School District Support or Buy Curriculum?

[Hericane]

I need some help, please.

Maybe I'm lost in the woods, but I've just heard that some school districts actually help the homeschool families in the area by purchasing (approved) curricula and books. How does this work? Where are these school districts?

Is this a growing trend?

I'm really wanting to gather as much info as possible, then I'll know how to approach my local school district. Or maybe there's a general list of reasons schools want to help us. ??

 

I've also heard that some school districts support homeschool families in other ways. What ways? Where are these school districts?

 

Like I said, maybe I'm lost and the only person that doesn't know about these. But, I will be SO grateful for any help you can offer. Thanks!!

[Ritsumei]

I've heard about this too, though I didn't go looking for it from my district for a couple of different reasons.

 

1. I'm not impressed with text books in general, preferring living books as much as possible, and given the way that politics affect textbook selection here in the US, and the fact that religion factors in to why we homeschool, I'm just not that interested in their books, except math. We're using the same math program the school my Mom teaches at uses. I don't think the locals are using it though.

 

2. As far as why they'd want to help us, it's about money. Students that get books/supplies/instruction from the PS are PS students and the school gets funding for them. Politics play into the reasons why inviting PS into my home like that is unacceptable in our family, but I've seen people around the internet that do it and are happy with the result.

 

3. The other reason I didn't do that is that my son missed the K cut-off by 3 weeks and is technically too young for school in our state, so they're not interested in him yet. He's working at a late K/early 1st level so waiting another year to start is simply out of the question for us.

[Momling]

Our local school district does support us with a homeschool support program. There's an option in which the students are registered with the alternative school and a homeschooling option where parents just pick and choose classes. We have a borrowing library of curriculum materials. One district over, there is a charter school in which families get $500 to use for materials.

 

Of course, the price of using the school district programs is giving up a bit of autonomy... testing or other requirements come into play...

[razorbackmama]

Keep in mind that I live in CO and you live in FL, so I'm SURE that the actual process is different. But here is how it works here:

 

My kids go to classes one day a week. It's sort of like a co-op except that I don't actually have to DO anything.;) It is only for homeschoolers, and there are different sites around our metro area. The site we go to meets at our church, which is handy. Each site offers different classes with a different level of outside work required. Ours is very laid back, and the classes are intended to be "extra" only. They take things like Spanish, PE, current events, etc. Other sites offer math and such.

 

As a part of being enrolled in this program, we can choose from a pretty large list of curriculum that the district has available. The materials are not necessarily typical classroom materials - they offer lots of specifically homeschool materials as long as they are secular in nature. For example, I could get Easy Grammar, Math-U-See, Teaching Textbooks, Saxon Phonics & math, Rosetta Stone, etc. We get to check out the non-consumable materials at the beginning of the year. Any consumables that go with them we can either buy on our own or buy from them at their cost.

 

In return for this my kids are TECHNICALLY considered public schooled students, but that doesn't actually mean a whole lot. Our coordinator said that since we are still homeschoolers we should follow the homeschool laws rather than considering ourselves public schoolers. HSLDA probably wouldn't consider us "real" homeschoolers, but I have no interest in joining them anyway, so I don't care.;) I submit my notice of intent every year, test the kids according to the rules, etc.

 

Like I said, it may be different in your area, but this is how it works here.:D

[zenjenn]

Dang, sounds like Colorado offers a sweet deal for homeschoolers!

[Crimson Wife]

Our district has an independent study program where they provide textbooks but I'd be limited to what they use in their school. I'd also have to meet with the oversight teacher every week rather than just once per month with the charter.

 

We have chosen to enroll with a charter school that provides a stipend of several hundred dollars per semester to use on curriculum and classes of my choice. The main stipulation is that the materials purchased have to be secular. If it's a non-consumable, the school retains ownership and it will have to be turned in after the student is finished with it. The returned materials go into the school's lending library so that other families can borrow it.

 

The main hoops to jump through with the charter are the need to turn in a learning log & one work sample per subject each month, and to take the state standardized tests in the spring.

[BatmansWife]

I don't think it's necessarily by state...but by school district.

 

Our school district started the Homebased Educational Program last year. I didn't know about it to get in last year, but we did this year. There are only 10 students allowed in...2 of them are my kids. Yay!

 

Basically they are public school kids, which means they must take some tests at the school, twice a year. We need to keep a portfolio of work samples. This gets reviewed by a coordinator (maybe facilitator is the word) a couple times a year. Our coordinator of this program is a homeschooling mom herself. She is also to have regular e-mail contact with me (every couple of weeks).

 

What the school gets is to count my kids as their students....so they get the funding for each of them (which is A LOT).

 

What we get is our curriculum completely paid for and laptops for both kids. My ds got an allotment of $2,000 and my dd got $1,500. It is lumped together so as a family it was $3,500. This is HUGE for us and it was great to be able to pick out curriculum that I never would have been able to afford otherwise. There really weren't any restrictions on what we could get (except nothing religious for Science.....History could include religion, but not Science). Because the kids are public school students they can partake in any field trip or class they want. As of now, I only have ds going to one class at the high school a day (I can't do too much more than that or it messes up the entire day....it's hard enough as it is).

 

That's basically it. I would call your school district and see what they have to offer, if anything.

 

ETA: I forgot to mention that nonconsumable items are to be returned when we are done with them (not necessarily at the end of the school year...if we are still using them we keep them). I'm fine with this. Apparently some parents were making a stink about it. But, I didn't pay for the stuff...why should I expect to keep it all?

Edited October 17, 2011 by ~AprilMay~

[ekarl2]

I can give you the vendor perspective.

 

We receive purchase orders from school districts in California, Alaska, Washington, Idaho, and Minnesota. (There may be more, but those are what I can remember off the top of my head). Most are from homeschool charter schools (described by a PP above). Our material is secular; that's why public charters can use it.

 

If you know of a secular curriculum you want, it's really not that hard to get it on the approved list.

 

As long as you don't mind a little gov't oversight (the amount varies), the homeschool charter is win-win-win.

 

-The district gets the federal, state, and county impact funds (education money) for your kid. They're pleased with that.

 

-You get SOME of that money toward your curriculum purchases of secular material. It's nice to get at least some of your property taxes back!

 

-Vendors (me) like it since it results in more sales.

 

Some districts also allow homeschool kids to participate in extra-curricular activities like sports and music at their local public school.

[razorbackmama]

Oh yeah...our program is "officially" a charter school. So while it's all approved by the state and such, it's a district-specific program. Other districts are different. In fact, our district has this charter school program, but most of the sites are actually located within other districts! They're probably able to do that since Colorado has school choice (theoretically you can go to whatever school you want in the state - you're not REQUIRED to attend your local school).

[Ellie]

In return for this my kids are TECHNICALLY considered public schooled students, but that doesn't actually mean a whole lot. Our coordinator said that since we are still homeschoolers we should follow the homeschool laws rather than considering ourselves public schoolers. HSLDA probably wouldn't consider us "real" homeschoolers, but I have no interest in joining them anyway, so I don't care.;) I submit my notice of intent every year, test the kids according to the rules, etc.

You aren't getting something "in return." You're enrolling your dc in a public school program. I'd have to investigate more, because my experience has taught me that the people at the lowest level of similar organizations do NOT know what's really going on legally.

 

Your dc are either public school students or they are homeschooled. They cannot be both.

 

If your dc are, in fact, enrolled in the public school, then of course HSLDA wouldn't consider you a "real" homeschooler.

 

As I said, *I'd* have to investigate further. Something doesn't sound right to me.

[Ellie]

I need some help, please.

Maybe I'm lost in the woods, but I've just heard that some school districts actually help the homeschool families in the area by purchasing (approved) curricula and books. How does this work? Where are these school districts?

Is this a growing trend?

I'm really wanting to gather as much info as possible, then I'll know how to approach my local school district. Or maybe there's a general list of reasons schools want to help us. ??

 

I've also heard that some school districts support homeschool families in other ways. What ways? Where are these school districts?

 

Like I said, maybe I'm lost and the only person that doesn't know about these. But, I will be SO grateful for any help you can offer. Thanks!!

School districts don't "support" homeschoolers. It is a conflict of interests for them.

 

If you're thinking about acquiring the texts that your local public school uses, you might want to reconsider that. Something that's free isn't always worth it.

 

Some states allow for charter schools, where children are enrolled and taught at home by their parents (although some might offer classes and field trips and whatnot). Some of those charter schools use Internet (usually referred to as "virtual academies"), some don't. In those cases, children are legally public school students, not homeschooled students. In those situations, the public school is NOT "supporting" homeschoolers. It's making things flexible for its public school students...and BTW, having more actual control of children's education than if their parents were legally homeschooling.

[EmilyinND]

Our state law requires school districts to provide curricula for the homeschoolers if they are requested, but only the books that are used at the school for whatever grade level you are teaching. So, if I've got a 7th grader, they will (sometimes reluctantly) provide me with whatever subject I request. If they don't have any 'left overs' they are required to order them for me. I would not be able to choose the books I want them to pay for. I do not request anything from the school district because I don't care for the curricula they use. I would rather pick what works best for my child & pay for it myself than use theirs for free.

[razorbackmama]

You aren't getting something "in return." You're enrolling your dc in a public school program. I'd have to investigate more, because my experience has taught me that the people at the lowest level of similar organizations do NOT know what's really going on legally.

 

Your dc are either public school students or they are homeschooled. They cannot be both.

 

If your dc are, in fact, enrolled in the public school, then of course HSLDA wouldn't consider you a "real" homeschooler.

 

As I said, *I'd* have to investigate further. Something doesn't sound right to me.

Like I said, TECHNICALLY my kids are considered part-time public school students. (They are permitted by law to attend as many or as few regular public school classes as they want as well.) So the school district gets to count them in their totals for whatever they use those numbers for.

 

If the powers that be in the district office can't tell whether my kids are public school students or homeschool students, that is their problem, and the minute they give me any grief for it, I'll just yank them from the charter and that will be the end of that. For right now, I have filled out the paperwork for the charter AND I have filled out the paperwork as though I were a "regular" homeschooler (which is what the administrator of the entire charter program told our coordinator to have us do). I have received a (form) letter every time from our public records office stating that we homeschool (even though they should have records of us being enrolled in the charter in that same office).

 

As for what HSLDA thinks about it all, I really don't care LOL.:lol:

[lamolina]

We are moving out of the country for 3 years. When we come back we are open to living about anywhere. Any ideas on how to search for states/cities/school districts that offer some of these great programs for homeschoolers?

 

Also, slighly off the topic, but do you think there are homeschool state laws that I would have to follow if not living in the US but still a citizen?

 

thanks!!

[ekarl2]

We are moving out of the country for 3 years. When we come back we are open to living about anywhere. Any ideas on how to search for states/cities/school districts that offer some of these great programs for homeschoolers?

 

Also, slighly off the topic, but do you think there are homeschool state laws that I would have to follow if not living in the US but still a citizen?

 

thanks!!

 

The states I listed in my previous post, CA, WA, ID, and AK especially, have a host of programs like this.

[Crimson Wife]

Some states allow for charter schools, where children are enrolled and taught at home by their parents (although some might offer classes and field trips and whatnot). Some of those charter schools use Internet (usually referred to as "virtual academies"), some don't. In those cases, children are legally public school students, not homeschooled students. In those situations, the public school is NOT "supporting" homeschoolers. It's making things flexible for its public school students...and BTW, having more actual control of children's education than if their parents were legally homeschooling.

 

There's no such thing as "homeschooling" under my state's educational laws. Students are either public schools students or private school students. Some public school students attend "brick-and-mortar" schools, while others are educated at home. Ditto for private school students. I think it's actually better to do it that way because HS students who are enrolled in private schools aren't subject to any more regulation than non-HS private school students.

[Hericane]

We are moving out of the country for 3 years. When we come back we are open to living about anywhere. Any ideas on how to search for states/cities/school districts that offer some of these great programs for homeschoolers?

 

Also, slighly off the topic, but do you think there are homeschool state laws that I would have to follow if not living in the US but still a citizen?

 

thanks!!

 

Lamolina is right on. Where are these districts? City/State/School District?

How do you find them?

Let's help families find these.

THANKS!!

[joannqn]

Washington has a lot of different options from once a week classes to online schools, and everything in between.

 

We're enrolled in a virtual academy in which I choose all of our curricula and do all of the teaching. I can choose to follow their standard learning plans for each grade or help my advisory teacher write a customized learning plan based on what I plan on teaching. I put in requests for the secular curricula I want them to purchase: consumables are used up but certain items that can be reused, like teacher's manuals and base 10 blocks, must be returned to the school when we are done with them. I can purchase religious curricula out of pocket and use it if I wish. If requested, they'll pay for supplies I need that is specifically required by the curricula. They also pay for a certain amount of PE, art, or tutoring classes if we want to take them. They pay for part of my son's tae kwon do, for example. They will spend approximately $1200 per student per year.

 

In exchange, my kids must email their teacher weekly, discussing what they've learned in the past week. Monthly, I provide a narrative of what we've covered. Annually, they require standardized testing. (Standardized testing is required of homeschoolers annually in this state, as well.)

 

My kids are legally classified as public school students even though I provide all of the instruction at home using homeschool curricula.

 

 

ETA: You must physically reside in the state to enroll.

[Ellie]

There's no such thing as "homeschooling" under my state's educational laws. Students are either public schools students or private school students. Some public school students attend "brick-and-mortar" schools, while others are educated at home. Ditto for private school students. I think it's actually better to do it that way because HS students who are enrolled in private schools aren't subject to any more regulation than non-HS private school students.

I know this. I started homeschooling in California in 1982. :-)

 

However, the court case a couple of years ago does make things different, as now the state recognizes homeschools as private schools, which puts California right up there with Texas and Illinois. ;-)

[jakesask]

My school division, in Saskatchewan, offers what the division terms "services and supports" for homeschoolers. We can request a library card and take out materials from the school library that is most local to us. We can borrow textbooks and other learning materials from the division if they aren't needed by the school. Homeschooled students can participate in school sports teams. Homeschooled students can also take individual courses at the school if they wish to do so. Graduating students receive a Certificate of Completion from the division (not the same as a Graduation Diploma) when they complete grade 12 of their home-based education program.

 

This is what the division has to say about financial support in their handbook:

 

"You need to check in advance with the school district if you are hoping to receive financial support for a commercial plan, as many of these are not listed resources in the provincial curriculum and are not funded."

 

I already know people who are angry about the extremely small population of homeschoolers in my small town/rural area, so I wouldn't try to aggravate things more by asking the school district to pay for any of my materials. I also suspect that nothing I want to use is covered. ;)

[threeofakind]

I think the whole decision lays in where you live and the goals you have for kids and if you are comfortable with it all. Each state and school district will vary- in Alaska it's pretty open. I chose to go with the statewide program for home schoolers rather than the local school district home school option (I felt they were more restrictive in choices). I could have easily went on my own, but after looking into all options going with the statewide was the choice for us.

 

We get a stipend and order what we would like to use and they will cover quite a bit- even SL but not certain parts of it. I felt it offered a lot of flexibility and choice, and I just have to check in once a month (email, phone, etc), nothing to invasive and the kids need to do state wide testing once a year- which we are fine with. We also had to do a learning plan for them.

 

So I would encourage you to look into all the options and decide what will be best for you and your family- and choose from there in your own state. Good luck! :)

[linguistmama]

We're in Utah and there are various homeschool charter options. Several are K12 and depending on which school you can take from 1-6 classes each year. We used one last year that offered Rosetta Stone as well. Independent homeschoolers here file a letter of intent with the local school district and that's it. With the K12 charter we had weekly email contact with a teacher and monthly phone contact. We were required to complete a certain amount of the K12 curriculum and starting in 3rd grade testing is required.

 

We are using a different charter this year which has a homeschool options day for things like art, music etc. We can request a certain amount of books for them to purchase for their lending library which we give back at the end of the year. We are reimbursed for $300 worth of classes, supplies and/or curriculum that we can keep. We are only required to mark attendance and do standardized testing. For 1st and 2nd grade they will be sending a reading test for a parent to give at home. Regular testing begins in 3rd grade. We can use whatever curriculum/method that we want.

[sweetpea3829]

Our state law requires school districts to provide curricula for the homeschoolers if they are requested, but only the books that are used at the school for whatever grade level you are teaching. So, if I've got a 7th grader, they will (sometimes reluctantly) provide me with whatever subject I request. If they don't have any 'left overs' they are required to order them for me. I would not be able to choose the books I want them to pay for. I do not request anything from the school district because I don't care for the curricula they use. I would rather pick what works best for my child & pay for it myself than use theirs for free.

 

How can I find out what my school district is required to do in regards to homeschoolers?

 

We're in upstate NY but just moved here from out of state and our oldest is still not yet of age to report (though technically she should have started K this year).