If you homeschool in NC....

[Tabrett]

has the DNPE ever come to your house to check your records?

 

I may be moving to NC and was researching how to HS and it said that the DNPE can come to your house to inspect your records and after 2 or 3 years of homeschooling you can volunteer to come to an inspection instead of the home visits.

This is freaking me out! This feels like an invasion of privacy or makes me feel like I am in need of monitoring by social services. :angry: I don't want to allow a person in my home to inspect records. I don't mind mailing records or bringing in records to a meeting, but in my home?

 

Also, I don't vaccinate, what is the legal process? Is there a waiver to sign?

[Mrs Mungo]

We lived in NC for five years before. We moved back here in February. I registered our homeschool once I had an address in March. I received the card that asks if you want to do inspection by mail, I said yes.

 

You don't actually have to prove you vaccinate, you just have to show you have the records. So, before, I just copied the backside of their vaccination records. DNPE never questioned it, has never called me, has never asked me to attend a meeting, has never come to my home.

[Tabrett]

We lived in NC for five years before. We moved back here in February. I registered our homeschool once I had an address in March. I received the card that asks if you want to do inspection by mail, I said yes.

 

You don't actually have to prove you vaccinate, you just have to show you have the records. So, before, I just copied the backside of their vaccination records. DNPE never questioned it, has never called me, has never asked me to attend a meeting, has never come to my home.

 

Ok. You can do an inspection by mail. That makes me feel better.

 

But, I don't have any vac. records to copy because they have never had them. So what would you send then?

[Mrs Mungo]

Ok. You can do an inspection by mail. That makes me feel better.

 

But, I don't have any vac. records to copy because they have never had them. So what would you send then?

 

Get a blank yellow vaccination record from the health department.

[Pretty in Pink]

We homeschooled in NC for three years previously and moved back 2.5 years ago and re-registered.

 

We've never submitted our records for inspection, by mail or otherwise. DNPE has never shown up at our house. You do have the option to submit by mail though.

[Samiam]

Like many states, the legal writing regarding homeschooling is much scarier than the reality.

 

In my research when we moved to last year, most HSer's in NC will tell you that they've never heard of DNPE visiting a HSing family. It would have been an extreme case, as in abuse/child neglect issues going on, where Child Services probably requested it. As with any government office, DNPE is under-staffed, under-paid and busy. They only have the one office, in Raleigh. Highly unlikely they will be driving all over the state to visit individual HSing homes.

 

Also, keep in mind, you don't even had to let them IN the home....have them stand at the front door and inspect, if you want to go to that extreme...it's legal.

[Melora in NC]

We've been here five years and have done the inspection by mail thing. It is even easier than in Florida, where we met with a certified teacher once a year for a portfolio evaluation! I haven't ever heard of anyone having the DNPE visit them!

[momofkhm]

We're in our 6th year homeschooling. Many of our friends homeschool as well. We also belong to a 500 person co-op, I think it's around 60 families. I don't check the box to inspect by mail. No one has ever come to my home to inspect records. I've never heard of anyone who had DNPE come to their home.

 

About that box you can check to inspect by mail. NCHE (state org) says you should check it. Not required but shows that we do have the records. HSLDA says we shouldn't check it - not required, don't do it.

 

I have my records handy should anyone ever come though.

[Jacquelyn in NC]

I'm in my 7th year of homeschooling, and I've never had DNPE request a visit to my house. I've never heard of anyone else who had a visit, either. There is a voluntary inspection-by-mail (which I do not participate in).

[Tabrett]

Thanks, feeling much better now.

 

Is there a vax waiver? I am in SC right now and you don't have to vax to HS, but there is a religious waver that must be signed if a child is unvax'ed and attends a PS.

 

Is there a waiver like that for NC to keep on hand?

[Samiam]

As far as vaccinations, keep in mind, in NC, you register and are considered a "private school" as far as HSing goes. Even required to name your school.

Thus, vaccinations do not come into play for HSing requirements, as each private school would have their own rules regarding vaccinations.

 

Now, as far as going into other situations, ie camps, etc, you may find that vaccinations come up there, and in that case you would need some form....can't help with that though.

[speedmom4]

I have been homeschooling in NC since August of 2000. I have never had someone even contact me from DNPE. We receive a postcard once a year requesting participation in inspection by mail. That is all done online now. I have submitted test scores and attendance records in the past but I haven't done it in years. You do not have to submit anything about vaccinations at all. It has never been an issue. I think it's quite easy to homeschool in NC.

 

HTH,

Elise inNC

[MelissaMinNC]

No, I've never had anyone visit me, call me or contact me in any way. Don't stress, it's really not difficult or invasive.

 

This is reminding me that I never received a postcard this year, though. Hm. Wonder what I should do about that? :confused:

[mycalling]

Our second year we registered to have a second family who was living with us homeschool under our school. That year we were contacted asking if we would come in when they were in our county (at the library, I think) and show them what we used and how it was going. No test scores, not mandatory, just interested. We agreed.

 

Before the meeting, they called and cancelled saying there was no funding for their trip to our county.

 

The woman also said that what was sent in doesn't get checked because there is no funding of time to do that either. It sounded like it just gets filed.

[krisperry]

The actually department is really small from my understanding - just a handful of people. There has been a huge push over the past year to put everything online which will save on the cost of postcards and whatnot. Going forward, I believe that registering, change of address... all that stuff will be done online.

 

They have asked for volunteers to deal with the paperwork. Suffice to say there isn't much of a budget there I don't think. I can't imagine they would visit except in an extreme case. I know no one personally who has had a visit nor have I ever heard of anyone.

 

I selectively vax. Some of my youngers do not have a single vaccine yet. I've never sent in anything at all concerning vaccinations.