Six Flags read to succeed

[jennsmile]

In the past regular old homeschoolers could sign up no questions. After entering my group info there was this area

 

"Tell Us About Your Local School Board You must be a homeschool organization with a minimum of 10 students in order to participate. Please provide the local school board contact information and a copy of the letter of intent to your local school board or other homeschool governing body, or any correspondence from them certifying that you are an approved homeschool."

 

 

 

*Local School Board Name

*Address 1 Address 2 *City *State - Select State - Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming *Zip Code *Phone Number *Contact *Minimum Students I have a minimum of 10 students participating *Please Attach your Letter of Intent

 

 

I have written to the Texas homeschool coalition and HSLDA to request their opinion. But is any other homeschool parent concerned about it? Never in the past have we had to jump through such hoops.

 

If I posted this in the wrong place please let me know.

 

Thanks Jennifer

[Sebastian (a lady)]

From the FAQ, it looks like they are trying to put some quality controls on the program. I suspect that they perceived they were being taken advantage of for free tickets rather than being a tool to promote reading.

 

Students and teachers whose schools aren't participating also cannot do the program. Nor can groups like scouting groups. And you are supposed to live within 250 miles of a Six Flags.

 

Now a disconnect with the paperwork they are expecting and the multitude of different ways of being a homeschooler is something they may not have thought out.

 

So I don't think they are picking on homeschoolers, but I do think they may not have enough familiarity with homeschooling requirements in the states near their parks.

 

Are their specific requirements for the homeschool group? Could you and some friends form a group to support homeschool reading and use the program as an incentive?

[Sandy in Indy]

My state does not require a letter of intent and no one decides that we are an "approved homeschooler." I put in the information and left that blank...we'll see what happens.

 

I looked for a contact phone number to call and discuss it and couldn't find anything. Unfortunately, Discovery Education has taken over Read to Succeed--and their track record with homeschoolers is, well, not so friendly.

 

I hope we aren't kicked out!

 

ETA: I did find an email addy and sent an email to them. I attached a copy of the Indiana law that says homeschoolers are not required to register or be "approved." We'll see if I get a response.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Sandy in Indy
Contact info

[fhjmom]

We haven't participated before, but I was planning on doing it this year. I found this tid-bit interesting though:

Can my home school participate?

 

Your home school is eligible to participate if your home-school organization has a minimum of 10 students and is located within a 250-mile radius of a participating Six Flags park.

 

 

In Texas, there is no legal requirement to join a "home-school organization". The way this is stated it makes it sounds as if they assume that all homeschoolers are automatically part of some type of organization (which is untrue in Texas). The other possible interpretation is that they are restricting it only to homeschoolers that are part of a larger organization, which would not be a "school" participating but an organization outside the school, which is in conflict with the rule prohibiting organizations other than "schools" to participate. (Just an interpretation for the sake of argument from the legalistic, rule-follower side of me. :D )

 

I do have a question about teacher tickets, though. It says that each teacher gets a ticket, so if you join with a larger homeschool group that has a coordinator, do you get a ticket for each homeschool teacher (i.e. parent)? or does just the coordinator count as the teacher?

[Sandy in Indy]

One parent per family receives a ticket. (Well, we have in the past, anyway!)

[jennsmile]

We are from Texas too. The first year we did it I only did my child, I listed my husband as teacher so he would get a ticket and didn't know as the coordinator I would get one. The past two years I have been the coordinator with my group and received a ticket. Each parent would get a ticket as the Teacher of their class. No questions asked.

 

I feel they are uneducated on the laws I guess. I have no desire to have anything to do with my local school board nor do I want to be on their radar...

 

I wonder if they will be limiting teacher to ticket ratio with the new 10 kid minimum. That really doesn't bother me so much as the Local school board contact info and letter of intent. Do I provide a school board for a district we play no part in or give them board information for my homeschool group? They didn't go into detail.

 

Jenn

[jennsmile]

Guess I wasn't the only one to contact Discovery Education and they quickly realized not every state has the same rules. They are revising the signup process and it will be down till after Nov 5th. After that time you won't need a letter of intent. :party: