Kathy G Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Hi My family will be moving- we don't know where yet. May be VA, NC, IN, IA, MN, NV, NM, OH or PA. Yes- crazy- I know. I have kids who homeschool but usually take 1-2 classes at the high school and want to play sports at the schools. Please weigh in here and let me know which states will allow you to play sports/activities as a homeschooler. I know MN and IA do allow it- others? Thanks! Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 You might want to check out options that aren't through schools if you don't end up in a state that allows school participation. I'm in a big city in Texas where school participation isn't allowed but there are homeschool teams for almost everything that play against privte schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 NJ just recently started allowing homeschoolers to play high school sports. I don't know how it's actually working out in practice though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy G Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 Thanks- willing to hear from other states as well! For those of you in a state where you cannot play sports at the schools- where do you look for homeschool leagues? Is it through co-ops? I haven't had to deal with this in the pase. Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 NOT NC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 PA has equal access. Our homeschooling laws sound worse on paper than they actually are. In reality they boil down to a bunch of paperwork - once you've gone through it once, it's much, much easier from that point on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy G Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 Candid- what do people in NC do? Unfortunately (from the homeschooling standpoint anyway) that is a more likely option for our move. Are there homeschool leagues? There have to be other homeschool kids playing sports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 PA law allows HSers to access extracurriculars, provided they can otherwise make the team. Getting a school to allow HSd students to take classes would be trickier. I know of a few districts that offer that to HSers, so it does happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Candid- what do people in NC do? Unfortunately (from the homeschooling standpoint anyway) that is a more likely option for our move. Are there homeschool leagues? There have to be other homeschool kids playing sports There are home school leagues, but it is spotty both in terms of location and sports available. Basketball has a lot of teams, football, less, and baseball very, very few. There are other smaller team sports, but again very spotty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 PA law allows HSers to access extracurriculars, provided they can otherwise make the team. Getting a school to allow HSd students to take classes would be trickier. I know of a few districts that offer that to HSers, so it does happen. Often politely pointing out that your other option is enrolling in a public cyber-charter at $8K a year on the district's dime is enough to open doors, bless their hearts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearWallowSchool Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Never mind I was wrong abou KY. I found this info on my state homeschool association website. If you live in one of the following states, your homeschooled student is allowed to participate in athletics in your local public school: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TengoFive Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Indiana is regulated by the IHSAA. They have a no homeschoolers policy. In order to be eligible for sports you have to actually attend at least 3 classes on campus and then the rest can be dual credit enrollment at a local college. As far as just taking a few classes here and there, it depends on the school. The high school where my kids practice swimming, is very open to homeschoolers. The principal is very friendly and lets them come in and take whatever they like. IHSAA has reviewed allowing homeschoolers to participate, but as of last year they were still anti. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Schools have to allow it in NH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Virginia still doesn't allow it. But the homeschoolers fight for it every legislative session and I think the support is gradually increasing. In your case, where you already have high schoolers, I wouldn't move here. With my kids being as young as they are, I'm still hoping that we will have sports access by the time it applies to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samiam Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 NC does not allow it...the public schools there are very unfriendly to anything regarding homeschooling. Most of the bigger cities have HS Sports associations, that offer the teams sports. Football, baseball, soccer, basketball. I know Asheville and Charlotte, for sure, have those....not sure about other cities in NC. But you can cross the border, and in SC, it just got passed this past spring! So you could live in the SC side of Charlotte, aka the suburbs, and get all the fun benefits of living close to Charlotte, yet pay the cheaper taxes, cheaper gas, and play in public school sports in SC :)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in LV Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 We haven't pursued those types of options, but I have read the laws for NV. The law provides for homeschooled students to take classes, engage in clubs & play sports at the public schools. However, I can't say how hard or easy it might be to actually do this. Also, our homeschooling laws are very, very liberal -- no testing, no real requirements -- you just file a Notice of Intent to Homeschool one time, and you're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Virginia still doesn't allow it. But the homeschoolers fight for it every legislative session and I think the support is gradually increasing. In your case, where you already have high schoolers, I wouldn't move here. With my kids being as young as they are, I'm still hoping that we will have sports access by the time it applies to us. Depending on the sport and area, there are some strong home school teams in VA. We're in Northern VA and our area has several homeschool teams of differing levels in various sports. Some are stronger than others. The league our cross country team is in includes homeschool teams, community youth running clubs (usually just for middle school, where there isn't a formal cross country option at school), and private schools. The Catholic schools seem to have their own league. (The organization that governs VA public high school athletics does not allow private or homeschool participation.) I found our team by chasing down a lot of little references. I started by searching for "homeschool cross country team" and the name of our county. I found some lists on one of the state homeschool organization websites. I sent out a lot of emails and asked on a lot of lists. FWIW, you might also look for groups that do other sports and ask if they might add the sport you're interested in. Our little cross country team started last year, because a couple families were interested. This year, we hosted our own race and won a trophy in the end of season tournament. There are also some sports where the main competition is outside the schools. My eldest swims. While there are high school swim teams, he gets longer (and imo better) training through his year round club team. I wish he could have the experience of high school team rapport, but he gets that through summer league instead. At least in our area, homeschoolers can do partial enrollment. However in practice, that is a committment to being in class each time the class is held. Since our area uses block scheduling, that creates a rotating schedule of which days of the week a certain class meets. (One week might be M/W/F with the next being T/TH. To my mind, that would mean, not only would my kid have to be slepped to and from the school (disrupting the rest of the day) but I couldn't plan on using things like coops or homeschool support groups, because we wouldn't be able to commit to being there the same day each week. I don't know about other parts of VA, but around NoVa, there are several support group options to choose from. You could almost create a smorgasbord of courses and teach little at home. (This isn't something we've pursued, but I seem many who are taking advantage of this.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 These states aren't on your list, but I'll put them out there- FL yes, Ca school choice which generally means No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 WE live in PA and my kids can (and do) participate in ANYTHING! In addition to sports teams, they can do any extracurricular activity and (in our school district) take any classes. Our school district has been tremendously cooperative with homeschoolers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZooRho Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I'm in VA too in the Tidewater area. There are places in our area for some hs teams also. and you can do some classes at the ps. And there are some pretty good coops in our area too. Depending on the sport and area, there are some strong home school teams in VA. We're in Northern VA and our area has several homeschool teams of differing levels in various sports. Some are stronger than others. The league our cross country team is in includes homeschool teams, community youth running clubs (usually just for middle school, where there isn't a formal cross country option at school), and private schools. The Catholic schools seem to have their own league. (The organization that governs VA public high school athletics does not allow private or homeschool participation.) I found our team by chasing down a lot of little references. I started by searching for "homeschool cross country team" and the name of our county. I found some lists on one of the state homeschool organization websites. I sent out a lot of emails and asked on a lot of lists. FWIW, you might also look for groups that do other sports and ask if they might add the sport you're interested in. Our little cross country team started last year, because a couple families were interested. This year, we hosted our own race and won a trophy in the end of season tournament. There are also some sports where the main competition is outside the schools. My eldest swims. While there are high school swim teams, he gets longer (and imo better) training through his year round club team. I wish he could have the experience of high school team rapport, but he gets that through summer league instead. At least in our area, homeschoolers can do partial enrollment. However in practice, that is a committment to being in class each time the class is held. Since our area uses block scheduling, that creates a rotating schedule of which days of the week a certain class meets. (One week might be M/W/F with the next being T/TH. To my mind, that would mean, not only would my kid have to be slepped to and from the school (disrupting the rest of the day) but I couldn't plan on using things like coops or homeschool support groups, because we wouldn't be able to commit to being there the same day each week. I don't know about other parts of VA, but around NoVa, there are several support group options to choose from. You could almost create a smorgasbord of courses and teach little at home. (This isn't something we've pursued, but I seem many who are taking advantage of this.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 FL yes Ds takes 2 classes at PS HS and has played basketball in middle school and now high school. We have to fill out a few forms before the season and after 1st semester. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 The decision to home school your children has been made. Where to begin? What to avoid? What to do? Here are some good starting points. How does one report from a mobile device? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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