Possible move to Oahu, Hawaii, Q regarding hs / unschooling there...

[mommywise]

HI,

We are a family of 5 living in FL currently but my dh might get a job in Oahu as a DoD employee.

I've been reading about Oahu and Hawaii and homeschooling and many suggested to come over here to ask question regarding homeschooling in HI.

 

My questions-

1. I'm currently in FL (small city), do I need to terminate the intent here and register there as a homeschooler? If I am under a umbrella school here, do I still need to register as a new homeschooler in HI?

2. How is the homeschool law there, is it lenient or strict? I read that you need to test a child at 3,5,8,10 grade. Has it changed? Is there any other way in place of the test? My 4th grader was never been tested other than online short assessment run by curriculum companies or online math games.

3. Is there any umbrella school you can register and skip the test requirement? We are loosely homeschooling and kind of unschooling with guidance so not many workbooks involved.

4. How active is the homeschool group there? Field trips, play groups, etc?

I think living there for a few years will give our kids the new experience and learn about the new surroundings. I hope I don't have to give up to move there because of the restricted homeschool law. Thanks in advance.

[Mrs Mungo]

HI,

We are a family of 5 living in FL currently but my dh might get a job in Oahu as a DoD employee.

I've been reading about Oahu and Hawaii and homeschooling and many suggested to come over here to ask question regarding homeschooling in HI.

 

My questions-

1. I'm currently in FL (small city), do I need to terminate the intent here and register there as a homeschooler? If I am under a umbrella school here, do I still need to register as a new homeschooler in HI?

 

Yes, you must follow the law of the state in which you reside.

 

2. How is the homeschool law there, is it lenient or strict? I read that you need to test a child at 3,5,8,10 grade. Has it changed? Is there any other way in place of the test? My 4th grader was never been tested other than online short assessment run by curriculum companies or online math games.

 

Testing is the easiest way to fulfill the requirement. Do a test prep book. Use the CAT (get it from Seaton) and do it at home. It isn't something to stress about, IMO.

 

3. Is there any umbrella school you can register and skip the test requirement? We are loosely homeschooling and kind of unschooling with guidance so not many workbooks involved.

 

There are options other than testing, but they are more onerous, IMO.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Hawaii.pdf

 

4. How active is the homeschool group there? Field trips, play groups, etc?

 

When we lived there we were members of a couple of active groups. The most active one was a military group:

 

There might be other reasons not to choose Hawaii for just a new experience. Jobs are scarce, it is very expensive, the people are a bit insular, etc.

[Ellie]

Mrs Mungo, HSLDA's analysis says that one of the options for the end of year report is a written evaluation by a HI-certified teacher. Do many hsers do that option?

[mommywise]

Mrs Mungo, thank you.

When I hear "test" I think of a child going to a place (school) and test with other kids while a teacher is watching, traditional school setting.

So you can test at home? What subject do they need to test other than English and math? What happens if the score is too low or didn't pass the bar, are you able to re-test?

Other grade where you don't need to test, do people do portfolio option? I read it somewhere that when I send in letter of intention, I need to provide curriculum info. What if I don't want to use a boxed curriculum but assortment of books? Do I need to provide curriculum info for every subjects or just main subject like math, English, writing?

[Mrs Mungo]

Mrs Mungo, HSLDA's analysis says that one of the options for the end of year report is a written evaluation by a HI-certified teacher. Do many hsers do that option?

 

I never knew anyone who used that option.

 

Mrs Mungo, thank you.

When I hear "test" I think of a child going to a place (school) and test with other kids while a teacher is watching, traditional school setting.

So you can test at home? What subject do they need to test other than English and math?

 

Yes, you can test at home. You can probably find examples of grade-level CAT tests from the past online. I think most of is agree that it is one of the easier tests.

 

What happens if the score is too low or didn't pass the bar, are you able to re-test?

 

Ultimately? Nothing happens.

 

Other grade where you don't need to test, do people do portfolio option? I read it somewhere that when I send in letter of intention, I need to provide curriculum info. What if I don't want to use a boxed curriculum but assortment of books? Do I need to provide curriculum info for every subjects or just main subject like math, English, writing?

 

I didn't know anyone who did the portfolio option.

 

I made a bibliography of all of the books we used for the year, broken down by subject. I never heard from the school, I simply received my list back with an "approved" stamp (really, you are just informing them, not asking for approval, but, whatever). I knew some people that were asked for more info from their schools than what they sent, but I don't really know what they sent in to begin with.