Moving from Maryland to Virginia

[AnnieArthur]

We are a family that just finished our first year of homeschooling in Maryland. My son was in kindergarten, so it was a pretty easy year and we got through it with mostly smiles and excitement for the next year. We are moving to Virginia for my husband's job and now we have to adjust to new homeschooling laws.

 

I have a few questions:

 

Do I need to notify the local superintendent in Maryland that I am moving? (I have already told the umbrella I was under that I am moving.)

 

Do I need to provide Evidence of Progress if he wasn't homeschooled in Virginia? I am confused on this point because in the statue it says that Evidence of Progress is due by August 1st following the school year in which the child has received home instruction. We did not have him take any standardized test because it was not required in Maryland.

 

The Letter of Intent I have down. Any guidance is helpful. I don't want to do more than I need to!

 

Thanks!

 

[Farrar]

No and no. By following the school year, they mean at the end of the school year and they only mean for the state. You followed the law in MD. Now you're moving. You're fine. Send in your letter for next year and test at the end of the year (assuming that's the option you want to use - you can also do other things, but the testing is by far the easiest one - everyone I know in VA uses it unless one parent happens to be a licensed teacher). 

[fralala]

Welcome to Virginia! Nothing to add to the above "no"s except that we don't even have to provide evidence of progress for K unless our child was 6 or older at the beginning of the school year-- so you might not even have needed to do that anyway.

[Spryte]

Seconding the above responses.

 

Send in your NOI and your good to go. If you go to the VA Homeschoolers website, you'll find sample letters and forms. Easy peasy.

 

Welcome!

[G5052]

Folks who move a lot tell me that they treat each year as a "package." In other words, you file in the state where you will be at the beginning of the school year. Then you provide what you need for the end of the year for that state unless they don't require it. So beginning and end go together. If you're in a new state when the new school year begins, you file there.

 

Virginia is one of the "moderate" ones in that you really are just notifying, not getting approval. They can come back and ask you for missing information, but that's it. Note that if you are doing the NOI, you only need to list subjects for the year, nothing more.

 

Then you need to show progress at the end of the school year. You can pick a nationally-normed test to do at home and spread it out over as many days as you need.