Any way to pull 5th grader from last 3 months of the school year and test to demonstrate knowledge?

[Anonymous]

Is there any way to do something like this in the state of Virginia? My 5th grader is miserable. Next year is middle school for him, so these are his last 3 months of elementary school. I was thinking today how nice it would be for him to have a break and then start fresh at the beginning of middle school.

He’s been getting 97-99th percentile on all the school tests so he could easily pass all the standardized end of year tests, but I’m sure the process of setting him up to homeschool isn’t quick, so it’s probably not realistic with only 3 months left in the year. Are there any creative options people are aware of? TIA!

[Anonymous]

I'm in MD, but here the process for setting a kid up to homeschool is you send in a single form. That's it.

Later you need to submit proof that they did some work in the required subjects, but getting started just involves sending a letter.

I don't know VA law but I know it's a state that's considered homeschool friendly so I can't imagine it's much harder.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry this sounds awful. Good luck

[Anonymous]

Why is he so miserable? Is he just bored or something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry this sounds awful. Good luck

What sounds awful? OP said her kid was miserable, but didn’t elaborate at all. Is he being bullied? Is he just bored? We don’t have any idea what’s going on.

[Anonymous]

This will set the expectation that when things at school are unpleasant he can just quit. Don’t do that. Fix what is wrong especially since middle school will be more and worse unless you are moving

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will set the expectation that when things at school are unpleasant he can just quit. Don’t do that. Fix what is wrong especially since middle school will be more and worse unless you are moving

Agree with this.

[Anonymous]

If you do short-term homeschooling, don’t pitch it to him as needing a fresh start or say it’s in reaction to him being unhappy. If you do it, make it so you can focus on some big adventure/special project and extra academic enrichment.

[Anonymous]

My only worry would be middle school course scheduling. Ours sets them for currently enrolled students in late spring, and a student who wasn’t enrolled then would still be able to enroll in middle school but would likely have the worst possible schedule and would be closed out of electives or face conflicts and possibly not get their preferred language, advanced math, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way to do something like this in the state of Virginia? My 5th grader is miserable. Next year is middle school for him, so these are his last 3 months of elementary school. I was thinking today how nice it would be for him to have a break and then start fresh at the beginning of middle school.

He’s been getting 97-99th percentile on all the school tests so he could easily pass all the standardized end of year tests, but I’m sure the process of setting him up to homeschool isn’t quick, so it’s probably not realistic with only 3 months left in the year. Are there any creative options people are aware of? TIA!

Why's he so miserable all of the sudden, boo?

[Anonymous]

Do not do this. Your kids are going to go through phases of hating school or “just wanting to stay home.” If you pull him for the last 3 months, be prepared for him to think you’ll do that every year. Or eventually ask you to homeschool forever. Whatever issue is making him miserable, work with him to address it or use coping mechanisms. School isn’t an in/out thing. You’re all in or you’re all out. He will not get a fresh start in middle this way, he will have a much harder time readjusting after 6 months.

[Anonymous]

What are his problems?

[Anonymous]

Why not Keep him enrolled and pull him out as much as possible? Mental health days, fun/educational day trips, etc. This could give him something to look forward to and get him through the last 3 months.
I too would be careful of how you present this to him (emphasizing we can’t quit school) and if there is a real problem work to address that at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do short-term homeschooling, don’t pitch it to him as needing a fresh start or say it’s in reaction to him being unhappy. If you do it, make it so you can focus on some big adventure/special project and extra academic enrichment.

OP here - this is a really good idea because I do have this concern. Thank you.

To those asking why he’s miserable, I realize I didn’t provide much context. Even though the work comes pretty easy to him, he’s not “bored.” He finds ways to keep engaged in the learning. What’s making him miserable is that no one includes him in anything. He has 1 best friend, but he’s not in class with him this year, and literally all of the boys exclude him. They (and a lot of the girls) make snide remarks about him. The worst times are when the teacher tells them to pair up with a partner. There are an uneven number of kids in the class and he’s always left as the odd man out. The teacher then throws him into an existing group of 2, and they all moan (or if a kid’s sick, the teacher tells one of the kids they have to work with him - and then other kids say “oh sorry man, that sucks you have to work with him”). We’ve tried talking to the teacher, but she’s as much of the problem. She has showed zero compassion for him and in fact she finds him annoying due to his impulsive ADHD (which we are trialing meds for).

We’re thinking of switching to private school in the fall to have a fresh start from these kids who have at this point labeled him as annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My only worry would be middle school course scheduling. Ours sets them for currently enrolled students in late spring, and a student who wasn’t enrolled then would still be able to enroll in middle school but would likely have the worst possible schedule and would be closed out of electives or face conflicts and possibly not get their preferred language, advanced math, etc.

That’s a really good point. Thanks.