If you receive govt. funds for hs can you tell how that works for you?

[Bensmom]

I know some states such as AK, have government funds that can be paid to reimburse homeschoolers for approved educational expenses. If your state has such a program, what are the specifics? Are you able to choose any non-faith based curriculum or are you given the options of a select number of traditional textbooks? Is there much paperwork (red tape) to be reimbursed? Have your purchases ever been denied reimbursement? Are the funds available broken down into a certain amount for core subjects and another allotment for extra-curricular type courses? Have the funds been enough to cover all of your educational expenses including non-core classes? If you have received state dollars for home education, what is your overall opinion of this option?

[Amber in SJ]

This is how it works for us in CA, specifically in the Bay Area:

 

1)  We belong to a public charter school.  We fill out all the same paperwork as a family with a student in a brick & mortar public school.

 

2)  We are assigned to an Educational Specialist (ES) who is a person who holds a clear CA credential.  For elementary school your ES must hold a multi-subject credential. For High School your ES must hold a single subject credential in one core subject.  We see our ES once every 20 school days.  The kids tell her what we have been doing.  She checks off standards while they talk to her.  Nothing happens if you don't get all the standards checked off in a school year.  We give 2 samples for each subject, each semester.  They are graded by me; their work is not assessed in any way by the school.  We do participate in standardized testing for 2 days once a year.  I check the box that says I do not want my child's individual scores reported to the Dept. of Education.  My kids' scores get reported as a whole with the other children in the charter school.

 

3)  You are given a "budget" of instructional funds (IF.)  Elementary students get $2200/ year and High School students get $2400/ year.  I do not receive this money.  To spend this money I choose curriculum or classes off a list of approved vendors.  Every secular curriculum I have ever heard of in my 12 years of homeschooling is on this list.  I can choose items from major homeschool curriculum providers like Rainbow Resources or even order from Barnes & Noble online.  When my dd decided to take dance there were 7 studios in my area that are approved vendors.  When I started with the charter school, I convinced our piano teacher, the young man who taught my kids to play the guitar and a retired NASA scientist who attended our church & wanted to tutor high schoolers to become vendors.  Basically you need to agree to take a purchase order and bill the charter school.  For example: every semester I submit a PO request to my ES for 18 ballet classes, 60 minutes each, at $75/ class.  That amount is deducted from my IF budget.  The ballet studio bills the school monthly & I never have anything to do with the billing.  If the item is non-consumable like the Story of the World books, or a microscope, or a teacher manual then I request the specific item from a specific vendor, the cost of the item is deducted from my IF budget, but it belongs to the school and needs to be returned to the school when I am done homeschooling.  Because of this I prefer to use my IF for classes and consumable items only.  I can also make an order from Office Depot for ink & paper, art supplies, etc.  I make the PO request to my ES.  She does the ordering and delivers to me.  We can even use our IF for approved field trips.  At the beginning of each semester everyone receives an email of what field trips are available & what they cost for the student's attendance.  Some field trips are organized so you go as a group and stay with your group; NASA-Ames day camp where your student is assigned to be a mission specialist and works with a team to complete a mission in space.  Other field trips are simply a huge discount on tickets that you sign up for and then you can spend the day exploring as you like; Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Our IF paid for the online portion of Driver's Ed and the behind the wheel instruction which is no longer offered in public schools here and costs $300-$500.   A friend of mine uses her IF for skiing/ snowboarding passes every Winter.

 

4)  Yes, I understand because of all the oversight some people will say that I do not homeschool because we are a part of a charter school.  I homeschooled without the charter school for 4 years before joining the charter school, and I am just as much of a homeschooler now as I was then.  I choose the courses, I choose the materials, I teach and I grade.  If I want to use non-secular curriculum, I do so.  I just pay for it myself.  If I do use non-secular curriculum, I do try to choose samples that are secular.  There is no way that I could afford dance, music, art, martial arts, sports or most of the other extra curricular activities that my children are interested in without going through the charter school.  The charter school also gives them a diploma that is exactly the same as one received from any other public school.  Colleges & universities do not blink twice and there is no whiff of "mommy grades."

 

5)  The budget doesn't come near paying for everything we do in our homeschooling.  It would if I were only using it for curriculum & paper & pencils, but as noted I use my IF budget for all the extra curricular activities.  

 

The charter school isn't perfect.  But it has allowed my kids to try so many things that we wouldn't be able to afford here in our extremely high COL area.

 

Amber in SJ

[kirstenhill]

Minnesota has a somewhat unique program in that homeschoolers are eligible for their students' share of the per pupil textbook reimbursement that the state (I think) gives to all schools public and private per student - around $80 per year, per student. I think here it is up to each district how to handle the details with homeschoolers, but we can use it to buy any non-religious student materials. Since it is per pupil textbook $, it can't be used for teacher's manuals. In our district we simply submit a form with receipts by October 1st and a few months later get a direct deposit. I've never been denied reimbursement. I've heard in some districts an employee actually looks over the purchased materials to make sure they are secular and I have friends that have been denied, say, math books by Chrisitan publishers. My large district has bigger fish to fry and I don't think they care about the details as much. I personally stick on the safe side with what I put on my form, and wouldn't try something obviously more religious like CLE math. It doesn't cover what I spend on educational supplies (especially since I can't use it for teacher's materials), but it is nice to feel like I am taking advantage of some of the tax dollars that would otherwise have been spent on my kids if they were in public school.

[mamiof5]

This is how it works for us in CA, specifically in the Bay Area:

 

1) We belong to a public charter school. We fill out all the same paperwork as a family with a student in a brick & mortar public school.

 

2) We are assigned to an Educational Specialist (ES) who is a person who holds a clear CA credential. For elementary school your ES must hold a multi-subject credential. For High School your ES must hold a single subject credential in one core subject. We see our ES once every 20 school days. The kids tell her what we have been doing. She checks off standards while they talk to her. Nothing happens if you don't get all the standards checked off in a school year. We give 2 samples for each subject, each semester. They are graded by me; their work is not assessed in any way by the school. We do participate in standardized testing for 2 days once a year. I check the box that says I do not want my child's individual scores reported to the Dept. of Education. My kids' scores get reported as a whole with the other children in the charter school.

 

3) You are given a "budget" of instructional funds (IF.) Elementary students get $2200/ year and High School students get $2400/ year. I do not receive this money. To spend this money I choose curriculum or classes off a list of approved vendors. Every secular curriculum I have ever heard of in my 12 years of homeschooling is on this list. I can choose items from major homeschool curriculum providers like Rainbow Resources or even order from Barnes & Noble online. When my dd decided to take dance there were 7 studios in my area that are approved vendors. When I started with the charter school, I convinced our piano teacher, the young man who taught my kids to play the guitar and a retired NASA scientist who attended our church & wanted to tutor high schoolers to become vendors. Basically you need to agree to take a purchase order and bill the charter school. For example: every semester I submit a PO request to my ES for 18 ballet classes, 60 minutes each, at $75/ class. That amount is deducted from my IF budget. The ballet studio bills the school monthly & I never have anything to do with the billing. If the item is non-consumable like the Story of the World books, or a microscope, or a teacher manual then I request the specific item from a specific vendor, the cost of the item is deducted from my IF budget, but it belongs to the school and needs to be returned to the school when I am done homeschooling. Because of this I prefer to use my IF for classes and consumable items only. I can also make an order from Office Depot for ink & paper, art supplies, etc. I make the PO request to my ES. She does the ordering and delivers to me. We can even use our IF for approved field trips. At the beginning of each semester everyone receives an email of what field trips are available & what they cost for the student's attendance. Some field trips are organized so you go as a group and stay with your group; NASA-Ames day camp where your student is assigned to be a mission specialist and works with a team to complete a mission in space. Other field trips are simply a huge discount on tickets that you sign up for and then you can spend the day exploring as you like; Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our IF paid for the online portion of Driver's Ed and the behind the wheel instruction which is no longer offered in public schools here and costs $300-$500. A friend of mine uses her IF for skiing/ snowboarding passes every Winter.

 

4) Yes, I understand because of all the oversight some people will say that I do not homeschool because we are a part of a charter school. I homeschooled without the charter school for 4 years before joining the charter school, and I am just as much of a homeschooler now as I was then. I choose the courses, I choose the materials, I teach and I grade. If I want to use non-secular curriculum, I do so. I just pay for it myself. If I do use non-secular curriculum, I do try to choose samples that are secular. There is no way that I could afford dance, music, art, martial arts, sports or most of the other extra curricular activities that my children are interested in without going through the charter school. The charter school also gives them a diploma that is exactly the same as one received from any other public school. Colleges & universities do not blink twice and there is no whiff of "mommy grades."

 

5) The budget doesn't come near paying for everything we do in our homeschooling. It would if I were only using it for curriculum & paper & pencils, but as noted I use my IF budget for all the extra curricular activities.

 

The charter school isn't perfect. But it has allowed my kids to try so many things that we wouldn't be able to afford here in our extremely high COL area.

 

Amber in SJ

That's amazing!!!! Would love to have access to something like this. I looked one time, AZ has nothing like it :(

[Peaceful Isle]

This is how it works for us in CA, specifically in the Bay Area:

 

1) We belong to a public charter school. We fill out all the same paperwork as a family with a student in a brick & mortar public school.

 

2) We are assigned to an Educational Specialist (ES) who is a person who holds a clear CA credential. For elementary school your ES must hold a multi-subject credential. For High School your ES must hold a single subject credential in one core subject. We see our ES once every 20 school days. The kids tell her what we have been doing. She checks off standards while they talk to her. Nothing happens if you don't get all the standards checked off in a school year. We give 2 samples for each subject, each semester. They are graded by me; their work is not assessed in any way by the school. We do participate in standardized testing for 2 days once a year. I check the box that says I do not want my child's individual scores reported to the Dept. of Education. My kids' scores get reported as a whole with the other children in the charter school.

 

3) You are given a "budget" of instructional funds (IF.) Elementary students get $2200/ year and High School students get $2400/ year. I do not receive this money. To spend this money I choose curriculum or classes off a list of approved vendors. Every secular curriculum I have ever heard of in my 12 years of homeschooling is on this list. I can choose items from major homeschool curriculum providers like Rainbow Resources or even order from Barnes & Noble online. When my dd decided to take dance there were 7 studios in my area that are approved vendors. When I started with the charter school, I convinced our piano teacher, the young man who taught my kids to play the guitar and a retired NASA scientist who attended our church & wanted to tutor high schoolers to become vendors. Basically you need to agree to take a purchase order and bill the charter school. For example: every semester I submit a PO request to my ES for 18 ballet classes, 60 minutes each, at $75/ class. That amount is deducted from my IF budget. The ballet studio bills the school monthly & I never have anything to do with the billing. If the item is non-consumable like the Story of the World books, or a microscope, or a teacher manual then I request the specific item from a specific vendor, the cost of the item is deducted from my IF budget, but it belongs to the school and needs to be returned to the school when I am done homeschooling. Because of this I prefer to use my IF for classes and consumable items only. I can also make an order from Office Depot for ink & paper, art supplies, etc. I make the PO request to my ES. She does the ordering and delivers to me. We can even use our IF for approved field trips. At the beginning of each semester everyone receives an email of what field trips are available & what they cost for the student's attendance. Some field trips are organized so you go as a group and stay with your group; NASA-Ames day camp where your student is assigned to be a mission specialist and works with a team to complete a mission in space. Other field trips are simply a huge discount on tickets that you sign up for and then you can spend the day exploring as you like; Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our IF paid for the online portion of Driver's Ed and the behind the wheel instruction which is no longer offered in public schools here and costs $300-$500. A friend of mine uses her IF for skiing/ snowboarding passes every Winter.

 

4) Yes, I understand because of all the oversight some people will say that I do not homeschool because we are a part of a charter school. I homeschooled without the charter school for 4 years before joining the charter school, and I am just as much of a homeschooler now as I was then. I choose the courses, I choose the materials, I teach and I grade. If I want to use non-secular curriculum, I do so. I just pay for it myself. If I do use non-secular curriculum, I do try to choose samples that are secular. There is no way that I could afford dance, music, art, martial arts, sports or most of the other extra curricular activities that my children are interested in without going through the charter school. The charter school also gives them a diploma that is exactly the same as one received from any other public school. Colleges & universities do not blink twice and there is no whiff of "mommy grades."

 

5) The budget doesn't come near paying for everything we do in our homeschooling. It would if I were only using it for curriculum & paper & pencils, but as noted I use my IF budget for all the extra curricular activities.

 

The charter school isn't perfect. But it has allowed my kids to try so many things that we wouldn't be able to afford here in our extremely high COL area.

 

Amber in SJ

Yes, we homeschool through a charter as well. It has been such a blessing to us. Next year, we will get 2,700 dollars for each of my three youngest kids, and 3,200 dollars for my high schooler.

I used all the materials I already would have, without the charter,but instead they paid for it all.

Examples are math u see, EIW, SOTW, Calvert reading, starline press, oak Meadow, expensive art supplies,..and the list goes on. If any part of the curriculum is consumable , the whole thing is, according to my charter. Also, anything paperback consumable as well. So awesome.

They also gave my daughter a mac book computer, and did not use her funds. It was out of extra school funds they had saved for stuff like that.

My kids take all sorts of lessons as well.

My charter also gives different websites free to parents like brain pop.

 

Honestly, I could care less if people don't think I'm a real homeschooler, lol. ( even though I am with them all day teaching them)

 

I used to live in AZ. They had nothing like this. My friend lives in AZ and she always has to save for the upcoming year. I feel so spoiled.

So each year, I will get almost 12 thousand dollars worth of curriculum and lessons and extras.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Peacefulisle

[kitten18]

This is how it works for us in CA, specifically in the Bay Area:

 

1) We belong to a public charter school. We fill out all the same paperwork as a family with a student in a brick & mortar public school.

 

2) We are assigned to an Educational Specialist (ES) who is a person who holds a clear CA credential. For elementary school your ES must hold a multi-subject credential. For High School your ES must hold a single subject credential in one core subject. We see our ES once every 20 school days. The kids tell her what we have been doing. She checks off standards while they talk to her. Nothing happens if you don't get all the standards checked off in a school year. We give 2 samples for each subject, each semester. They are graded by me; their work is not assessed in any way by the school. We do participate in standardized testing for 2 days once a year. I check the box that says I do not want my child's individual scores reported to the Dept. of Education. My kids' scores get reported as a whole with the other children in the charter school.

 

3) You are given a "budget" of instructional funds (IF.) Elementary students get $2200/ year and High School students get $2400/ year. I do not receive this money. To spend this money I choose curriculum or classes off a list of approved vendors. Every secular curriculum I have ever heard of in my 12 years of homeschooling is on this list. I can choose items from major homeschool curriculum providers like Rainbow Resources or even order from Barnes & Noble online. When my dd decided to take dance there were 7 studios in my area that are approved vendors. When I started with the charter school, I convinced our piano teacher, the young man who taught my kids to play the guitar and a retired NASA scientist who attended our church & wanted to tutor high schoolers to become vendors. Basically you need to agree to take a purchase order and bill the charter school. For example: every semester I submit a PO request to my ES for 18 ballet classes, 60 minutes each, at $75/ class. That amount is deducted from my IF budget. The ballet studio bills the school monthly & I never have anything to do with the billing. If the item is non-consumable like the Story of the World books, or a microscope, or a teacher manual then I request the specific item from a specific vendor, the cost of the item is deducted from my IF budget, but it belongs to the school and needs to be returned to the school when I am done homeschooling. Because of this I prefer to use my IF for classes and consumable items only. I can also make an order from Office Depot for ink & paper, art supplies, etc. I make the PO request to my ES. She does the ordering and delivers to me. We can even use our IF for approved field trips. At the beginning of each semester everyone receives an email of what field trips are available & what they cost for the student's attendance. Some field trips are organized so you go as a group and stay with your group; NASA-Ames day camp where your student is assigned to be a mission specialist and works with a team to complete a mission in space. Other field trips are simply a huge discount on tickets that you sign up for and then you can spend the day exploring as you like; Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our IF paid for the online portion of Driver's Ed and the behind the wheel instruction which is no longer offered in public schools here and costs $300-$500. A friend of mine uses her IF for skiing/ snowboarding passes every Winter.

 

4) Yes, I understand because of all the oversight some people will say that I do not homeschool because we are a part of a charter school. I homeschooled without the charter school for 4 years before joining the charter school, and I am just as much of a homeschooler now as I was then. I choose the courses, I choose the materials, I teach and I grade. If I want to use non-secular curriculum, I do so. I just pay for it myself. If I do use non-secular curriculum, I do try to choose samples that are secular. There is no way that I could afford dance, music, art, martial arts, sports or most of the other extra curricular activities that my children are interested in without going through the charter school. The charter school also gives them a diploma that is exactly the same as one received from any other public school. Colleges & universities do not blink twice and there is no whiff of "mommy grades."

 

5) The budget doesn't come near paying for everything we do in our homeschooling. It would if I were only using it for curriculum & paper & pencils, but as noted I use my IF budget for all the extra curricular activities.

 

The charter school isn't perfect. But it has allowed my kids to try so many things that we wouldn't be able to afford here in our extremely high COL area.

 

Amber in SJ

That's basically the same as our charter. We're in southern CA.

[mommyoffive]

Yes, we homeschool through a charter as well. It has been such a blessing to us. Next year, we will get 2,700 dollars for each of my three youngest kids, and 3,200 dollars for my high schooler.

I used all the materials I already would have, without the charter,but instead they paid for it all.

Examples are math u see, EIW, SOTW, Calvert reading, starline press, oak Meadow, expensive art supplies,..and the list goes on. If any part of the curriculum is consumable , the whole thing is, according to my charter. Also, anything paperback consumable as well. So awesome.

They also gave my daughter a mac book computer, and did not use her funds. It was out of extra school funds they had saved for stuff like that.

My kids take all sorts of lessons as well.

My charter also gives different websites free to parents like brain pop.

 

Honestly, I could care less if people don't think I'm a real homeschooled, lol. ( even though I am with them all day teaching them)

 

I used to live in AZ. They had nothing like this. My friend lives in AZ and she always has to save for the upcoming year. I feel so spoiled.

So each year, I will get almost 12 thousand dollars worth of curriculum and lessons and extras.

 

wow! What state do you live in?

 

 

We have that here too, although the rates are not as high and you don't get to keep things.  We applied to get in an did, and while the money is something I would love to have, I don't know that I want to make the trade offs to get it. 

 

People who do this do you feel as if you are tied to a school calendar now? 

 

Do you have to test your kids?

 

What other things do you have to jump through for it?

 

We travel a lot and I know they said they might work around a vacation, but we go on lots of them over the school year. 

[kitten18]

wow! What state do you live in?

 

 

We have that here too, although the rates are not as high and you don't get to keep things. We applied to get in an did, and while the money is something I would love to have, I don't know that I want to make the trade offs to get it.

 

People who do this do you feel as if you are tied to a school calendar now?

 

Do you have to test your kids?

 

What other things do you have to jump through for it?

 

We travel a lot and I know they said they might work around a vacation, but we go on lots of them over the school year.

I don't feel tied to the school calendar at all. The last day for our charter school was today, at our house we were done a few weeks ago. When I turned in our last set of learning logs I just spread out the things we did to show work through today.

 

Flexibility will depend a lot on your EF (ES). If we're going to be gone a certain week we will just meet a week earlier or later. Our school doesn't really care when you actually do the work.

 

My kids spent 2 days at the school doing the state test this year (6 hours total).

[Catalytic]

I know some states such as AK, have government funds that can be paid to reimburse homeschoolers for approved educational expenses. If your state has such a program, what are the specifics? Are you able to choose any non-faith based curriculum or are you given the options of a select number of traditional textbooks? Is there much paperwork (red tape) to be reimbursed? Have your purchases ever been denied reimbursement? Are the funds available broken down into a certain amount for core subjects and another allotment for extra-curricular type courses? Have the funds been enough to cover all of your educational expenses including non-core classes? If you have received state dollars for home education, what is your overall opinion of this option?

 

In Alaska, you join a correspondence school (IDEA, Raven, etc) and they are like a school district.  We used IDEA and it was part of the Galena City School District.  We got an allotment of X amount of money per year, per kid.  We also got a computer per 2 kids, and a multi-purpose printer.  Currently, the allotment amount is $1800 for grades K-3, $2000 for grades 4-8, and $2400 for grades 9-12.  If you have a 4 year old, and are homeschooling other kids with IDEA, they will also give you $200 for the 4 year old.  

 

The way the allotment works is, you buy the stuff and submit your receipt(s) for reimbursement.  It usually took about a month for them to send a check.  We were able to buy secular curriculum, all types of supplies, online subscriptions, it paid part of our Internet service, etc.  Things we bought were whiteboards, microscopes, musical instruments, paper, ink, school supplies, etc.  We also used the allotment for Sylvan (had a kid that we didn't realize could read until he aced his first grade achievement test), music lessons, sports, etc.

 

Once a year, there's a curriculum fair, not sure if IDEA hosts it or not, but you can use your allotment there.  Like, I could go pick out, say...Calvert curriculum, sign a voucher to use IDEA funding, and then I didn't have to pay out of pocket.

 

In return for the allotment, the kids had to take standardized tests, we had to submit work samples,learning plans,  and I can't remember what else.  It wasn't too bad, we thought it was definitely worth it for the amount of money it provided for the kids.  For the standardized tests, they were done at an arena, and all the kids in IDEA went (I can't remember if they were separated by ages or not).  They provided snacks and drinks during the breaks.

 

Some things had to be given back to IDEA, either at the end of the year, or when you withdrew.  They had a huge room of stuff in their office, used curriculum, supplies, etc... you could go and buy stuff there with your allotment quite cheaply.  They had a lending library of things, as well.  They held workshops on various topics, provided help when needed, scholastic competitions (Spelling Bee, Geography Bee, etc...my daughter won the spelling bee one year  :hurray: , came in 2nd in the district, they gave her an amazingly huge dictionary for winning the IDEA bee).  They also have stuff for high school students, trips and such, but I didn't have high schoolers when we were with them.

 

Some of the borough school districts have similar programs for homeschoolers.  What it really depended on was whether you wanted the gov't knowing what you were doing at home.  Alaska has very lenient homeschooling laws  :thumbup1:

[Roadrunner]

We travel a lot and I know they said they might work around a vacation, but we go on lots of them over the school year.

If you take lots of short trips, working around them isn't such an issue. However if you are gone for long stretches of time (over a month) on a regular basis, charters that require ES meetings every 20 days might not be right for you.