Lara, I (Cindy Englan Wentz) am the owner of Rocky Mountain Education Connection, I wrote that, and yes, you are correct. Unpacking it: In Colorado, your "homeschool year" begins on whatever date you choose. June, August, September, October, et al. You don't have to begin your year when your local school district begins their year. If your teen is turning 16 two weeks, or more, before you start your year, you can opt out of filing a Letter of Intent to Homeschool. Ergo, you can also opt out of Standardized Testing. That's because the homeschool statute in Colorado only covers children until they are age 16. Once they're 16, the state has no further jurisdiction over their education. BUT NOTE: There are three separate education laws in CO (public, private and homeschool) so this ONLY applies to homeschoolers. You CAN still do Standardized Testing for your own curiosity, or college admissions requirements, etc. It's just that your local school district and the state are no longer in the loop, so you don't have to submit the results to them. We have a vague homeschool law (on purpose), it's confusing to many, so I hope this helps. 🙂 Cheers, Cindy

The last I heard (2014), the court case had really taken its toll. It took all the Hegener's money and then some. Mark and Helen either separated or divorced, she moved to AK, gave up HEM and immersed herself in the Iditarod dog races (see Northern Lights Media: https://northernlightmedia.wordpress.com/about). Mark moved to MI and hooked up with Barb Lundgren (professionally speaking) and they changed HEM into a radical unschooling magazine, which Mark had always wanted it to be. I'm an unschooler, just not a radical one, and the new format was, in a word, boring. It had nothing to say. They moved the website to http://www.unschooling.com/homeeducationmagazine, which is no longer active either. I miss the old HEM, I miss all the archived articles, I miss their great resources I pointed Colorado homeschoolers to for so many years. There will never be another publication like Home Education Magazine. :( So thanks a lot, MR. (I refuse to put your name in print.)