Do I have an option of what school I can..UPDATE***********

[redhen]

I think the catholic school in my town requires that the parents be involved with the church..

 

[gudrin]

Is Illinois not an open enrollment state? I know in Minnesota, if your district is not providing what you need, you can go to any other nearby district, no problem. I've seen this in action quite a bit. Some of the students I taught in one district didn't do well in the other, larger district. The only problem with this is sports. There's rules about eligibility, but with a five year old, that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

FIRST, call the state department of education and explain your concerns. Ask what the state laws are on transfering out of district. Also on charter schools & the availability of online schooling (for example, Texas Tech operates a public distance learning school district that is online--my nieces, who live on the other side of the state in Houston, are students of this district and have been for a number of years. It is "sort-of" home school in that they do not attend a school facility, but rather do their classes at home. However the curriculum is prepared, taught and tested by the "district.")

My son attended a Catholic High School; we are Lutheran, and they had a number of other non-Catholics as well--including several non-Christians. Titheing Catholic parishoners receive a lower tuition rate, but we never looked into scholarships--I am pretty sure though that scholarships did not discriminate based upon religion. My cousin's children attend a Catholic school (in another part of the country); they were not Catholic. Call the Catholic school you are interested in and ask.

My youngest daughter atttended an out of district high school for a couple of years; my older son attended a private school through 3rd grade, out of district public schools from 4th through 8th grade; my youngest son attended a charter school from 1st through 5th grade. I've done a LOT of school shopping (not school supplies, although that, too) in my time. There are good, mediocre and bad schools in all categories--the individual teacher can make a HUGE difference. Have you asked about switching to a different teacher? Possibly skipping to 1st grade if she is already bored in kindergarten?

 

[EweSheep]

Update:

The District office called us to tell the principal of THAT school that we wanted to take her out of her present school to theirs. The supertinent said do not talk to the secretary or anyone else, just the principal only and get the principal 's decision on that matter. If she can not take my DD in, insist that she is to be the first person "on hold" status and the ergentecy that she needs to move out of her present school and get her on the waiting list. Right now we are waiting on the call back from that principal. Also the district said NOT to inform anyone in DD's school about her possible transfer until everything is set in stone and she is ready to go to her new school. They were aware of the situation we were in before Xmas and we had to go back to the district office again and keep on pressing them until we get something done.

I do not have the time and dedication to do homeschooling. Patience is the key here which I do not have in plenty supply LOL! Oh sure I can be patient in many areas (training horses) but this isn't one of them. I can work with her for an hour and be done with it which it is easy to do over the Xmas vacation getting her to learn her numbers up to 100....she is trying to go for 200!

This is the magnet school that we are trying to enlist her in. As for the Catholic school, it is only for 3rd grade and up however we can sign her up if she has not left her old school.

Open enrollment, yes it is but there is a begin date and end dates. We were too late in between time. When we signed her up for her school, we thought we would give her school a try out and see how it works out. Now, it didn't and was disappointed with everything going on in there and dd's behavioral issues got nasty yesterday when she got back to school. When she came home, her bad habits cropped up and she dropped the "sh**" bomb on us and we thought we do not use that word in the household. Now that was very disrepectful!!!!

The entire Xmas vacation, we spend alot of time trying to curb her bad behavior and within a week after school was out, she was good and so well mannered. We both thought we made some headway! Nope, it came back the minute she stepped foot in the house and ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH! WE should have listened to the test scores and some past parents but nooooooo, the school looks good and the principal was telling us they are making some grades. NOT!

No online schooling here....the district is so broke! The high school and many of the elementary schools are in very bad condition or needed repairs a year ago. Just pitiful of how they wasted our tax dollars! Good thing here is the community college and the university which they have done a very good job keeping up with the scores and maintainces along with the private schools and Catholic schools. AAAAAA plus for them!

Crossing fingers!

Waiting...............................

 

[CountryMom]

I think you are underestimating your ability! And I think you do not realize that it does not take 8 hours of school for any child. So please go and do some research on homeschooling options for your state. If they allow you to pick your curriculum there are many fantastic ones to choose from out there. You do not have to put it all together yourself. You do not have to have a massive education to school a child. Do you think all teachers do? I know of a few personally that if most parents knew they barely passed high school or college and are teaching in the public schools would have a fit.

At your daughter's age and grade level I would guess you could get it done in an hour or less a day. My 2nd grader finishes his work in 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Usually we get side tracked researching something or in a big discussion and that takes a bit longer. I can tell you that my family is so close and we have so much fun. And on the more dry days when the kiddos are working on their worksheets I get some time to play around here also! And when they are sick it isn't so horrible to miss out on school. You will find your kids can have a very good education homeschooling. Probably better than the average publc school kid by far.


edited to add you a link to information on your State through HSLDA...... great place to start.
http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/IL/default.asp

And upon further reading of Illinois law, homeschoolers are considered Private Schools.....similar to Texas. You do not have to register your school, but you may have to fill out a form for the public school to avoid truancy laws. (I did the same here in Texas when I pulled my daughter out of public school.) The other thing I see interesting in your state's law is a tax credit....up to $500 and a homeschooler can also apply for this state tax credit. Teacher's Qualification per your state (for homeschool) are NONE! And you are not required to have your child do a standardized test like public school kids do. That is a big one for me here in Texas. Our public schools spend too much time teaching to our TAKS test and not teaching our children.

Here is the more detailed link to where I got this information...
http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Illinois.pdf
And right on top....Illinois states Compulsory Attendance Age of 7 to 17 years old. Even now she is not required to be in school.

 

[KinderKorner]

I vote homeschooling too! It's super easy. The books tell you everything, you don't need to have any knowledge in the area. I taught myself. And scored 98% over public schooled kids in nearly every class. I did homeschooling for 7 years. Starting at grade 6.

Now that I have done it, I just can't see Public School even being an option. My kids will certainly be homeschooled.

I second the fact it doesn't take long. I could get mine done in 2 1/2 hours or less. And that was in highschool, and taking hard classes.

Younger kids would be so much easier and quicker.

ETA: Since we both share the same state I thought I would share.

IL is one of the best and easiest homeschooling states. They are pretty much no rules. You don't have to turn in anything. No check ups, or certain hours. I know you think it's a crazy idea. But I would give it a try. It will certainly strengthen your relationship with your child, and she will learn the important things like housecare, and being responsible.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

My kids are done in 4 hours homeschooling, and I answer maybe 4 or 5 questions a day between my Senior in high school and my 7th grader. We are a very close family. Behavior is great. They aren't picking up bad habits, and both are straight A students, even my ADD kid only gets a B about once a year! 4 hours is required by law in TN to count as a school day. I find it easier than public school EVER was, and we have been doing it for 3 years!! BUT...some people do not want to homeschool their kids. There are pros and cons to each. I have little patience myself, and thought I could never do it, but it has been easier than the hassle of a carved in stone daily grind of trucking them back and forth, fixing lunches, etc. I do less helping with homework type stuff than I did when they were in public school!! SOOO much simpler, and their test scores have even gone up! We do a correspondence school by mail, only state required testing is done away from home. It's fun!

 

[EweSheep]

UPDATE

Happily, we found a school for our DD to go to! It is a Christian School and we can not wait for her to go there once we get the income tax money and pay for the full year there. They are "old school" teachings and the atmosphere is gentle, quiet and very structured. We could not be more pleased with chatting with the principal and her future teacher and we are anxious to get her started.

Now I have to change or buy more clothes to fit their dress codes, no prints of shirts or patterns and she has alot of them. No low riding cut jeans...tell me how in the heck I can find above belly button jeans nowadays?

As for the financial part of it, they will help us get a scholarship for next fall because we are late in apply for this semester. It will be tax credited and the state will pay for the transportation costs to drive her to school, six miles one way. Once we get the income tax, she is good to go!

Thanks to all of you to keep pressuring to find a good school for my DD!!! Now she can go to a good school with good family values and good socialization skills she needs instead of the nastiness of teachers and kids alike with no efforts in trying to get the kids to do anything. (her class mate bad mouthed the teacher and walked out of the class to go tell it to the principal but he got into trouble anyway).

Get this....the principal of the new school said that private schools are much cheaper than public schools.

I find that HARD to believe! It would cost us $2,800 a year for ten months schooling for our daughter so how much are we spending per child in public school?

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Find above belly button jeans at dig stores. And as for the cost of public school think $3500 a year in poor neighborhoods!! Yeah...seriously. Congrats on finding her a better school!!!!!

 

[EweSheep]

As for homeschooling, you have to be certified in the state of Illinois. It is part of the requirement. My sis was a assistant sub teacher and a friend who homeschool her kids, they had to go for certification to homeschool kids. And it was not easy to be certified either. So I do not want to be bothered.

I hope it is a well worth investiment we will make for our daughter. Boy, are we excited!