Mommyfaithe Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I think Pennsylvania is the worst with NY and possibly MA and CA close behind....I know all 4 states have restrictive homeschool policies, but there are still loads of homeschoolers. I know in NY our regs are strict in the reading, but not really difficult to follow. Faithe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I think Pennsylvania is the worst with NY and possibly MA and CA close behind....I know all 4 states have restrictive homeschool policies, but there are still loads of homeschoolers. I know in NY our regs are strict in the reading, but not really difficult to follow. Faithe CA does not have restrictive homeschooling policies. Or rather, their "homeschooling" policies are extremely restrictive, but it's super easy to homeschool in practice, if not in name, with no more oversight than yearly notification that you're a private school. There are easier states (NV requires a one-time notification and that's it), but CA is way down on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Ca?? No way! Well, if you're with a charter (like us), yeah, it's a pain, but traditional homeschoolers spend 10 minutes a year filling out an online form and that's that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I think Pennsylvania is the worst with NY and possibly MA and CA close behind....I know all 4 states have restrictive homeschool policies, but there are still loads of homeschoolers. I know in NY our regs are strict in the reading, but not really difficult to follow. MA is super-easy to homeschool in. I've been reporting almost a decade now, no testing, no meetings with evaluators (or anyone else) or putting together a portfolio - I just jot down what we did this year and what we're a-thinkin' of doing next year (which is not binding) and pop one piece of mail in the post once a year. HSLDA just doesn't like MA (we're just too secular and liberal ;)) and makes us a red state. They make it look like other states are way easy that would be super-restrictive for us because they require either a religious cover school or way more hoops than we've got here. No thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 IMO MA sounds like a horrible place as well. My friend had a nasty fight there. (My inlaws live there as well). I agree about Mass. Aren't they an approval state? And subject to the whims of the local school district? We are in NY and I do hate it but it is doable, no more paperwork than I had to do as a ps teacher. It's just irritating bc I know there are places right next door (NJ and CT) that are far, far easier. Unfortunately, while we are in a parsonage here, the property we do own is, you guessed it, in PA!!! Maybe someday. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 (edited) Was this recent? I've noticed a huge backing off in the last decade or so. Sometimes the school dept doesn't know the law, but one look at it, and they don't want to deal with challenging it. I have friends in Granby who are experiencing "tyranny" like behavior bc of a social worker who doesn't like them. Because you need to get approval that lends itself to personality conflicts in small towns. Edited July 27, 2012 by freesia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mothersweets Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 North Dakota is really bad. If you don't have at least a bachelors degree, then you are subjected to a WEEKLY visit by the public school officials when they spend an hour with your first child and a half hour for each subsequent child going over everything they learned that week. They also go over your lesson plans and curriculum, and approve it. Each year you have to file with the public school district and submit all that required paperwork. Additionally, the kids have to score well on the mandatory bi annual standardized testing. If they don't score high enough, then you are put on probation for two years and are subjected to the weekly visitation rigmarole, regardless of whether or not you have a college degree. Imagine my homeschooling culture shock moving from Texas (the only place i've ever homeschooled) to North Dakota. Thank goodness we had to endure that for only two years. Happy to be homeschooling in Texas again! (typing on my phone. sorry for typos) How in the world do they have the time and funding to do that for every homeschooler, every week?! Ridiculous!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I hate paperwork so anything like NY and PA would bug me a lot. BUt I was reading the ND regulations and they are nuts. All kids in homeschool have to score above 50%. Why? 50% is average. But 50% on what anyway? I know only one of my kids ever got above 50% on everything. The others always had something, if not a few things that were below 50% at some time in their school years. As it is, the oldest two managed to get college entrance tests way above 50% and even the youngest has college entrance scores in ninth grade that would be good enough for at least half of our state colleges. BUt those standardized tests? No, since two never managed to get above 40% on spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I found that this takes about two minutes each day per kid. Surely, I am wasting more precious time reading this forum. With 365 days, the 1,000 hour requirement comes to less than 3 hours of educational activities per day. I do not consider this a burden, even for elementary age, because nobody says it has to be all seat work, worksheets, textbooks. For younger students, read alouds, nature walks, PE, arts activities, learning to prepare food, going to museums.... is all educational. I can't imagine a day when we did not have several hours of educational experiences for the kids, even on weekends - what would we do all day? I really think we have it very easy in MO. Who homeschools 365 days a year? I would very much consider that a burden. :p And who wants to track all that? I plan our school year for 36 weeks which works out to around 5.5 hours a day, which is doable, but I simply consider it excessive for the early grades. I suppose you could count just about anything as educational, but you are still needing to analyze your day and figure out how educational that trip to the grocery store was for your five year old. :p We don't have a problem at these grades getting out 1000 hours in. In fact, with the amount of reading my kids do on their own, plus counting all the extracurriculars they are involved in, we usually come out with many extra hours but keeping track of it all is just annoying. That's all. Just annoying. It certainly isn't as burdensome as some of these states (North Dakota is just... wow) but I'm from TX, and I tend to have a very none-of-their-business attitude about the government. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 After reading ND's law synopsis I have to go with they are the worst place to homeschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 :iagree: I'm rather frustrated by it. I know it's not as bad as what other people have to do but we have to do 1000 hours which is just ridiculous in the early grades. It's fine for my kids' grades, but it's still annoying. I had to track hours when we lived in MT. If I baked a cake and had dd stir in the eggs, I counted that as an hour of school. :D Seriously, what only child takes 750 hours for K'er? We were done with formal seat work in an hour each day. I had to make up all kinds of hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan of Croton Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I agree that the NYS law is an annoying bureaucratic hurdle and not much else. What bugs me is the SUNY GED stigma (another way that NY sends its productive citizens out of state) and the fact that my almost 14 year old DS will have trouble competing for state swimming because he is not in ps. The fact that he wants to compete would be the only reason to enrol in high school. Anyone know otherwise? The only local flak I experienced in Ossining is the refusal of the asst superintendent to loan me a science textbook for review only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimm Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 I had to track hours when we lived in MT. If I baked a cake and had dd stir in the eggs, I counted that as an hour of school. :D Seriously, what only child takes 750 hours for K'er? We were done with formal seat work in an hour each day. I had to make up all kinds of hours. I think most people in hour tracking states do that, especially for the lower grades. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Ca?? No way! Well, if you're with a charter (like us), yeah, it's a pain, but traditional homeschoolers spend 10 minutes a year filling out an online form and that's that. oh cool! That's good to know...and I stand corrected. I had heard it was a pita.... Now, I never heard ND was...so there...I am uninformed.....but getting more informed by the minute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 North Dakota is really bad. If you don't have at least a bachelors degree, then you are subjected to a WEEKLY visit by the public school officials when they spend an hour with your first child and a half hour for each subsequent child going over everything they learned that week. They also go over your lesson plans and curriculum, and approve it. Each year you have to file with the public school district and submit all that required paperwork. Additionally, the kids have to score well on the mandatory bi annual standardized testing. If they don't score high enough, then you are put on probation for two years and are subjected to the weekly visitation rigmarole, regardless of whether or not you have a college degree. Imagine my homeschooling culture shock moving from Texas (the only place i've ever homeschooled) to North Dakota. Thank goodness we had to endure that for only two years. Happy to be homeschooling in Texas again! (typing on my phone. sorry for typos) HOLY MOLY!!!!! See, here in NY, we would be on the steps of the Senate yelling our homeschool heads off for justice. I just don't think that type of regulation makes any financial sense either! How the heck do they pay someone for that many hours?? Are there only like 2 homeschoolers in the state?? OY!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Oh, yeah. Big time. For the first (and only) time in my homeschooling career, I was tempted to fly under the radar while we lived in ND. I knew that we were going to be in ND for only two years, and it would have been possible to get away with it. However, my DH was in the military and had a position of authority (he was a commander), and I didn't want to risk getting him in trouble for not complying with the local laws. He would have been in BIG trouble if we got caught. Just not worth risking his entire career for it. So I swallowed my "none-of-the-gummint's-dang-business" pride which is so common in us Texans, and I played their little game for two years. It sucked. (LOL) I understand. Dh is a state employee, and it always helps encourage me to keep my nose clean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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