Specific Questions about Homeschooling in VT or similar states

[4Kiddos]

 Like some others here, my husband and I are thinking that we will need to move and I am a little worried about homeschooling. We are thinking of either Montana or Vermont. Currently we live in California which is an easy state to homeschool in. I file a private affidavit every year and just keep track of attendance. Easy peasy and I love that I have freedom to do what my child needs and ability to change things as needed. Montana also has these requirements. But, Vermont seems a little more scary as I keep track of things for my own records but I have never been evaluated by an outside person. To be honest, I am not sure I like the idea all that much. Anyway, I thought that I would ask those of you who live in Vermont (or other states). My oldest son is entering 2nd grade, my middle son is entering 1st, and I have three other children who will homeschool later.

 

- How hard is it to do the curriculum plan for the beginning of the year? How long does it take for you to put it together and can you reuse it for future children? Can you choose whatever materials/curriculum you want or are you restricted? Are you able to choose religious materials if you so choose?

 

- How hard is the portfolio at the end of the year? How long does it take you to do? What do you include in it? I already keep materials for my own records? How long do they have to be?

 

- How do you get evaluated? Do you just send it into the Home Study office and they notify you if everything is acceptable? Do you meet with a specific person? How do you find someone who is homeschool friendly? Is getting evaluated stressful for you? Has your work or your child's work ever not been acceptable?

 

- If you are religious, do you include those materials in your curriculum plan and portfolio? How is that experience?

 

- How do you include the information about drugs and alcohol on the body every year, especially for smaller children?

 

- How much state history do you include each year? I didn't see a specific amount mentioned in the information I found online.

 

- Can a pediatrician fill out the form for determining if your child has specific needs or do you have to have someone else determine that?

 

- How do you handle all this if your child is ahead of their grade? What happens if your child progresses faster than your curriculum plans? Do you have to get approval every time you change or tweak something in your plans?

 

I realize this is a huge amount of questions but I would be so incredibly grateful for any information you could give. It has been hard to find out these answers online. Thank you so much!

 

Lauren

[AmandaVT]

Just seeing this and I'm in bed and on my phone so I'll add more tomorrow from the computer.

 

The mcos is not hard to put together. Once I knew what we were going to do for the year, I just wrote it down and sent it in. The hard part was deciding what curriculum to use, which every homeschooler goes through anyway. I would imagine you can reuse it for future kids. You only have to do one for the first two years so it's not too cumbersome.

 

You can choose any curriculum you would like, including religious. You don't even have to mention what curriculum you're using, just what topics you are planning on covering. Some people find it easier to just send in the scope and sequence of the curriculum and others write out topics.

 

The portfolio was not difficult. They are looking for 4-6 samples of work from each subject, showing progress throughout the year. Da was in first grade last year and I used a combo of work samples and pictures. I think mine was just under 30pages but that included all the work samples. I wrote a short intro paragraph for each section and then added the samples.

 

A lot of people love the teacher evaluations and I'm considering that route next year. On the vt homeschoolers Facebook page there are a number of teachers. They all seem to get great feedback and are very open to traditional homeschooling and unschooling.

 

You only need to send in examples of the subjects the department of Ed wants to see. So you do not need to include any religious education because it's not part of the topics they're looking for.

 

The drug and alcohol thing is annoying. I'm trying to remember what I did for that. I may have just said that we talked about how cigarettes are bad for you. That could have been it this year.

 

The state stuff is easy. I know I put something in about participating in vermonts green up day this year and learning about the geography of the state. This year we are doing earth science and I'm planning a field trip to a local granite quarry and that'll be my Vermont thing. Oh we went to a local museum a few times too and I took pictures there.

 

Our pedi did the form b. It took him about 2 seconds and it was no big deal.

 

I learned after k to be more vague with my mcos because I had to write the homeschool office halfway through the year that ds had finished the math curriculum and was moving on to the next level. It was no big deal and the women in the home school department are really nice, they're both former homeschoolers themselves and are very supportive and helpful. Vt isn't an approval state, they just say that our forms and portfolios are complete, not approved. It's a subtle difference but ultimately they can't say they don't approve of your plans, they can only say that they look appropriate and say that you're complete to homeschool for another year.

 

I'm happy to email you copies of my mcos and portfolio for ds for 1st grade if you'd like?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ellie]

 

- How do you include the information about drugs and alcohol on the body every year, especially for smaller children?

 

- How much state history do you include each year? I didn't see a specific amount mentioned in the information I found online.

 

 

Rule of thumb: if there is nothing specified, do whatever you want.

 

Can't you do a standardized test instead of a portfolio review?

 

Also, wouldn't you teach your dc about abusing drugs and alcohol, even if it wasn't "required"? Well, just do what you would normally do, and count it. :-)

[AmandaVT]

Rule of thumb: if there is nothing specified, do whatever you want.

 

Can't you do a standardized test instead of a portfolio review?

 

Also, wouldn't you teach your dc about abusing drugs and alcohol, even if it wasn't "required"? Well, just do what you would normally do, and count it. :-)

 

You can do a standardized test, but you still have to send in a portfolio for the subjects not covered by the test - so PE, Health, Science (I think), literature and Vermont studies. I may do those down the road, but I figure if I'm taking the time to make half a portfolio already even with the testing, I may as well just do the whole darn thing. 

 

They do specify learning about Vermont - so you have to have at least one thing about that in your portfolio or for your teacher evaluation. It's not hard though. I just reviewed my portfolio from last year and I had a few pictures of DS at a local museum, looking at examples of local trees and a topography map and another picture of him in front of the green up Vermont sign on green up day. Here's my portfolio blurb about Vermont studies: 

 

"J learned a lot about Vermont this school year. He learned where VT is on a map of the USA and where Middlesex (our town) is in Vermont. He learned that Montpelier is the capital. He drew maps of our neighborhood and town. He learned about Vermont’s geography and topography. 

He also learned about animals and plants that are native to Vermont. We visited the Echo Center, the North Branch Nature Center, took walks and observed our surroundings. The Life Science book spent time discussing the importance of conserving our resources and the dangers of humans over-using them. This led to some interesting conversations and a greater understanding for J when we participated in the annual Green Up Vermont campaign."

 

Some of these things he may or may not have already known when the year started, but they were appropriate first grade social studies things, so I threw them in there. :-) 

 

 

Drugs and alcohol don't need to be covered each year, just as part of a comprehensive health curriculum. I didn't include anything about it in my portfolio this year - last year, I had covered cigarettes. As he gets older, I'll incorporate age appropriate information. This past year, I put in our study of germs and disease prevention. This was my portfolio blurb about health: 

 

"We devoted time this year to studying germs and disease prevention. The Magic School Bus World of Germs science kit was a great launching point for discussion about staying healthy. J discovered how germs grew on petri dishes, how viruses spread, how food gets moldy when not properly stored, how toothpaste cleans the bacteria from our teeth, how well soap works to prevent bacteria and how antibiotics work"

 

We did a lot more than that over the year, but they don't need or want to know every single detail. They're just making sure you cover something for each category.

 

Hope this helps!

[4Kiddos]

Just seeing this and I'm in bed and on my phone so I'll add more tomorrow from the computer.

 

 

Wow Amanda! Thank you so much for all of this detailed and helpful information! I appreciate it so much! Both of your posts were incredibly helpful as to the specifics of everything.

[4Kiddos]

Rule of thumb: if there is nothing specified, do whatever you want.

 

Can't you do a standardized test instead of a portfolio review?

 

Also, wouldn't you teach your dc about abusing drugs and alcohol, even if it wasn't "required"? Well, just do what you would normally do, and count it. :-)

 

Thank you Ellie for the reminders! :)