Can I homeschool my kid about some stuff, but send him to public school for other stuff?
It probably matters what state I’m in, but I have no idea which state* I’ll be in when my kids start school, so comments about any state or about no state in particular could be useful to me.
-FrL-
*I mean like political states, like Texas and Wyoming and so on, not emotional states. 
No idea, but, out of curiosity, since I’ve never heard or thought about such a concept of partial homeschooling, on which subjects is it that you would like to homeschool him rather than having him go to public school?
I know a high-school age child who is going to public school in the mornings for math classes and is being homeschooled for other subjects. However, this is a very small county and the arrangement was individually negotiated between the school board and the family. I doubt it is an official policy, it probably falls under this student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP.) I would think it would depends a great deal on whether the school system is willing to work with you.
I suspect that it would be way too hard on the child and the school to have the child attend for say part of the day then come home for some classes. Especially in the younger grades, the various subjects tend to be integrated and you can’t teach math but not reading to a first grader. But certainly you could teach an additional reading class (say) when the child comes home after school. Otherwise, I suspect you are going to have to choose. Now if your child qualifies for special ed, then the system should work with you to do what both you and the system feel is best for the child. We have teachers and therapists that visit homes to provide services to home-bound kids and we have kids who attend part of the day. Such kids even get transportation, though most parents provide that themselves.
Just remember that most of what a child learns comes from his parents anyway. There is nothing preventing you from teaching whatever you want to your child outside of class time.
Now, as a matter of practicality such lessons might have to be creative, informal and short - but even these can be awfully important, and if done right a child might remember them long after their regular school lessons fade into a cloud of memory.
Public schools in our state recieve some portion of government funding based on the number of pupils they enroll.
IIRC from our homeschooling days, the formula for funding only includes full-time students. Thus, any part-time student is a funding sink instead of a funding plus. For that reason, many schools refuse part-time students.
There are other rules like: only full-time students allowed in choir, band, etc.
OTOH other districts will allow them.
As noted above, other arrangements can be negotiated with the school board. You’re probably going to have to check with the board.
Driver’s Education is a popular one, since the insurance company gives a discount for ones who’ve passed it.
I’d gather there are a lot of Creatio…er, “Intelligent Design”-believing parents who would much rather have their kids taught “science” at home instead of at a public school where they might learn evolution.
Get in contact with your state and local homeschooling groups; they’ll be able to tell you. Lots of people do this quite happily. I had a friend who did it for a while with her son, who was bored stiff in math and science but enjoyed being with his friends.
You might also look into public ISP’s–they often offer something like that, with classes your child can attend if he likes and homestudy for the rest.
In Illinois, any child living in the area can attend as many or as few classes and extracurricular activities at their local school as they like. It’s just a matter of meeting with the guidance counselor (or principal, for elementary school) and discussing the schedule.
There are also lots of homeschooling groups which form private classes. My (mostly unschooled) goddaughters take several homeschool group classes. They’ve actually decided they want to go to school in the fall - although they decide that every year and every year they back out at the last moment. Between their unschooling at home and their homeschool group classes, they’ve tested right on target with their age mates in high school, so if they want they can enter as a sophomore and junior in August.
Homeschooling is entirely unregulated here, though, so we might be an exception to the norm.
I agree very strongly. However, be prepared for potential complaints from teachers. When my daughter was learning pre-pre-algebra (that is what the teacher called it) she came to me with a question. In a short time, I had her “solving for x”. A few days later I got a note from the teacher who did not like my daughter moving too fast.
I got a call from the teacher when, in first grade, I explained that “drugs are bad” neglected things like acetaminophen, insulin, chemo, and other drugs that are “good”. Teacher did not like that either.
While it did not change my approach, it pays to be forewarned.