Jump to content

Menu

Florida


rookie
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 2 months later...

I am a newbie WTM with a first grader but also part of Classical Conversations, a once a week educational program based upon WTM. This is our first year meeting together but we are a growing bunch with kids from elementary through high school. Some families follow WTM more than others but we are all growing together in this journey.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Guest vpmama

New to the forum and I am in Central Florida. Lakeland to be precise. I use Veritas Press and many of the Well Trained Mind Materials as well. I have 2 girls grade 2 and 3 and a son in K.

 

Lori

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
Guest Colegiala

Hi, I am a single working mom to 4yr old son and 6 yr old daughter. Have been doing lots of online search to explore homeschooling option. Would love to meet and talk to parents who are actually homeschooling around my area. Can you let me know of any local groups?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I am a single working mom to 4yr old son and 6 yr old daughter. Have been doing lots of online search to explore homeschooling option. Would love to meet and talk to parents who are actually homeschooling around my area. Can you let me know of any local groups?

 

Where in Florida are you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are in Hillsborough County. THis is our first year homeschooling and I'm very nervous but excited. We have a soon to be 2nd and 4th grader.

 

Yay Tampa!!! Almost all of my family live there. :). Congratulations on your first year homeschooling! Welcome to the adventure. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're entertaining the idea of moving to Florida. How are the homeschooling laws there?

 

You have to keep a portfolio and get an evaluation each year by a Florida certified teacher to submit to the school board, but that's pretty much it. I submit a letter of intent each year (for good measure :p ) along with my evaluation results and I've never once had a problem with anyone from the school board. They also have virtual school here too. I know a few homeschoolers that do Florida virtual school with success. :) Florida has a large homeschooling population too. There are lots of opportunities and activities for homeschool families here. Our homeschool group has a drama club that puts on gorgeous productions, we do field trips, have monthly meetings with speakers and lots of get togethers. We have spelling bees, geography bees, science fairs, prom, promotion night every year yearbooks. The whole thing. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know! Thanks for the details! Glad to hear about the drama, as both my kids are involved in drama here and they would miss it. Now they don't have to! :)

 

:) Glad to help. I don't know what county you're thinking of moving to, but I know Broward has a lot going on for homeschoolers. This is the drama group I was talking about. My dd has been in several of the productions and they really do an amazing job. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hillsborough County here. :)

 

I always have such a soft place in my heart for Hillsborough County even though I was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale. All of my peeps are in or from Tampa. My great grandfather literally built a big part of Ybor City back in the glory days and my grandfather was a city councilman there for two terms. I love Tampa. I can't wait til I can go back again and visit the aunts, uncles and cousins. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We just moved from there this week. :D The area is beautiful (nature wise) and the people are great. There is very little going on as far as a homeschooling community, but the county is very homeschool friendly. There are no cultural activities. But if you don't mind the hour drive there is quite a bit in Tampa and St. Pete. We are water people, so Spring Hill was wonderful for us, right on the ocean with the bonus of one of the clearest rivers in the state.

 

Anyone here near Spring Hill (just north of Tampa and St. Petersburg)? We have family that are trying to coax us down there.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

We're moving to Florida soon (6-8 weeks I believe) and I'm wondering if someone could help explain exactly what I need to do to HS in Florida?

 

From what I understand I either notify the state I'm HSing and then have the kids do standardized testing or a portfolio review OR I enroll them in some sort of umbrella school so they're considered private school students.

 

Is that right?

 

What do most people seem to do? Which is easier? I'm coming from a state that has almost zero oversight (New Mexico) so this is new to me.

 

I piece my own curriculum together if that makes any difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're moving to Florida soon (6-8 weeks I believe) and I'm wondering if someone could help explain exactly what I need to do to HS in Florida?

 

From what I understand I either notify the state I'm HSing and then have the kids do standardized testing or a portfolio review OR I enroll them in some sort of umbrella school so they're considered private school students.

 

Is that right?

 

What do most people seem to do? Which is easier? I'm coming from a state that has almost zero oversight (New Mexico) so this is new to me.

 

I piece my own curriculum together if that makes any difference.

 

You have to send your letter of intent to your local county school board addressed to the Superintendent of your intent to homeschool. You can see a copy of what the one for my county looks like here.

 

 

I do a portfolio and bring that to my evaluation every year by a Florida state teacher. She gives my dd a test and gives me the results and a letter to send in to the school board. Some parents do the Iowa standardized testing, but I've never done it, just the portfolio eval. You have to have your evaluations within one year of the date of the one before, but that's pretty much all there is to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always have such a soft place in my heart for Hillsborough County even though I was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale. All of my peeps are in or from Tampa. My great grandfather literally built a big part of Ybor City back in the glory days and my grandfather was a city councilman there for two terms. I love Tampa. I can't wait til I can go back again and visit the aunts, uncles and cousins. :)

 

I live in Ybor City! HI everyone, Im Beth and this year is my second year homeschooling my DDs (4th & 7th)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I live in Ybor City! HI everyone, Im Beth and this year is my second year homeschooling my DDs (4th & 7th)

 

Coolness! :) Is it true that the street car is running again? My mom used to take that when she was a kid! :) I was in Ybor City for a family reunion last year, but I didn't see the street car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes! My kids love riding it. It goes from Ybor City thru Channelside to downtown Tampa. Its run by HARTline (the county bus company). We live close to the Cuban Club and HCC. What area/parts did your G. Grandfather help build?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes! My kids love riding it. It goes from Ybor City thru Channelside to downtown Tampa. Its run by HARTline (the county bus company). We live close to the Cuban Club and HCC. What area/parts did your G. Grandfather help build?

 

Well, he started out as a cigar maker in the Garcia y Vega factory there in Ybor City. He was an active member of El Circulo Cubano and El Centro Asturiano (his parents were from Asturias, Spain). He was one of the leaders who were pushing for unions for the cigar workers. They actually lynched some of the leaders who were pushing for unions, but my great grandfather still didn't back down. They finally black listed him and he couldn't find work anywhere in any of the other factories so he went into carpentry. My great aunt still lives in a house that he built on Virginia Ave. He made houses for low income families in Ybor City. Especially after a big fire that swept through there back in 1908 I think it was. He built a lot of the homes after that. Some of them are still standing. One of the houses that used to belong to one of my relatives is a post office now I think. It's a little building by the rail road tracks. That used to belong to one of my great aunts. :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just moved from there this week. :D The area is beautiful (nature wise) and the people are great. There is very little going on as far as a homeschooling community, but the county is very homeschool friendly. There are no cultural activities. But if you don't mind the hour drive there is quite a bit in Tampa and St. Pete. We are water people, so Spring Hill was wonderful for us, right on the ocean with the bonus of one of the clearest rivers in the state.

We are definitely moving to Florida, most likely in the spring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Hello,

This is my first post, so I hope I am doing it properly. We will be moving to Florids in the middle of December, but we are not sure where yet, as we can live anywhere. I am home schooling my just turned 9 year old with a mix of Charlotte Mason and Classical. I am enjoying reading about the different parts of Florida.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We're moving to Florida soon (6-8 weeks I believe) and I'm wondering if someone could help explain exactly what I need to do to HS in Florida?

 

From what I understand I either notify the state I'm HSing and then have the kids do standardized testing or a portfolio review OR I enroll them in some sort of umbrella school so they're considered private school students.

 

Is that right?

 

What do most people seem to do? Which is easier? I'm coming from a state that has almost zero oversight (New Mexico) so this is new to me.

 

I piece my own curriculum together if that makes any difference.

You can choose an umbrella school (but then technically you are considered a private schooler.)

You can have your child take a state standardized or nationally normed test.

You can have a certified teacher do your yearly portfolio evaluation (that's what I do). :)

Or you can have a psychologist complete a psych eval (which are very expensive, not to mention time consuming.)

See my site for more info. :)

 

We are in Central FL. Not too far from Orlando.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

This is probably a silly question, but here goes...

 

We are moving from Hillsborough County to Broward County. Do I have to send a notification to Hillsborough that I am closing our homeschool and send Broward a Notice of Intent to open a homeschool? I have called the county office and left a message, but I figured one of you ladies may have done it before and can let me know.

 

TIA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...