Pulling your child out of public school

Question to all who had kids in public school & pulled them out to homeschool: We have 3 and a half months left till school is out but I am debating on whether to keep my kids in & finish out the school year OR pull them out now & start adjusting to our new way of life…together 24-7 :wink: My son is in 5th grade & has been struggling since Kindergarten. They wouldn’t hold him back in 3rd grade though he was behind in math and reading comprehension. He’s been pushed ahead though he wasn’t ready. He’s behind and can’t catch up because as we all know schools & teachers don’t have time to focus in on those who require MORE time and one on one attention. His teacher right now apparently has emotional issues & isn’t scared to express it in front of the kids, his grades are horrific and he just doesn’t care anymore. Should I just get him out now and let the repairing & healing begin now so come the next school year he’s ready mentally and emotionally?? Or just let him finish the year?? My daughter is in Kindergarten and I know she’ll be fine either way. But if I pull him out now, she comes too :slight_smile: So, what’s a mama to do!!!

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I pulled my daughter out of 4th grade just this past January. I say to just do it! You won’t regret it.

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I think you should pull him out. Pulling him out won’t cause him to fall behind since he already is & he’s emotinally struggling as it is. You are his mom, and you know what’s best for him. :blush:

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It is such a personal decision… for us we decided to pull ours. We pulled ours out at the end of the first term this school year. One of our main reasons was that our son was struggling with Common Core math, He has always LOVED math and he was quickly losing his love and was actually on the verge of tears many nights. I started thinking “If he loses his love for learning, can he get it back?” And although it’s possible he could, that was a chance I wasn’t willing to take. So we pulled them. And we prayed a lot! It’s a big decision!

Now I will say that one of my big concerns was where do we start with curriculum being mid-year. And we just started as though it was day 1 of the year for us. The biggest thing to know is that it is o.k. if you don’t finish a book. It floored me to learn that most kids in school rarely finish theirs. I come from a corporate setting and went no where without my Franklin Planner. Everything was prioritized and I never strayed from my list… :wink: Thank goodness my girlfriend who is a teacher set me straight and let me know it’s o.k. to skip a lesson (if it’s something your child already knows), and the world won’t stop spinning if you don’t finish a book. If you decide to jump in mid-year, just allow yourself grace and know that it will all work out as you roll along.

Not sure there is a cookie cutter answer, but you as Mom know your kids better than anyone. Weigh the pros/cons and see where it takes you. Whatever you decide - best of luck to you!!!

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I have taken my son out of public kindergarten in NY, and taken him out of a public charter school in CA! I had no problems when we did it! My fears stopped me for so long from taking him out, but the Lord calmed my head and my heart😊
My son is autistic, add, and has sensory impairments. His public school teachers really enjoyed having him in their classrooms, but couldn’t meet all his needs. When we started homeschooling him we decided to have him repeat grade1 in our homeschool. I’m SO glad we did! He is now thriving, he has caught up to the grade level he “should” be at, and he is happy😀

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Im sorry to hear about your situation. My daughter was the opposite. She was doing great in school and really loved it. I really wanted to homeschool and she was fine with it. I think you will feel pressure either way. I felt so much pressure because my daughter loved school. If i took her out and we hated it, what then? I think in the end you know what is best for your child and your family. Is it worth him sticking through a situation that isnt great or pull him out into a more loving situation, is really only a question you can answer. Make sure you check your homeschool laws in your state. Some states are very strict. This may help you make an easy decision. If the situation is as bad as you say you really arent going to do more damage than if he stayed. Just make sure you have everything planned before you take him out so he can move straight into whatever you have. I wish you the best of luck! We took a chance and I am thankful that we did!

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I can only speak to my experience. I pulled my daughter out at the end of third grade. I was still worried about how homeschooling would work for us (she has learning challenges). I figured I had the summer to “practice” and see if it would work for us.

Having said all that, had I known how bad it was for her (and I had some idea but not to the degree it really was!) I wouldn’t have waited.

You know your child best. How is being in the classroom now benefitting him? And if it isn’t, then why wait?

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When my oldest finish 3rd , we move several states away. I then had the chance to stay home with all the kids. The area where our home was don’t have the best of school. Also that year they made changes and there was going to be 40 kids in one kindergarden class room. I know my then five year would not do well in that kind of environment. Being that and several other things we decided now was the time to keep them home. Since it was a thing we always wanted to do but timing was not right.

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We decided to homeschool while our kiddo was attending a public school for kindergarten. I let her finish out the year first. Her teacher (25 year veteran of teaching) thought it was “very cool” that we were going to homeschool her. I only wish we had just pulled her sooner instead of finishing! :smile:

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We finished the school year. My husband and I debated but when we made the call that homeschooling was what we wanted to do it was already April. He was against pulling them at that point and to be honest I wasn’t ready yet. I needed time to gather a curriculum and figure out planning and such so we waited. For my kids that was the right choice. My kids were also enjoying seeing their friends and neither had negative feelings towards school.

Only you really know what is the best decision for your kids. If he no longer cares it might be wisest to pull him out now before more damage can be done that needs to be undone. Maybe leave your daughter in so you can work one on one with your son for the remainder of the year. It might not be the ideal situation but at the same time you will have the next few months to focus solely on him and the healing.

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I’m so sorry! It sounds like something so similar to us, and we pulled out at the end of October (the week before fall break, was their last week in school). It’s hard to say what’s right and what’s not, especially when so little time is left in this year. But follow your gut, if your are already asking if you should take them out now, then you feel it’s urgent enough to ask the questions, so go ahead and take them out. At least that’s how I feel about it. I struggled with the same things. Take them now at fall break, or Christmas break, or wait till next year, it seem so hard to just decide. But once you make the call and do it, it’s so good. Like I said we took our boys out at the end of October and are so glad for it. We have loved each moment at home, and all of my guys who lacked so much confidence and who are struggling in so many areas are blooming and excelling and loving something they once hated. It’s a huge blessing to me as their mom! You know your kiddos the best, and some times you just pray and leap, God’s got it on the other end, you just walk in faith. I also loved what Kelly said about starting and finishing books in a non typical school year.

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My daughter is a Sophomore and we have decided to pull her out of school. I’m fearful of failing her. How do I homeschool her? I don’t even know where to start with her. I will wait until the end of this school year to pull her out though. I want her to earn the credits that she has already started.
Good luck with what-ever you decide.

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I feel your pain. It has been on my heart since October to pull ours out and homeschool. This is literally a 180 from how I previously felt. It was so left field it took till Christmas to get my husband convinced it was a good idea. He is on board but wants them to finish the school year which I agreed with. It is SO HARD waiting!

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I have been debating this, also. We decided to wait. I am almost finished with my AA and really wanted to get in the last semester I need. I will have one class left and can do that while working with my kids. I keep changing my plans, so I am using this time to figure out exactly what curriculum I want to use with my kids. I am also watching for it to be on sale. Like the Science program we want to use is currently on sale, so I am getting what we need. They picked the class and I got the books and journal. This also give me time to look though the web pages and change my mind again about what history I want to use. And find which math will work for each of my children. And what classes we will do together and what needs to be solo. I also wanted to be able to start at the beginning and not feel like I needed to skip or rush though stuff to get done in this school year. Not that it matters, cause you can just keep going.

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I had to pull my 2nd son from 4th grade halfway through the year. His teacher was a horror & the only person on my son’s side was the school psychologist. Pulling him out was the best thing for him. The next year we put him back in public school only to find out that he would have the same teacher as before! We thought maybe it would be better. The only good news was it didn’t take me as long to pull him out that time. If it was my son, I’d take some time to get everything in order & pull him as soon as possible.

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I agree with the decision/careful consideration to remove your child from public school. My oldest child also struggled in public for several years. We moved them at the beginning of this school year. Both have adjusted fine.

Because I had concerns with the public school teaching, I always added more material at home to fill-in the gaps and help them be better prepared for school this year. Neither child had any difficult adjusting.

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The hardest part of waiting, for me, is the excitement! I’m so eager to get started!

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We pulled our son out at the end of 4th grade. I absolutely wish we would have done it sooner. We started talking about it when he was in 2nd grade but I didn’t feel like I could give him what he needed. He had a terrible 3rd grade teacher and I should have done it then but still all those thoughts came creeping back in. Finally after TONS of research we decided it was time. And we’ve never looked back. My oldest is in his 3rd year of college and is doing awesome! And my 14 and 9 year olds have been homeschooled from the beginning. So my advice to you is not to wait. Do it now! You won’t regret it!

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My thoughts exactly.

We made the decision to homeschool towards the end of the last school year. My daughter was in second grade and my son was in K. They had a few months left of school and we decided to let them finish off the year as they both were doing well. If there had been any problems then we would have pulled them before the end of the school year.

It sounds like your son would benefit from being home with you now with some great months of deschooling. Best of luck to you.

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