Amber in SJ Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I have never lived anywhere but CA. I grew up in a tiny town in Northern California & I now live in the third largest city in California. A possible job move may mean a relocation to Massachusetts. So who can help me with some information about homeschooling? Thanks so much, Amber in SJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Bumping for you. WTMers in MA Matryoshka http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/user/5244-matryoshka/ Nan in Mass http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/user/1321-nan-in-mass/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 :lurk5: Listening in because there is a possibility we may move there in a year and half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 It really depends what town you will live in. Some towns want nothing, whereas others you need to choose between yearly school meetings with portfolios or year end testing. We choose year end testing with a homeschool group. In my town, we have to fill out an intent form every summer that lists curriculum we plan to use for each subject. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 How exciting. I do always wonder if I could do it...such a West coast girl. :) Keep us updated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Great site to answer your questions. http://mhla.org 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noreen Claire Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I'm in Methuen, MA here, about 20 minutes north of Boston, and on the NH line. My school district required a form be filled out, that included these things: statement of intent (with student info), goals, content, materials, assessments, and length of day/year. I mostly copied/pasted from the MHLA website examples and was pretty vague. I received a letter of acknowledgement from the school department about a month later. Easy peasy. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) Send a letter to the school at the start of the year. The School Committee must review it but they aren't allowed to say no, so long as you hit the check boxes (say you will teach required subjects, meet or exceed 180 days attendene, you have a good moral character, etc). Some towns ask for an application, you do not have to fill it out. Send a "progress report" at the end of the year, format of your choosing. The school is permitted to ask what curriculum you are using, but, almost none do. Culturally speaking there are a lot of Christian coops, and a lot of secular homeschoolers, and the two don't often mix. Maybe that's universal? I don't know. I am in Southeastern MA, feel free to PM me. http://www.ahem.info/ There is a Facebook Group with an advocacy focus, Massachusetts Homeschoolers Connection, where you could search for or ask for town-specific info. Edited March 31, 2017 by poppy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyx4 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 The question of, "Can your kid play sports, join the band, be in the school play..." is left up to each town's superintendent. Also, if you are considering sending your kids to a vocational high school the those are regional. So, towns, A, B, C, D send students to Voke123 but towns X, Y, Z, send to Voke789. Most of the community colleges are have a dual enrollment program. Do you want to live within driving distance to a CC ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) Hi! I have found homeschooling in MA very easy and straightforward. Yes, it's an 'approval' state, but really it's easier than a lot of other states that technically aren't. There are NO required meetings with anyone, you don't have to have an evaluator like in many states. There is no required testing (it's an option, but not required). One piece of mail once a year takes care of it. I send it in, get my letter, all done. What's in the letter: 1. Cover sheet with intent to homeschool my kid for the year. 2. Education plan. This is the important bit. Basically you tell them what you plan to cover for the year. Some people get a bit more specific, some are more vague. They do have the right to ask what books you're using, but they don't have to be any kind of official book. You can change your mind about your plan - that's why you should start off every line with "I plan to..." If you change your mind, plans changed. 3. Evaluation of previous year, which can be ONE of three things (you can pick): - Progress report - Portfolio/work samples - Standardized test scores That's it, all done. I always do a progress report - I just look at what I wrote in the ed plan and update what we did or what we changed. Then, often for the next year I would just say we'd be doing something similar the next year. Combining the progress report/ed plan into one document made that really easy; no one seemed to notice or care that after the first year the ed plan part of the document was a line or two per subject. I only listed textbooks for subjects I knew I'd use them for, like math. Lulubelle is right, though, that it does depend a lot on the town. The superintendent is technically responsible for reviewing the ed plans, but in many towns they delegate. In my town it's the assistant superintendent, in some towns it's the principal of the school your kid would go to (rare, but I've heard of it), and I know Worcester used to always have the School Psychologist review them (although apparently she was easy to deal with. There are some towns with officials who have no idea what they're doing in regards to homeschooling, aren't familiar with the case laws, and/or are on power trips and try to ask (or demand) things that they are not entitled to - like more than one form of evaluation or in-person meetings. Usually if you quote them chapter and verse from the case law, they will back down. The burden of proof is on them to prove that what your'e doing isn't up to snuff, if they want to make a court case out of it. If you send in a super-vague plan full of trips to the meadow and cooking lessons for math at the high school level, they are allowed to ask for more detail. I always tried to walk the line of giving them enough detail so they'd see I was serious about educating my kids, without giving them so much detail that I'd feel constrained. The names of our math text, the time period we're covering in history, books we 'plan' to read for English. Some towns have a form they want you to fill out. This is not legally required, but I did fill it out the first year (and just crossed out things on there that weren't kosher) and attached my ed plan. Bureaucrats like their forms stapled to the top. I never filled one out any any subsequent year. Some towns don't like to send out approval letters. That's okay, once you send in your ed plan, the burden is on them, you can still happily homeschool in those towns. This only becomes a problem if you need the approval letter for something (like signing up for DE at the CC), or for getting your teacher discount card at B&N (that's huge!). Then you have to push back and remind them they are legally required to send you one. My town has always been prompt with approval letters. The MHLA site that Lizzie linked has a Yahoo group you can join where you could ask about different towns and how difficult/easy they are. AHEM (Advocates for Home Education in MA) is another place to go with a ton of information, and they also have an email list to ask people questions. This is the best way to avoid towns with problem officials (which are by far a tiny minority, so why move there). Read the case laws (Charles and Brunelle), which are posted both places - I think they highlight the important bits. I'm NW of Boston. Edited March 31, 2017 by Matryoshka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexigail Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Is anyone aware of exceptions or difficulties if you're homeschooling a child with special needs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Is anyone aware of exceptions or difficulties if you're homeschooling a child with special needs? Do you mean getting approval? No, it's not a factor, in my experience. Do you mean getting services? Generally, in MA, schools are obligated to offer IEP services whether the child is homeschooled or not. You are never obligated to take those services. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I'm in Methuen, MA here, about 20 minutes north of Boston, and on the NH line. My school district required a form be filled out, that included these things: statement of intent (with student info), goals, content, materials, assessments, and length of day/year. I mostly copied/pasted from the MHLA website examples and was pretty vague. I received a letter of acknowledgement from the school department about a month later. Easy peasy. Good luck! A little off topic but you live in my home town. Did you grow up there? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noreen Claire Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 A little off topic but you live in my home town. Did you grow up there? Born and raised! (Well, my parents moved us to Bradford in 1989 and I moved to Lawrence in 1995 when I married and then back to Methuen in 1997.) PMA class of 1992. Go, Panthers! :thumbup1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted April 2, 2017 Author Share Posted April 2, 2017 Thanks everyone :) We'll know in 2 weeks if dh is offered a contract. If he is offered a contract, nothing will change for one year & then we could move. It sounds like homeschooling is no more onerous than in CA. I would like to live within driving distance of a good CC. Where should I be looking? Amber in SJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Thanks everyone :) We'll know in 2 weeks if dh is offered a contract. If he is offered a contract, nothing will change for one year & then we could move. It sounds like homeschooling is no more onerous than in CA. I would like to live within driving distance of a good CC. Where should I be looking? Amber in SJ Do you have any idea where your dh will be working? Middlesex CC is very homeschool friendly, and has a lot of hsers in attendence. Lots of classes across two campuses (Bedford and Lowell). Can take classes there starting at 14 or sometimes younger. No limit I know of for how many. From what I've seen, not all CCs have the same DE policies, so check. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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