Does everybody notify?

[Familia]

As a veteran homeschooler, I get asked questions about homeschooling all the time and can usually answer them. This one has me stumped. Does everybody have to notify their local school district when they homeschool? Or does that vary by state/district. Thanks!

Edited November 30, 2021 by Familia

[purpleowl]

Within the US, it varies by state.

[Miss Tick]

It can also depend on whether you are withdrawing from school (need to notify) versus not entering (no need) - in my state.

[Kassia]

9 minutes ago, purpleowl said:

Within the US, it varies by state.

yes, this.  In OH (where I live) we have to notify.

[EKS]

In my state, it is the law to notify.  I do know of a family, though, who does not, nor do they comply with the annual assessment requirement.  It isn't because they are against such things, they just...don't.  And nothing has ever happened to them.

[HomeAgain]

It varies quite a bit by state, and whether the child has been enrolled in a public or private school.  Texas: we didn't notify because our child had never been to school.  If he had, it would have been a simple letter to the office.  One and done.

Here: I must notify the school district yearly and turn in an education plan.  They can ask for periodic assessments, and I think the most frequent I've seen that interpreted as is twice a year: December and June.  Most will ask for an end of year assessment, taking any of three forms: portfolio, testing, or progress report.

[Familia]

22 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

It varies quite a bit by state, and whether the child has been enrolled in a public or private school.  Texas: we didn't notify because our child had never been to school.  If he had, it would have been a simple letter…

 

1 hour ago, purpleowl said:

Within the US, it varies by state.

 

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

It can also depend on whether you are withdrawing from school (need to notify) versus not entering (no need) - in my state.

So, how do people find this out for their state?

It’s been many years since we began (actually, it’s been many years since we’ve been done lol) and we just heard people in our local homeschool group say what to do when our first began first grade.
But if people aren’t part of a homeschool group and want to  pull their child out of school… or beginning at the beginning, most people start by looking at their state’s homeschool law?

[Familia]

1 hour ago, EKS said:

In my state, it is the law to notify.  I do know of a family, though, who does not, nor do they comply with the annual assessment requirement.  It isn't because they are against such things, they just...don't.  And nothing has ever happened to them.

Wow, I was about the most homeschool-law-fearless mom we knew (admittedly, we had a few pretty paranoid friends, not letting their children play in their own yard during ‘school hours’, for example), but I cannot imagine not notifying if it was my state’s law.  It was a very simple form in our state, and sending that Certified Mail each year was the only thing that made things feel ‘official’ and I enjoyed the Kick-Off feeling it gave me each year. 

[Zoo Keeper]

11 minutes ago, Familia said:

 

So, how do people find this out for their state?

It’s been many years since we began (actually, it’s been many years since we’ve been done lol) and we just heard people in our local homeschool group say what to do when our first began first grade.
But if people aren’t part of a homeschool group and want to  pull their child out of school… or beginning at the beginning, most people start by looking at their state’s homeschool law?

While HSLDA is not my favorite representative of all homeschooling 😉 , their info pages are usually pretty accurate for how to fulfill your state requirements.

https://hslda.org/legal/

[Ellie]

10 minutes ago, Familia said:

 

So, how do people find this out for their state?

It’s been many years since we began (actually, it’s been many years since we’ve been done lol) and we just heard people in our local homeschool group say what to do when our first began first grade.
But if people aren’t part of a homeschool group and want to  pull their child out of school… or beginning at the beginning, most people start by looking at their state’s homeschool law?

Home School Legal Defense Association is my go-to.

Not all states have actual homeschool laws, so you can't always look up a state's requirements. But most states have statewide homeschool associations, and those associations usually have their state requirements on websites. And it's pretty easy to do an Internet search on the laws.

[cintinative]

19 minutes ago, Familia said:

Wow, I was about the most homeschool-law-fearless mom we knew (admittedly, we had a few pretty paranoid friends, not letting their children play in their own yard during ‘school hours’, for example), but I cannot imagine not notifying if it was my state’s law.  It was a very simple form in our state, and sending that Certified Mail each year was the only thing that made things feel ‘official’ and I enjoyed the Kick-Off feeling it gave me each year. 

Yes, I had the same reaction. My understanding is that some colleges want the "excusal from compulsory attendance" letters for all of high school as well. I don't know how you could fly under the radar and then suddenly start reporting in high school.  Maybe it's not like that in EKS' state.

[Miss Tick]

I googled "homeschool laws <my state>" and compared what I found to what some of the local, regional, or state homecoming groups said.

20 minutes ago, cintinative said:

My understanding is that some colleges want the "excusal from compulsory attendance" letters for all of high school

This is where things can get tricky since this type of documentation doesn't exist in my state. Usually stating that is sufficient, but occasionally there are stories...

[Kassia]

The advice to look up the law is so important - definitely don't go by what your local school district tells you.  When we first attempted to homeschool before the internet, we were given incorrect information from our district and thought we couldn't homeschool at the time when that wasn't actually true at all.

 

 

[HomeAgain]

1 hour ago, Familia said:

 

So, how do people find this out for their state?

It’s been many years since we began (actually, it’s been many years since we’ve been done lol) and we just heard people in our local homeschool group say what to do when our first began first grade.
But if people aren’t part of a homeschool group and want to  pull their child out of school… or beginning at the beginning, most people start by looking at their state’s homeschool law?

Honestly, best source of info is a local homeschool group.  HSLDA has their map, but the homeschool group will have docs, links to laws, and specific info about the districts.  Here, default person to report to is the superintendent, but not all districts use the default.  Some have a designated person to report to.

I used to use A To Z's Home's Cool site once upon a time when I was just trying to get a rough estimate before we moved places, and then join the local group to get better information.

[Ellie]

2 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

It varies quite a bit by state, and whether the child has been enrolled in a public or private school.  Texas: we didn't notify because our child had never been to school.  If he had, it would have been a simple letter to the office.  One and done.

Just to clarify for those who might be in Texas and are still thinking about whether to homeschool or not, or those who have friends in Texas, and so on: If the dc are currently enrolled in a public school (or, really, a private school), you still don't "notify" anyone. You just don't send your dc back, and you tell the school you aren't sending your dc back. IOW, you formally withdraw the dc so the school doesn't think that they are truant. Most of us recommend doing that in writing, certified, return receipt requested, because (1) put everything in writing or it didn't happen; and (2) that little green return receipt is your proof that you did tell the school you were withdrawing your dc.

[Familia]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

Honestly, best source of info is a local homeschool group.  HSLDA has their map, but the homeschool group will have docs, links to laws, and specific info about the districts.  Here, default person to report to is the superintendent, but not all districts use the default.  Some have a designated person to report to.

I used to use A To Z's Home's Cool site once upon a time when I was just trying to get a rough estimate before we moved places, and then join the local group to get better information.

 

1 hour ago, Kassia said:

The advice to look up the law is so important - definitely don't go by what your local school district tells you.  When we first attempted to homeschool before the internet, we were given incorrect information from our district and thought we couldn't homeschool at the time when that wasn't actually true at all.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

I googled "homeschool laws <my state>" and compared what I found to what some of the local, regional, or state homecoming groups said.

This is where things can get tricky since this type of documentation doesn't exist in my state. Usually stating that is sufficient, but occasionally there are stories...

 

33 minutes ago, Ellie said:

Just to clarify for those who might be in Texas and are still thinking about whether to homeschool or not, or those who have friends in Texas, and so on: If the dc are currently enrolled in a public school (or, really, a private school), you still don't "notify" anyone. You just don't send your dc back, and you tell the school you aren't sending your dc back. IOW, you formally withdraw the dc so the school doesn't think that they are truant. Most of us recommend doing that in writing, certified, return receipt requested, because (1) put everything in writing or it didn't happen; and (2) that little green return receipt is your proof that you did tell the school you were withdrawing your dc.

Goodness, from all of the above, if I were just beginning in homeschooling (as people we know are…with high school, no less) it is kinda confusing IMO to know what to do!  We switched from an medium oversight state (explanation of homeschool plan/teacher evaluation or testing each year) to low oversight (simple letter). I had no idea that there were states that needing nothing/had no specific law addressing homeschooling.

Are there other states with a little oversight as TX? And, didn’t PA have a reputation ‘back in the day’ (aging myself & referring to PA Homeschoolers classes..does anyone still take those?) and, didn’t CA change their law to require the parent have a teacher’s certificate? Or is that just if no end of year evaluation? Such a variance between states!

Edited November 30, 2021 by Familia
Clarity, may still be murky 😹

[Janeway]

Not in Texas.

[Miss Tick]

51 minutes ago, Familia said:

Are there other states with a little oversight as TX? And, didn’t PA have a reputation ‘back in the day’ (aging myself & referring to PA Homeschoolers classes..does anyone still take those?) and, didn’t CA change their law to require the parent have a teacher’s certificate?

Yes, yes, and I am glad to watch CA from afar.

It is confusing, although not too bad if you just focus on the state you are in.

PAHomeschoolers is still around, and you can find threads about many classes on the boards. If your friends are jumping in to high school, you might want to send them some of the links from the pinned threads the fabulous @Lori D. has put at the top of the high school board.

[JenneinCA]

You do not need a teaching certificate in CA.  You fill out a private school affidavit and you are done. 
https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/affidavit.asp

 

[Ellie]

1 hour ago, Familia said:

 

Are there other states with a little oversight as TX? And, didn’t PA have a reputation ‘back in the day’ (aging myself & referring to PA Homeschoolers classes..does anyone still take those?) and, didn’t CA change their law to require the parent have a teacher’s certificate? Or is that just if no end of year evaluation? Such a variance between states!

No, CA absolutely did NOT change its homeschooling requirements. No, no, no. You must understand the difference between private homeschooling (which in CA is unregulated except for filing a private school affidavit annually; I could give you a whole long explanation, but I'll spare you, unless you're a glutton for punishment, lol) and PUBLIC SCHOOL AT HOME THROUGH A CHARTER SCHOOL. It is possible that the charter schools have changed their requirements, but PRIVATE HOMESCHOOLING has not changed. CHEA and others have diligently, relentlessly, continuously advocated for *private* homeschooling for upwards of 30 years, but the money offered by the public charter schools was louder. People who enrolled their dc in the charter schools maintained that yes, they were homeschooling, but the fact is that their dc are *public school students,* not privately homeschooled.

New Jersey, Illinois, Idaho, Michigan, Oklahoma, Hawai'i, and Indiana are all equally as free as Texas. CA has no requirements for oversight, as private schools (which is what homeschoolers are) have no interaction with the state; they just file an affidavit annually.

[73349]

My state requires us to register once with the state, but not to interact with the district.

[Familia]

3 hours ago, JenneinCA said:

You do not need a teaching certificate in CA.  You fill out a private school affidavit and you are done. 
https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/affidavit.asp

 

Thank you!

2 hours ago, Ellie said:

No, CA absolutely did NOT change its homeschooling requirements. No, no, no. You must understand the difference between private homeschooling (which in CA is unregulated except for filing a private school affidavit annually; I could give you a whole long explanation, but I'll spare you, unless you're a glutton for punishment, lol) and PUBLIC SCHOOL AT HOME THROUGH A CHARTER SCHOOL. It is possible that the charter schools have changed their requirements, but PRIVATE HOMESCHOOLING has not changed. CHEA and others have diligently, relentlessly, continuously advocated for *private* homeschooling for upwards of 30 years, but the money offered by the public charter schools was louder. People who enrolled their dc in the charter schools maintained that yes, they were homeschooling, but the fact is that their dc are *public school students,* not privately homeschooled.

New Jersey, Illinois, Idaho, Michigan, Oklahoma, Hawai'i, and Indiana are all equally as free as Texas. CA has no requirements for oversight, as private schools (which is what homeschoolers are) have no interaction with the state; they just file an affidavit annually.

Wow, Ellie, you are very knowledgeable & so willing to share.  Like I said, in my state we only needed to send in a letter each year. I really had NO IDEA that CA was pretty much the same. The last I heard was when I was listening to talk radio back in…prob ‘07 and it was threatened that CA would have a lot of oversight. I really hadn’t heard anything since then. Your explanation is so helpful for me just being up to speed in general.

[historically accurate]

4 hours ago, Familia said:

 

 

 

Goodness, from all of the above, if I were just beginning in homeschooling (as people we know are…with high school, no less) it is kinda confusing IMO to know what to do!  We switched from an medium oversight state (explanation of homeschool plan/teacher evaluation or testing each year) to low oversight (simple letter). I had no idea that there were states that needing nothing/had no specific law addressing homeschooling.

Are there other states with a little oversight as TX? And, didn’t PA have a reputation ‘back in the day’ (aging myself & referring to PA Homeschoolers classes..does anyone still take those?) and, didn’t CA change their law to require the parent have a teacher’s certificate? Or is that just if no end of year evaluation? Such a variance between states!

IL requires nothing if your child has never been enrolled. You do have to formally withdraw them if they were enrolled. My go-to for all things Illinois Homeschool related: https://www.illinoishouse.org/home

I know New Jersey is pretty no regs as well. 

[Ellie]

21 minutes ago, Familia said:

Thank you!

Wow, Ellie, you are very knowledgeable & so willing to share.  Like I said, in my state we only needed to send in a letter each year. I really had NO IDEA that CA was pretty much the same. The last I heard was when I was listening to talk radio back in…prob ‘07 and it was threatened that CA would have a lot of oversight. I really hadn’t heard anything since then. Your explanation is so helpful for me just being up to speed in general.

Oh, people are always saying that "they" are trying to make things more difficult in [insert state name here], and probably that's true. There are state legislatures who are ready at any time to pass restrictive laws, but most of them also know that hsers would rise up in arms, lol. 🙂 In fact, there was a court case in California in August of 2008 which decided that it was, in fact, legal for parents to file the private school affidavit as private schools. Hsers had always done that, but a court case not actually related to hsing ended up being the determining case (long story). So possibly you heard the brouhaha back in 2007? At any rate, it was an excellent court decision, so there you go. 🙂

[EKS]

7 hours ago, Familia said:

Wow, I was about the most homeschool-law-fearless mom we knew (admittedly, we had a few pretty paranoid friends, not letting their children play in their own yard during ‘school hours’, for example), but I cannot imagine not notifying if it was my state’s law.  It was a very simple form in our state, and sending that Certified Mail each year was the only thing that made things feel ‘official’ and I enjoyed the Kick-Off feeling it gave me each year. 

I know what you mean.  It's incredibly easy to notify here as well--just submit a form with children's names and ages to the district office.  It's also easy to comply with the assessment requirement--just do it at home and no one asks to see the scores.

[Clarita]

I think in CA you have to make yourself into a private school and enroll your kids into your school. It sounds complicated but I heard it's essentially fill out a form. I believe we are a low regulation state. I enroll my child in a homeschool charter school so I don't have firsthand information on this.

 

[daijobu]

In California you don't need to notify any school that you are homeschooling.  If you withdraw your student from a school, you need to let them know so they can take your student off their attendance rolls.  

I never told any school we were homeschooling because my kids were never enrolled in a school.  (Except one attended a regular high school.)  

[Roadrunner]

3 hours ago, Ellie said:

Oh, people are always saying that "they" are trying to make things more difficult in [insert state name here], and probably that's true. There are state legislatures who are ready at any time to pass restrictive laws, but most of them also know that hsers would rise up in arms, lol. 🙂 In fact, there was a court case in California in August of 2008 which decided that it was, in fact, legal for parents to file the private school affidavit as private schools. Hsers had always done that, but a court case not actually related to hsing ended up being the determining case (long story). So possibly you heard the brouhaha back in 2007? At any rate, it was an excellent court decision, so there you go. 🙂

The state tends to target charter schools, but have left us (PSA homeschoolers) alone. 

[Ellie]

2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

The state tends to target charter schools, but have left us (PSA homeschoolers) alone. 

Yup. Because the charter schools are *public schools* and the state can make all the rules it wants, but hsers are *private schools,* and if they mess with any of the private school things, they mess with the hundreds of campus-based private schools all across the state.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Ellie

[Ellie]

3 hours ago, Clarita said:

I think in CA you have to make yourself into a private school and enroll your kids into your school. It sounds complicated but I heard it's essentially fill out a form. I believe we are a low regulation state. I enroll my child in a homeschool charter school so I don't have firsthand information on this.

No not complicated at all. You file an affidavit online annually, which takes about 10 minutes; no children's names are on it, only the number of dc in each grade. You don't do anything to "enroll your kids."

[Ellie]

10 hours ago, JenneinCA said:

You do not need a teaching certificate in CA.  You fill out a private school affidavit and you are done. 
https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ps/affidavit.asp

 

I love what the education code says about teachers in private schools: they must be "persons capable of teaching." There's no definition of what that means. 🙂

[Familia]

9 hours ago, Ellie said:

I love what the education code says about teachers in private schools: they must be "persons capable of teaching." There's no definition of what that means. 🙂

Boy, that brings back memories of mornings (..especially in February. What is it about February?) when I did not feel capable of teaching my dog to sit, let alone teach the children. Sigh, miss those days, February and all!

[Servant4Christ]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:45 AM, Zoo Keeper said:

While HSLDA is not my favorite representative of all homeschooling 😉 , their info pages are usually pretty accurate for how to fulfill your state requirements.

https://hslda.org/legal/

This. I use HSLDA's fill in the blank forms for all of our required reports. Works wonders in school districts/states that aren't so homeschool friendly. 

We are required to notify the school district in writing before the start of each school year for each child of school age and to submit quarterly reports detailing curriculum and grades.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Servant4Christ

[Eos]

To OP's question: yes, we "had" to notify, but I didn't register my older two.  I did the younger two when they started high school since they were doing things at the local high school.  

Edited February 6, 2023 by Eos

[Xahm]

3 hours ago, Eos said:

To OP's question: yes, we "had" to notify, but I didn't register my older two.  I did the younger two when they started high school since they were doing things at the local high school.  Maine is an easy, low-barrier state, but back in the day I knew maybe 20 homeschooling families and none of us registered.  

This is just curiosity, so feel free to not answer, of course, but may I ask why? Was it an unnecessary hassle, did the district make it hard to register, did you feel it was state over reach, did you just not know to at first and it never caused a problem?

[Eos]

49 minutes ago, Xahm said:

This is just curiosity, so feel free to not answer, of course, but may I ask why? Was it an unnecessary hassle, did the district make it hard to register, did you feel it was state over reach, did you just not know to at first and it never caused a problem?

It's fine to ask.  I was asking myself the same question as I posted.  I think at the time I and maybe we all thought it was state over-reach.  I should have amended to add, I did once when oldest was 7 which is the age you have to register in my state.  That year we did receive the one-sentence assessment from a certified teacher that literally only said "this child has completed all requirements of first grade."  Which, instead of making me think oh that's simple, I'll just do this same thing every year, it had the opposite effect of making me think, well if that's all they need, they don't really need anything.  I'm aware now that my totally privileged attitude that the law exists for other people and not me is entirely objectionable.  I was a reader of Growing Without Schooling and a serious unschooler at the time, which also fed that attitude.  My last child is registered but I still don't care at all if other people don't register - the anarchist rebel in me dies hard.

Editing to add: I've heard good reasons to register like "it's better if the state knows how many there are of us, we have more input/clout" or similar.  It didn't sway me at the time. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Eos

[Xahm]

17 minutes ago, Eos said:

It's fine to ask.  I was asking myself the same question as I posted.  I think at the time I and maybe we all thought it was state over-reach.  I should have amended to add, I did once when oldest was 7 which is the age you have to register in Maine.  That year we did receive the one-sentence assessment from a certified teacher that literally only said "this child has completed all requirements of first grade."  Which, instead of making me think oh that's simple, I'll just do this same thing every year, it had the opposite effect of making me think, well if that's all they need, they don't really need anything.  I'm aware now that my totally privileged attitude that the law exists for other people and not me is entirely objectionable.  I was a reader of Growing Without Schooling and a serious unschooler at the time, which also fed that attitude.  My last child is registered but I still don't care at all if other people don't register - the anarchist rebel in me dies hard.

Editing to add: I've heard good reasons to register like "it's better if the state knows how many there are of us, we have more input/clout" or similar.  It didn't sway me at the time. 

Thanks. That's interesting. My state just has us notify online, then test every 3 years (but not send in results or even evidence of testing) and we are supposed to keep attendance and write our own progress reports, but no one checks those either. I don't think there is a single person hired in the whole state to even check up/in on homeschoolers or any system that would allow them to check those things. When I'm talking to new homeschoolers, I always encourage them to keep the records that are useful to them, not to fill out some form that the state homeschool association says includes the bare minimum. No one looks at it anyway, and I think people would be discouraged if they feel like their homeschooling is summed up by some bare minimum assessment like your first grader got. I haven't heard of anyone around here refusing to register, but there's usually a wave of people in October slapping their foreheads because they simply forgot, which happens when it's a five minute bit of work that happens once a year and doesn't affect much. (Except qualifying for homeschool/teacher discounts)

[Ellie]

1 hour ago, Eos said:

I've heard good reasons to register like "it's better if the state knows how many there are of us, we have more input/clout" or similar.  It didn't sway me at the time. 

No way! I started hsing almost 40 years ago, and that's the lamest excuse I have ever heard. o_0

[daijobu]

On 11/30/2021 at 8:22 PM, Ellie said:

No not complicated at all. You file an affidavit online annually, which takes about 10 minutes; no children's names are on it, only the number of dc in each grade. You don't do anything to "enroll your kids."

Yes, I always think it's funny that all we're doing when we file a PSA is letting the state know that we've set up a private school.  We actually do not affirm in the PSA form that our students are actually enrolled there.  (That's in the paperwork we keep at home.)

[daijobu]

On 11/30/2021 at 8:21 PM, Ellie said:

Yup. Because the charter schools are *public schools* and the state can make all the rules it wants, but hsers are *private schools,* and if they mess with any of the private school things, they mess with the hundreds of campus-based private schools all across the state.

I answer questions from newbie homeschoolers on the HSC help phone line, and I frequent the HSC FB group and other local email lists.  Charters can be really terrific for some parents.  But whenever I read complaints about a charter, I SMH because enrolling in a charter is optional, not required.  

You want money, enroll in a charter.  You want freedom, file a PSA.  (I did both at different times in my homeschooling.)  

[DawnM]

On 11/30/2021 at 10:31 AM, EKS said:

In my state, it is the law to notify.  I do know of a family, though, who does not, nor do they comply with the annual assessment requirement.  It isn't because they are against such things, they just...don't.  And nothing has ever happened to them.

I was kind of like that.

NC makes you take attendance......dumbest thing ever......"Johnny, are you present?"   🙄
I also didn't test every year.....no one ever asked either.

And I never kept track of my hours, and no one asked.

Truth is, our department in Raleigh that overseas homeschooling never looks at any of that.  The only time I have ever heard it is an issue is if DSS is called or in divorce situations where the ex is complaining or fighting for custody.

[Ellie]

4 hours ago, DawnM said:

I was kind of like that.

NC makes you take attendance......dumbest thing ever......"Johnny, are you present?"   🙄
I also didn't test every year.....no one ever asked either.

And I never kept track of my hours, and no one asked.

Truth is, our department in Raleigh that overseas homeschooling never looks at any of that.  The only time I have ever heard it is an issue is if DSS is called or in divorce situations where the ex is complaining or fighting for custody.

NC attendance requirements are silly: they don't define what "attendance" means, and there are no requirements for parents to turn in those records.

Actually, any "attendance" requirements are silly. You get up every day and there they are. If they are with grandparents or at camp or whatever, then you don't do school, and they can't be absent if there's no school...

[goldenecho]

It varies by state.  For example, in Texas, where I started homeschooling, if your child wasn't attending a public school already, you didn't have to notify anyone to homeschool.   In California, you have to fill out a form saying you are starting a private school (or join a independent study charter...or there's a way you can homeschool with a certified tutor but not having gone that route I'm not sure if you have to notify anyone). 

[Ellie]

7 hours ago, goldenecho said:

It varies by state.  For example, in Texas, where I started homeschooling, if your child wasn't attending a public school already, you didn't have to notify anyone to homeschool.   In California, you have to fill out a form saying you are starting a private school (or join a independent study charter...or there's a way you can homeschool with a certified tutor but not having gone that route I'm not sure if you have to notify anyone). 

In California, every private school files an affidavit annually, even if there is only one child enrolled.   🙂 The court case 10ish years ago also decided that children may be enrolled in private school satellite programs (PSP), which is when a school files an affidavit and enrolls students who are taught at home by their parents (there are no special forms for PSPs to fill out).

Children enrolled in charter schools are legally public school students, not privately homeschooled.

Children are exempt from public school attendance if they are enrolled in a private school which complies with Section 33190 of the Ed. Code, or if they are tutored full time (4 hours a day) by a certified teacher.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:09 PM, Familia said:

 

 

 

Goodness, from all of the above, if I were just beginning in homeschooling (as people we know are…with high school, no less) it is kinda confusing IMO to know what to do!  We switched from an medium oversight state (explanation of homeschool plan/teacher evaluation or testing each year) to low oversight (simple letter). I had no idea that there were states that needing nothing/had no specific law addressing homeschooling.

Are there other states with a little oversight as TX? And, didn’t PA have a reputation ‘back in the day’ (aging myself & referring to PA Homeschoolers classes..does anyone still take those?) and, didn’t CA change their law to require the parent have a teacher’s certificate? Or is that just if no end of year evaluation? Such a variance between states!

CT is another state with no oversight. If your child is enrolled in a school, you have to formally withdraw them but that’s it. If they’ve never been enrolled you just do what you want. No testing, hours, attendance, portfolio, record keeping of any kind, or letters to worry about. 🙂 

Actually, we don’t have “homeschool laws” at all, really. Well, maybe. It depends on how you read it.  Our state statute says “All parents shall cause their children to be educated in….” If you choose not to take this responsibility on yourself, then you have to send your children to school. So I guess depending on how you look at it, all parents are required to homeschool, but there’s the option to send your kids to school if you’d rather not. 
 

The State Department of Education has issued “guidelines” to the school districts about what they should “require” of homeschoolers. Problem is, those guidelines aren’t law and a school district can’t force their policies on students not enrolled in their school. Some districts still get on their high horse about this periodically though and will threaten to report families to CPS for not complying. We have an attorney in the state who specializes in homeschool law and she usually straightens them out. Guidelines are NOT the same as laws! 

[Roadrunner]

On 12/2/2021 at 10:51 AM, daijobu said:

I answer questions from newbie homeschoolers on the HSC help phone line, and I frequent the HSC FB group and other local email lists.  Charters can be really terrific for some parents.  But whenever I read complaints about a charter, I SMH because enrolling in a charter is optional, not required.  

You want money, enroll in a charter.  You want freedom, file a PSA.  (I did both at different times in my homeschooling.)  

I absolutely agree. But the part that pisses me off is charter parents speak for homeschoolers yet they have drastically different needs with their state issued diplomas. I really hope they would just stop it. Would love a PSA only advocacy group that addresses real homeschool issues. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Roadrunner

[73349]

NC's is not an attendance record; it's a days-on-which-the-child-had-instruction record, and a defense against any accusation of truancy. So even though there's no minimum number of days (let alone hours), if you check off on a calendar having done school, say, every Tuesday and Wednesday February through October (and assuming you also did the one-time registration and administered a standardized test, even if your student came in at the 5th percentile on everything), nobody can say you weren't in compliance. You provided "regular instruction during at least nine calendar months," which is the requirement in Article 39. The record is theoretically subject to inspection at any time, but they have like four employees for over 100,000 homeschools, so... yeah, nobody ever asks (although I would expect inquiries if there were any CPS or contentious divorce proceedings going on). They can barely keep up with registrations, which are a one-time thing.

[Frances]

In my state, it’s the local educational service district (ESD) you notify, not the local school district. And you only have to do it once when you start homeschooling (although not required until age 7), not annually. They are also the ones that can ask for the required test scores (grades 3, 5, 8, & 10), but mine never does. We notified, but most homeschoolers I know do not.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Frances

[Frances]

On 11/30/2021 at 8:56 AM, cintinative said:

Yes, I had the same reaction. My understanding is that some colleges want the "excusal from compulsory attendance" letters for all of high school as well. I don't know how you could fly under the radar and then suddenly start reporting in high school.  Maybe it's not like that in EKS' state.

In my state, it’s pretty common not to report. It’s only required once when you start, unless you go back and forth between homeschooling and not. At least among homeschoolers we knew, we were definitely in the minority for reporting. My son did public school orchestra in elementary school and attended one semester of public middle school. When we needed a letter from the ESD for him to get his driving permit, almost all of the attendance information in it was wrong, despite the fact that we followed all reporting requirements. It honestly didn’t surprise me, since once when I went to pick him up from Orchestra practice, I saw his name on a bulletin board for perfect attendance. At that point I figured they were likely counting him as a full time student for funding purposes.