in ACT might be able to help you accept and move forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for this information.

We are in the thick of everything and still chasing down all the diagnosis. It seems unsustainable with all the doctor's appointments, the different therapy sessions, etc. Missing school and trying to make up the work/tests when a child is exhausted is stressful on her and all of us. Moreover, it takes away from the focus of getting her better healthwise, although she feels a need to still have some exposure to school/peers. We are thinking of asking for a shorten schedule of just the core class to be done in person. And depending on how things go to repeat eighth grade again. I am just not sure on when to ask for the consideration of the grade repeat for planning purposes? We certainly have also had push back by admin when this was brought up previously. We can also try to see if any private school would consider having her repeat 8th.

If we do homeschooling next year to "repeat 8th at home" and re-enrolling in 9th in MCPS (assuming health improves), who do we contact to get the homeschooling process initiated?

Any additional opinion from those with experience in this space would be incredibly helpful to us at this point. We feel already lost with our child's health, and now we have the added component of academics if she enters high school.

You just fill out this form: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/270-36.pdf
Mail it in and start homeschooling. The only glitch is if you want to cover high school classes during your 8th grade year. If yes, you will need to have the registrar and your daughter's future high school review the work for credit before starting there. If you are doing only middle school classes, there won't be any problem enrolling for 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for this information.

We are in the thick of everything and still chasing down all the diagnosis. It seems unsustainable with all the doctor's appointments, the different therapy sessions, etc. Missing school and trying to make up the work/tests when a child is exhausted is stressful on her and all of us. Moreover, it takes away from the focus of getting her better healthwise, although she feels a need to still have some exposure to school/peers. We are thinking of asking for a shorten schedule of just the core class to be done in person. And depending on how things go to repeat eighth grade again. I am just not sure on when to ask for the consideration of the grade repeat for planning purposes? We certainly have also had push back by admin when this was brought up previously. We can also try to see if any private school would consider having her repeat 8th.

If we do homeschooling next year to "repeat 8th at home" and re-enrolling in 9th in MCPS (assuming health improves), who do we contact to get the homeschooling process initiated?

Any additional opinion from those with experience in this space would be incredibly helpful to us at this point. We feel already lost with our child's health, and now we have the added component of academics if she enters high school.

You just fill out this form: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/270-36.pdf
Mail it in and start homeschooling. The only glitch is if you want to cover high school classes during your 8th grade year. If yes, you will need to have the registrar and your daughter's future high school review the work for credit before starting there. If you are doing only middle school classes, there won't be any problem enrolling for 9th grade.

thank you for this.

[Anonymous]

Do you feel qualified to teach 8th and have her academically ready for 9th?
I homeschooled 3rd grade because of Covid and teaching an 8yo wasn’t hard. I couldn’t do it to prepare mine for HS though.
When is her birthday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP. I’m so sorry you are going through this. My child isn’t medically ill but has a lot of challenges that mean he struggles in class and missed class and homework. I’ve decided that letting him have as normal a life as possible is an important priority and grades cannot be the end-all be-all. So I’d really hesitate to isolate her from “normal” life and homeschool unless absolutely necessary. Being at home with parents 24/7 is not developmentally appropriate for a teen, and you do say she has “some” friends.

I’d work on developing an IEP that lets her stay with her class and includes accomodations for part days, scheduling, making up work. Tutoring is extremely effective especially given (I am assuming) she has no learning issues. Yes this will require additional effort and stress but stress isn’t always bad.

It sounds like OP’s daughter will be isolated from other kids due to her medical needs anyway. If there comes a time when OP and her daughter have the time/energy for it, there are homeschooling coops for organizing trips to museums and specials classes together as well as of course her being able to maintain existing friendships outside of school hours.

OP, it sounds to me like homeschooling would be a good choice for your family given the situation. Really sorry you’re going through this and hope your daughter’s treatments are effective.

[Anonymous]

Would it be possible for a parent to homeschool a repeat grade? Meaning, if a child was not present in her 8th grade year due to health issue that she is homeschool the following academic year the 8th grade program. Then the year after that, enroll her in an MCPS 9th grade? Or would MCPS declare that even if she is homeschool that she needs to proceed to the following grade.

We had asked our counselor this but the counselor was not sure if MCPS would actually force a situation where the child has to proceed with the next grade level, even if homeschooled.