When is a young child officially homeschooling?

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

This seems like a really silly question but I don't know the answer so, When is one officially "homeschooling"? When they begin K level work? 1st grade? When they turn 5? 6? Is it when your child is of age to be officially reported (for States that require it)?

 

:confused:

[angela in ohio]

This seems like a really silly question but I don't know the answer so, When is one officially "homeschooling"? When they begin K level work? 1st grade? When they turn 5? 6? Is it when your child is of age to be officially reported (for States that require it)?

 

:confused:

 

It depends on the state you live in. For general use, my feeling is when they are about 5 or 6 and are doing kindergarten. Before that, it is parenting, not homeschooling. JMHO :001_smile: For example, my mom taught me to read and do math at home before I went to kindergarten. This was very common and still is in certain areas. No one considered that homeschooling.

 

When universal preschool becomes mandatory, I might say then that you are homeschooling a 4 yo.

Edited October 8, 2009 by angela in ohio

[Karen in CO]

My state has mandatory attendance starting at 6 years old so that is when they require notice of homeschooling. If by officially homeschooling, you mean when do I have to notify the state that I am exercising my right to educate my child, then it is 6. If you mean when I start requiring my darling to do more than just play their way through life, then it is about the same age. Childhood is such a short time.

[Pamela H in Texas]

who knows....LOL

 

Seriously, by law, it's compulsory school age. Most people use Kindergarten age (usually the fall the child is 5) or birth. I don't think level is a good one but that could be because I had a 3yr old on a 4th grade level (and then later a 8yr old on a 1st grade level).

 

I generally don't like figuring out exactly how long I've been homeschooling. "Over a decade" is about as close to defining it as I get. Is it really 17yrs? 14 years? 12 years? who knows....

 

I just would pick the way you want to say it and just go with it.

[Dawn in OH]

I consider it "official" homeschooling when I am required by the state's compulsory attendance laws to register/notify.

 

I homeschooled all my children from about age 2, but only officially since age 6.

[LaxMom]

I consider it "official" homeschooling when I am required by the state's compulsory attendance laws to register/notify.

 

 

Me, too. My boys missed the birthday cut-off for compulsory attendance this fall, so they will enter the "official" county records as first graders next year.

[Mrs Mungo]

I consider official homeschooling to start the year they would have started kindergarten if they were in the public school system.

[Impish]

Well, I discovered weirdness in my school board this year. Tazzie is 5 before the end of Feb, 2010. This entitles him to a 'Reading Readiness' program this year...and puts him in grade 1 next year! :svengo:

[Ellie]

When a child is compulsory school age, or, in the case of states which have later age requirements for hsers, the age the dc would be if they were starting in first grade at the local public school.

 

People will say they're "homeschooling" their 4yo, but the truth is that *many* parents do the same kinds of things with dc so young, even the ones who will send their dc to kindergarten. It just makes sense to me to make that distinction: when you are teaching your dc at home when ordinarily they would have been attending school.

[nutmeg]

The vast majority of kids around here start school at 3. Mine didn't, so I count my homeschooling years back to age 3. Officially, we don't have to notify anyone until the child is 7.

[kmacnchs]

I consider it "official" homeschooling when I am required by the state's compulsory attendance laws to register/notify.

 

I homeschooled all my children from about age 2, but only officially since age 6.

 

:iagree: except our state is age 7

[Carrie12345]

I say 5/kindergarten, but that's because compulsory age here is 8, and I have definitely been homeschooling my 7yo 2nd grader!

[Cera]

I would say you start officially homeschooling when you start requiring your child to do school. We taught our oldest to read and basic math last year but it wasn't required, just something fun to do if she wanted to. She turns 5 at the end of this month and could attend K so we are now requiring her to sit and do a bit of work so now we are homeschooling (not just being parents).

[Starr]

We follow state rules for public school. Why send in any more paper work than necessary?

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

I realize my question wasn't the clearest with the use of the term "official" and yet there have been many thought provoking answers that have helped a lot.

 

As most guessed (it really helps me communicate when you can read my mind and give me the right words to express what I'm thinking and I thank many of you for that :lol: ) I meant "officially homeschooling" as receiving an education distinct from general parenting. The line just seemed fuzzy and I guess it is in a general sense since individually it seems influenced by a number of things, from the public system to personal philosophies of education and expectations of parents and teachers.

 

I really appreciate all the responses. :)

[Desert Rat]

In our state, the magic age is 7.

[Ritsumei]

Preschool, around here, is way more common than just keeping kids home. Additionally, quite a few of the local school districts are offering 4 year old kindergarten. So my friends know that we homeschool just because they get to talking about what their kids are doing in preschool and then ask about when Monkey will start.

 

Additionally, Monkey knew all his letters and their sounds well before his 3rd birthday, though I didn't do tons about that. So we bought Happy Phonics (a games based program, as he's so little) and we do "school" complete with a calendar, reading games, and math, several times a week. Seems to me that if he's learned all those letters I should show him what to do next! But that's "school" enough for me to call it school. He does many of the same things that my Mom's PS kindergarten class does. We just do them at a more relaxed pace.

[Ellie]

The vast majority of kids around here start school at 3. Mine didn't, so I count my homeschooling years back to age 3. Officially, we don't have to notify anyone until the child is 7.

"School" at that age is preschool and not more, really, than what mothers would be doing at home with their dc. That's why I said what I did about the age children would be entering kindergarten or first grade.

[Ritsumei]

"School" at that age is preschool and not more, really, than what mothers would be doing at home with their dc. That's why I said what I did about the age children would be entering kindergarten or first grade.

 

Perhaps mothers in your area do more than the ones around here. My impression from many of my friends (though, not all) is that they don't feel the need to worry about academic things because that's what school is for. Preschool is the beginning of that. I count preschool as early homeschool, myself.

[Valerie in Chicago]

Illinois doesn't require notification. In fact, the law is deleriously, wonderfully lax. The compulsory attendance age is 7yo, but DD1 would have started K this year if we'd signed on. So I say we're officially homeschooling.

 

Did that make sense? It's late. I'm a bit punchy.

 

;)

[Ellie]

Illinois doesn't require notification. In fact, the law is deleriously, wonderfully lax. The compulsory attendance age is 7yo, but DD1 would have started K this year if we'd signed on. So I say we're officially homeschooling.

 

Did that make sense? It's late. I'm a bit punchy.

 

;)

Yes, that would be exactly right, although I'd lean more towards first grade being the official year if kindergarten is not mandatory for public school students in your state.

[rockermom]

Preschool, around here, is way more common than just keeping kids home. Additionally, quite a few of the local school districts are offering 4 year old kindergarten. So my friends know that we homeschool just because they get to talking about what their kids are doing in preschool and then ask about when Monkey will start.

 

All schools in our area have Pre-K programs (K4). Not many kids that will attend public school in our district opt out of Pre-K of some sort. Pre-K here is a full-day, no nap, single recess, academic program. It is in the surrounding counties as well.

 

I'm not sure how that answers the original question... but I thought I'd chime in.

 

Compulsory attendance begins at 6 here.

[Quiver0f10]

Officially? In AR its 6 on or before August 1st.

[fivetails]

I don't think it really matters. :)

 

One of our kids has multiple disabilities and will never be able to live independently, so he will stay with us and I will continue to teach him about the world around him ~ that won't ever stop. Does this mean that when he turns 16, or 18, I'm 'not allowed' to say that I'm homeschooling anymore? ;)

[Sahamamama]

I think there is a distinction between "officially homeschooling" and "doing something different." In our area, most families enroll their 3 and 4 year olds in some sort of out-of-home program. Even 2 year olds are going out for "school," whether or not the moms are working outside the home. This is seen as completely positive and desirable.

 

The preschool program could be "discovery-based," "play-based," or "academic," but the common theme is that the family loads up in the minivan and drops the child off at least 3 half-days/mornings a week at an out-of-home program. To NOT do this is considered abnormal, or even as bad parenting. "How could you deprive her of it?" :glare: I was asked this by several people in our (former) church, people who had no idea what we were doing at home and in the community. They seemed to think we were keeping our daughter in a dark hole, if you KWIM. There is tremendous pressure to get children out of the home and into a "good program," even in the churches.

 

As a result of the pressure to conform to what all the other families do, for us there has been the stigma of being "weird, unsocialized homeschoolers," even though our children are not "official school age!" Look at my sig line to see how ridiculous it really is to consider us "homeschoolers!" My oldest is 5 and my twins are 3! Good grief, homeschooling? But sometimes other people label you. :glare:

 

My husband and I were odd-balls at our church and in our neighborhood. We actually felt so painfully out-of-place at our church that we changed churches. We have now found a church in which the idea of keeping 3 and 5 year olds at home for snuggly read alouds, outdoor play time, a little "school time," and an afternoon nap is not seen as radical or poor parenting. In fact, several other families with 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds are "homeschooling." ;) Are we really?

 

I work hard to teach our children at home, and while I agree that in some areas this may also be the norm among mothers who intend to eventually place their children in public/private schools, that is not the pattern we see here. In our area, mothers (even SAHM) seem eager to get their children placed into out-of-home programs. To not share that enthusiasm is to become a misfit very quickly.

 

FWIW, if it becomes known among your family & friends that you DO intend to homeschool (into "official school years"), then you might become labelled as homeschoolers early on. If it matters to you to keep your status/options open in other people's minds, you might want to keep your intentions to yourself. Just some food for thought?

[Ellie]

All schools in our area have Pre-K programs (K4). Not many kids that will attend public school in our district opt out of Pre-K of some sort. Pre-K here is a full-day, no nap, single recess, academic program. It is in the surrounding counties as well.

 

I'm not sure how that answers the original question... but I thought I'd chime in.

 

Compulsory attendance begins at 6 here.

See, the key phrase is "compulsory attendance begins at 6..." Of course, dc who stay home are still learning from their mothers, but since the complusory school age is 6, *that* would be the time when they would "officially" be homeschooling. JMHO, of course. :-)

 

And don't you feel sorry for those poor little dc who have to leave their homes every morning to go spend the day at a daycare center, instead of being home with their mommies?

[JFSinIL]

Whenever YOU say he/she is. There is nothing official about it. At least, that is the way it is in Illinois.

[nutmeg]

I meant "officially homeschooling" as receiving an education distinct from general parenting.

I assumed that is what you meant, and that's why counted pre-school in my answer.

 

Often someone will ask me How long have you homeschooled? We don't have to notify anyone until the childen is 7 (typically 2nd grade) but I was certainly homeschooling before that! Heck, by 2nd grade I had 4 years under my belt! lol I usually just reply Forever! They've never been to school.

 

My oldest is doing 8th grade now, and I'm in my 11th year of homeschooling. :)

[RanchGirl]

I don't think there is a big difference. You might use different materials, but homeschooling is basically a natural extension of what most parents do with their children from birth. Meet the kid where they're at, use what you need to engage them.... board books, playdough, finger paint, math textbook, whatever.

 

My kids started reading and doing typical kindergarten/1st grade public school stuff at age 3, so you could say it was then. But we didn't start telling people they were "homeschooling" until they didn't head off to kindergarten at age 5/6. And we didn't have to report to the school district until age 7, so I suppose we weren't officially legally homeschooling until then.

[Jean in Newcastle]

In my case, I would say that I started homeschooling them at age 4. That's because I actually had a schedule for them and planned activities for them. It wasn't much - 3 mornings a week. But it was planned and deliberate and so I count it.

 

Besides, if I went by WA state's compulsory education laws, I still wouldn't be considered to be homeschooling my 3rd grader because she isn't 8 yet!

[swellmomma]

Legally when they have to be registered in the province (6 yrs old).

[Garga]

Legally when they have to be registered in the province (6 yrs old).

 

I would also say that homeschooling begins when they have to be registered...except my kids don't have to be registered until they're 8...and a weirdness of the law and when my son's birthday falls, he'll really be 2 weeks shy of his 9th b-day before I officially have to register him.

 

He's only 7 now and I've been homeschooling for years already. I'm not going to wait to say I'm a homeschooler when he's 9! I've been working too hard these past 2 years to wait to say that!

 

In my mind, I've been homeschooling since we began using a curriculum for math and reading--since kindergarten.

[swellmomma]

In my mind, I've been homeschooling since we began using a curriculum for math and reading--since kindergarten.

 

In my mind I also think this way as I do lessons/curric for totschool/preschool and K in our home but when talking to others I keep it simple and state 6 when we have to register.

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

I've enjoyed reading all these responses and appreciate them. I was learning towards basing it off the PS schedule but then when I was chatting about these things with DH over dinner (I should probably reconsider discussing forum topics with him before he starts thinking I don't do anything during the day besides sit on here :lol: ) when he posed what I thought was a good question - Why are we basing homeschooling upon the public school system?

 

I realize there are some reasons for doing so to a degree - require testing, convenience in relating to others who ask what grade our DC is in, being on the same schedule as non homeschooling friends, etc. - but I think his point was that since our personal philosophy of education was different to that of the public system then our starting points and time frames would naturally be defined differently also. Did that make any sense to anyone outside of my head? :lol:

 

I'm seeing from what he said and what others have posted that what I thought was a simple question with a simple answer is actually somewhat philosophical.

[stripe]

I was asked about putting my son in school from the time he was 2 - 1/2, so in a way, even before he was school age, people seemed shocked he wasn't in school -- so in a way, it might be appropriate to say that one is homeschooling at that point, I guess...But that's more because of people's tendency to enroll their children very early in various programs.

[angela in ohio]

I've enjoyed reading all these responses and appreciate them. I was learning towards basing it off the PS schedule but then when I was chatting about these things with DH over dinner (I should probably reconsider discussing forum topics with him before he starts thinking I don't do anything during the day besides sit on here :lol: ) when he posed what I thought was a good question - Why are we basing homeschooling upon the public school system?

 

I realize there are some reasons for doing so to a degree - require testing, convenience in relating to others who ask what grade our DC is in, being on the same schedule as non homeschooling friends, etc. - but I think his point was that since our personal philosophy of education was different to that of the public system then our starting points and time frames would naturally be defined differently also. Did that make any sense to anyone outside of my head? :lol:

 

I'm seeing from what he said and what others have posted that what I thought was a simple question with a simple answer is actually somewhat philosophical.

 

You could then argue about the term itself. When you call it "homeschooling," you are differentiating it form schooling somewhere else. So I think you could say you were schooling/educating your child from birth, but when you specifically use the word homeschooling, you are in fact basing it on the public/private school system. You would need to avoid the term altogether if you didn't want to base it on that.

[NavyWifeandMommy]

I go by my states law. Right now I am offically homeschooling one child. I was suppose to move to VA so I got my letter ready to include the 5 year old so that would have ment I'd offically homeschool two in January. Now the I am moving to a place that don't seem to have any rules I am now just saying I am an offical homeschooling all 3.

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

You could then argue about the term itself. When you call it "homeschooling," you are differentiating it form schooling somewhere else. So I think you could say you were schooling/educating your child from birth, but when you specifically use the word homeschooling, you are in fact basing it on the public/private school system. You would need to avoid the term altogether if you didn't want to base it on that.

 

Hmm .. I've thought a lot about this and so far I can't say I personally see that the existence of public schooling necessitates a particular definition of when schooling at any other location begins.

 

You know what .. that is the question though (thinking back to your first sentence)... what is "home schooling"? And that's what I'm observing as being defined differently by different people.

Edited October 10, 2009 by RecumbentHeart

[angela in ohio]

Hmm .. I've thought a lot about this and so far I can't say I personally see that the existence of public schooling necessitates a particular definition of when schooling at any other location begins.

 

That was my point. If you don't want to define it by the existence of the public school, you wouldn't need to worry about when to say you started homeschooling, because you wouldn't use the word to begin with. I don't disagree that we should define what we do by our terms instead of the public school terms, I'm just saying that this particular thread and a discussion of when we can say we began homeschooling, by discussing the specific term "homeschooling," already assumes a comparison to public school.

[Mama Bear]

When they're old enough to be asked, "No school today?" :D

[Valerie in Chicago]

MamaBear,

 

That is too funny! I say that because on the first day of school here in Chicago (sept 8), which is when DD1 would have started K if we'd opted to send her, we were asked, "no school today?" while out on an errand in the neighborhood.

 

It did give me that "official" feeling!

 

:D

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

That was my point. If you don't want to define it by the existence of the public school, you wouldn't need to worry about when to say you started homeschooling, because you wouldn't use the word to begin with. I don't disagree that we should define what we do by our terms instead of the public school terms, I'm just saying that this particular thread and a discussion of when we can say we began homeschooling, by discussing the specific term "homeschooling," already assumes a comparison to public school.

 

 

Ah .. I see what you're saying. :D

 

One of the things I'm looking forward to with giving my child a classical education (and getting one myself) is learning to think and express myself more clearly but even just hanging out around here helps some. lol

[Ritsumei]

In my mind, I've been homeschooling since we began using a curriculum for math and reading--since kindergarten.

 

:iagree:Yes! And through talking to my Mom, a kindergarten teacher, I've realized that although I use different methods, the content of what I'm teaching is basically kindergarten content. In fact, I'll be looking at her Math Expressions textbook tomorrow when I go over there to evaluate it as a text and Monkey's readiness for it as a subject. I expect to like it (I've looked at it before) and to be talking a local girlfriend into buying it for me: they won't sell it to you until your child has the official paperwork. But living where we do, and Monkey's birthday being late Sep, we won't be "official" until he's 2 weeks shy of 7. There's no way that works for us as an "official" start time: If I don't call it homeschool until then, I won't DO school until then. Just something about me. It's got to be "official" in my mind for me to put forth the effort. KWIM? He's barely 3 and well into the phonics program we're using, though not reading yet. We're doing much of the kindergarten stuff. Why wait? And if we're going to be doing "kindergarten," then why not call it school? And wouldn't that make us "homeschoolers?"