DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I really wasn't sure what board to put this in... We are moving to Nj late spring/ summer 2013.. I am reading the NJ homeschool regs and trying to get a sense of what is required.. I am coming from NY.. Where I have to submit a yearly letter of intent, a yearly educational plan outlining the educational goals for each subject ( my district is very anti homeschool ), quarterly reports on progress and end of year progress reports or standardized test scores.. In reading the NJ regs.. I don't see any of this.. Am I missing something? Can someone lay it out for me.. What is required for elementary school and jr high? In ny next year, I would need to submit quarterly grades for my jr high kiddo.. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 The regulations are that there are no requirements. Nada nil nothing at all to declare, report or anything else. On the flip side there is no dual enrollment, no playing on school sports teams or music or anything else. Basically you do your own thing and they do theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 NJ is a non-reporting State. Since your kids have never attended school here you don't have to do anything at any grade level nor are they required to take State tests. You have complete control over what you do or do not want to teach them. If they were in school here you would have to send a letter to the superintendant stating that you are withdrawing your child to homeschool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 On the flip side there is no dual enrollment, no playing on school sports teams or music or anything else. Sports is not exactly true. I got my homeschooler on the high school swim team. It is up to the individual school districts and you have to be willing to take it as far as necessary. You have no access to anything else. You are either in the school system or you are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 So.. you don't have to report anything?? Do you know "alien" this sounds to me.. I might just hyperventilate with anxiety at no paper work (sarcasm used liberally) No grades? No Quarterly reports? No IHIPS? nothing?? Do I even have to tell them I have kids???? This is blowing my mind.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzymom Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 You don't have to do a thing--though that may change as there is a push to begin regulating homeschooling here. No reports. No tests. No contact with the school district. As far as activities and sports, the vast majority of districts do not allow you to join. So welcome to NJ. Homeschooling is a breeze, but leave your wallet at the toll booth. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 So.. you don't have to report anything?? Do you know "alien" this sounds to me.. I might just hyperventilate with anxiety at no paper work (sarcasm used liberally) No grades? No Quarterly reports? No IHIPS? nothing?? Do I even have to tell them I have kids???? This is blowing my mind.. No grades, no quarterly reports, zip, nada, nothing. Welcome to the Garden State. What part of the state are you moving to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanSue Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 You don't have to do a thing--though that may change as there is a push to begin regulating homeschooling here. No reports. No tests. No contact with the school district. As far as activities and sports, the vast majority of districts do not allow you to join. So welcome to NJ. Homeschooling is a breeze, but leave your wallet at the toll booth. ;) Ha! Yes. Trust me, you will use the time saved doing hs paperwork paying your taxes. Welcome to NJ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 The regulations are that there are no requirements. Nada nil nothing at all to declare, report or anything else. On the flip side there is no dual enrollment, no playing on school sports teams or music or anything else. Basically you do your own thing and they do theirs. :iagree: Welcome to the best homeschooling state in the union. And, before Christie was elected, I asked his office about his stance on homeschooling and he is strongly pro homeschooling. LIke the others said, though, taxes are wretched, and tolls are highway robbery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeannie in NJ Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 ok I will jump on the bandwagon and concur with everyone else, zip, nada, nothing. THe local school did not even know that my dd existed until 9th grade (her first year trying non homeschooling ). She decided to leave after the 3rd term, all I did was go in and sign the withdrawal papers and that was the end of the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Ha! Yes. Trust me, you will use the time saved doing hs paperwork paying your taxes. Welcome to NJ! Would be funny if it weren't so true. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 So.. you don't have to report anything?? Do you know "alien" this sounds to me.. I might just hyperventilate with anxiety at no paper work (sarcasm used liberally) No grades? No Quarterly reports? No IHIPS? nothing?? Do I even have to tell them I have kids???? This is blowing my mind.. Just to point out, when all of these folks are correctly telling you there is absolutely nothing, one that that just came up on the college board is that it also means you won't/can't qualify for state scholarships if that is applicable later on (and someone mentioned no duel enrollment for free either). The freedom definitely has strings, so you should know that some things we tend to talk about on the high school board won't apply to you. We have paperwork in PA, but we also are eligible for thousands of dollars in state scholarships (to public and private schools, some even out of state). Many states seem to allow homeschoolers to be eligible. NJ does not (hands off and all that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyfaithe Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 In NY. We fill out paperwork until our eyes bleed and still are not allowed to participate in school sports, music etc., Nor are we eligible for dual enrollment or those nifty scholarships! Our wallets aren't too happy either, come to think of it......I would move to NJ in a minute without looking back if the opportunity was available. Good luck!! And enjoy your reporting-free homeschool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 In NY. We fill out paperwork until our eyes bleed and still are not allowed to participate in school sports, music etc., Nor are we eligible for dual enrollment or those nifty scholarships! Our wallets aren't too happy either, come to think of it......I would move to NJ in a minute without looking back if the opportunity was available. Good luck!! And enjoy your reporting-free homeschool! NJ would definitely be a step up then! It's amazing how much the states differ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 NJ is one of the great states where as far as I can tell the only *real* requirement to homeschool is that you have kids. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 NJ is homeschool easy. A couple of points that may be relevant eventually: 1. High school homeschoolers can dual enroll at community colleges if they place above the remedial level on the placement exam. It's called the Challenger Program and college credits are earned toward a degree. So, while duel enrolling as a homeschooler/high schooler isn't possible, duel enrolling as a homeschooler/community college student is. My understanding is that Rutgers will also allow duel enrollment as long as a certain score is obtained on the SAT (something like 520/520). 2. High school homeschoolers can also enroll at the vocational/technical high schools as duel enrolled. They can pursue their core classes (math, English, etc.) at home but then take vocational or technical course loads at the county tech high school. A kid interested in becoming a plumber, electrician, welder can receive training then possibly an apprenticeship in this way. 3. While most high schools in Jersey don't allow homeschoolers to participate in extra-curriculars, there are tons of community or YMCA based sports, activities and orchestras. NJ is very community culturally "rich". 4. My experience enrolling my oldest in a public high school after homeschooling for 9 years was super easy. I created a transcript and portfolio (we didn't do standardized testing of any type), submitted it to the guidance counselor and met with her. She allowed us to basically choose the courses we felt were appropriate without any placement testing. We opted for several honors level courses and she concurred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 No grades, no quarterly reports, zip, nada, nothing. Welcome to the Garden State. What part of the state are you moving to? Mid central... Ogden, Newfoundland.. Or somewhere around there.. Dh needs to be close to both NYC and clients in lower Nj, but we want to be more rural than urban....we start scouting areas in person next month Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 . LIke the others said, though, taxes are wretched, and tolls are highway robbery. Yes.. This is an issue..:( But dh commutes between 2-3 hours each way now...so having him home more is enough of a plus to make it seem less painful.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 As I understand it the NJIAA (interscholastic sports) would disqualify a whole team if someone on the team were not at the school -- it's more about schools putting 'ringers' on the their teams than it is about hsing. Also, no easy way to prove that hser has required minimum grade point average. I hope I've got this more or less right -- we don't do these sports in our family. But some districts will allow hsers to participate in extracurricular sports activities, as long as they are not NJIAA sports. You would have to wade through your district's policies to see if this were the case for your system. In NJ, schools are not required to provide any special services to hsers, unless the district provides special services in district public schools to private school pupils. For a child that requires a lot of support, this would be a disadvantage. Here is a link to NJ website http://www.state.nj...._homeschool.htm and to a well known case (parents won) http://www.enochnj.org/pdf/massa.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 As I understand it the NJIAA (interscholastic sports) would disqualify a whole team if someone on the team were not at the school -- it's more about schools putting 'ringers' on the their teams than it is about hsing. Also, no easy way to prove that hser has required minimum grade point average. I hope I've got this more or less right -- we don't do these sports in our family. But some districts will allow hsers to participate in extracurricular sports activities, as long as they are not NJIAA sports. You would have to wade through your district's policies to see if this were the case for your system. In Nov. 2011 NJIAA came out with an official ruling that homeschoolers on the high school team is ok as long as they meet the requirements of NJIAA and the district they live in. Se page 75: http://www.njsiaa.org/REFERENCES/11-12ConstitutionByLaw.pdf As I said earlier most districts will not allow it unless you put up a heck of fight but it can be done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 In Nov. 2011 NJIAA came out with an official ruling that homeschoolers on the high school team is ok as long as they meet the requirements of NJIAA and the district they live in. Se page 75: http://www.njsiaa.or...tutionByLaw.pdf As I said earlier most districts will not allow it unless you put up a heck of fight but it can be done. :iagree: To prevent ringers, they are only allowed to play in their home district. I know two people who were able to get their kids onto high school teams. For one it was easy, the other fought for quite a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 My oldest hates sports.. So it isn't an issue right now, and they can't play on school teams anyway, as far as I know..nor do the districts provide anything..so from that standpoint..it seems similar....the whole no reporting thing is blowing my mind.. I guess I would send a letter of intent..if only to cover us in case someone said my kids were truant..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 My oldest hates sports.. So it isn't an issue right now, and they can't play on school teams anyway, as far as I know..nor do the districts provide anything..so from that standpoint..it seems similar....the whole no reporting thing is blowing my mind.. I guess I would send a letter of intent..if only to cover us in case someone said my kids were truant..... Many people recommend against doing more than the law required. If people do this, then the powers that be get it into their heads that everyone should do so, and then it becomes the rule. Do your fellow homeschoolers a favor and do only what is required. Learn about the community you are entering, how homeschooling is received ther, and know the law. You may be worrying over nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Many people recommend against doing more than the law required. If people do this, then the powers that be get it into their heads that everyone should do so, and then it becomes the rule. Do your fellow homeschoolers a favor and do only what is required. Learn about the community you are entering, how homeschooling is received ther, and know the law. You may be worrying over nothing. :iagree: Never, ever do anything that is not required by law. And know your state laws by heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 In Nov. 2011 NJIAA came out with an official ruling that homeschoolers on the high school team is ok as long as they meet the requirements of NJIAA and the district they live in. Se page 75: http://www.njsiaa.or...tutionByLaw.pdf As I said earlier most districts will not allow it unless you put up a heck of fight but it can be done. Thank you for clarifying -- I hadn't read guidelines for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 I read last night on a NJ homeschool site that if people don't let the district know they are homeschooling they can be taken to court...so that has me worried.. http://jerseyhomeschool.net/?page_id=73 I'd love not to report anything.. but we really cannot afford court fees.. I'd be curious to learn if my anxiety about this is just that.. anxiety..or if it is prudent to inform the school....? I guess if one doesn't inform the school, gets called into court for truancy but has records and testing to show equivalent instruction.. there isn't an issue.. aside from fees, stress and lost time....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Where did you read that you can be hauled off into court? The site you mention seems to say the exact opposite. What I saw there is, if you are questioned, you send them information that you are homeschooling. Once you do that, the burden falls on the state to prove that you are neglecting their education, which is difficult to prove. From the site ... Some districts have asked for or demanded more from homeschooling families than the laws require us to provide to them. If your district demands more than the law requires, print out and send to them a copy of the 2000 booklet “Frequently Asked Questions About Homeschooling in New Jerseyâ€. This is available online at http://www.state.nj.us/education/genfo/faq/faq_homeschool.htm. Homeschoolers who refuse to be intimidated do eventually wear down the resistance of districts. Homeschoolers who bow to pressure and allow districts to mandate requirements beyond the law have the effect of creating more problems for other homeschoolers, and strengthen the resolve of hostile administrators to harass homeschoolers within their districts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Here is a section from the NJ homeschooling FAQs page: 3. What is the responsibility of the local board of education regarding compulsory education? The local board of education is required to enforce the compulsory education law, N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25. If the local board of education determines that there is credible evidence that the parent/guardian or other person(s) having custody and control of a school-age child is not causing the child either to attend school (public or nonpublic) or to receive equivalent instruction elsewhere than at school, the board may request documentation, such as a letter of intent from the parent/guardian confirming that the child is either attending a nonpublic school or receiving equivalent instruction elsewhere than at school. The mere fact that a child has been withdrawn to be homeschooled is not, in itself, credible evidence of a legal violation. If it appears that the child is not receiving an education in accordance with N.J.S.A. 18A:38-25, the board may wish to consult with its attorney regarding possible charges against the parent/guardian for failure to have the child educated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 I read it there, last night..I was reading through their info... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I read last night on a NJ homeschool site that if people don't let the district know they are homeschooling they can be taken to court...so that has me worried.. http://jerseyhomesch...net/?page_id=73 I'd love not to report anything.. but we really cannot afford court fees.. I'd be curious to learn if my anxiety about this is just that.. anxiety..or if it is prudent to inform the school....? I guess if one doesn't inform the school, gets called into court for truancy but has records and testing to show equivalent instruction.. there isn't an issue.. aside from fees, stress and lost time....? There is nothing in the law that requires homeschoolers to preemptively inform the local school district of their decision to teach their children at home. To do so would *NOT* be prudent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 then, we shall be prudent :) I cannot wait to move... I told DH we had to hurry up.. I'm tired of writing quarterlies.. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I can't comment on the laws in NJ, but here in PA, we are definitely advised to do ONLY what the law requires -- nothing less, and certainly nothing more. Here, if the school feels that you have not met the requirements of the law, the burden of proof is on them, not you. If your local school district decides to get sticky, I would not do anything until and unless they sent something certified stating that you are truant (and it doesn't even sound like you can be truant in NJ if you haven't been in their schools previously). If a school district is going to take you to court, they'd better be awfully certain that they're right because it will cost them money as well, and they have to answer to the taxpayers. When you give them more than the law requires, even "just in case," you raise the bar of expectation, and schools start overstepping their bounds more and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I agree, I wouldn't send anything. I didn't notify even though my son went to our local school for Early Intervention from 3 to 4. The way the law reads: IF the district thinks your kids are truant, they send a notice. All you have to do at that point is send a letter saying you're homeschooling. At that point, it becomes their burden to prove you aren't educating. I don't know of anyone who has had any real trouble from their district (most districts in NJ have bigger worries than hassling homeschoolers). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Our school district lost track of my daughter when she left for private school in 7th grade. Its been 5 years and I can guarantee they have no idea she even exists, nor do they care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonflyAcademy Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 thanks All :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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