EKT Posted September 27, 2023 Share Posted September 27, 2023 Have there been any posts on these forums about the upcoming changes to Ohio homeschool law? The new law goes into effect on October 3rd and I am just curious if there's been any discussion about it. (I tried to search back to July when this was first announced, but I tend to have trouble with the board's search features and didn't see anything.) I sent in my usual notification paperwork in August and I plan to send in the new paperwork this week, but I am just curious to chat about others' experiences. I suspect my school district is going to know nothing about this change and I'm going to have to tell them what they need to send me, lol. But maybe I'll be surprised! (To be fair, they have been easy to work with thus far.) I have mixed feelings about the no assessment thing; would love to hear others' thoughts! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kassia Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 I'm in OH but stopped homeschooling quite a few years ago and didn't know there was a change. Interesting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, EKT said: . I suspect my school district is going to know nothing about this change and I'm going to have to tell them what they need to send me, lol. But maybe I'll be surprised! (To be fair, they have been easy to work with thus far.) I have mixed feelings about the no assessment thing; would love to hear others' thoughts! I suspect there will be confusion but a friend was pleasantly surprised that her (neighboring) district knew about the changes. Another local district hadn't sent out any excusal letters as of two weeks ago (to anyone). I expect that district is going to have major issues. I'm sort of irritated I even have to send a second notification because I said all of that and more on the first notification (other than citing the correct regulation, which has changed effective this month). I'll get over it. 😃 Edited September 28, 2023 by cintinative 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 You know, I have mixed feelings about this rule change. On the one hand--yay! No more testing requirement! (Although I have a junior and a senior so we are testing anyway via ACT, etc.). On the other hand--I always thought it was a good thing that they required testing or a portfolio review. It didn't seem like too much of a burden to me. I did the portfolio reviews for years when they were young, and it was helpful to talk over my kids' progress with the reviewer. Of course I know that YMMV on the quality of a portfolio review, but this new generation of homeschoolers will have to seek that out themselves and I worry a little that they won't. Not my circus, not my monkeys, I know, I know. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 I sent both forms in this summer. The second one—the one due in October—wasn’t recognized so I hope everything is ok. They are a super small district and have been wonderful, so I’m not worried. I welcome the changes bc we moved from NY. It will be nice to have even less paperwork. I also have mixed feelings about the testing. On the one hand, NY did not allow the SAT to count so doing the SAT and the ItBS was a pain. On the other, I do know families who made changes ( got a math tutor for example) because of testing so I’ve seen the benefits. My friend who had lived on a no testing state also said that people on NY were more disciplined about getting school done. So, I do think some accountability is helpful—maybe every other year and SAT counts? For now, I will enjoy my first non-testing year since 2013. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 1 minute ago, freesia said: I also have mixed feelings about the testing. On the one hand, NY did not allow the SAT to count so doing the SAT and the ItBS was a pain. I cannot even imagine making my high schoolers take the Iowa when they are already taking SAT or ACT. Wow. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freesia Posted September 28, 2023 Share Posted September 28, 2023 29 minutes ago, cintinative said: I cannot even imagine making my high schoolers take the Iowa when they are already taking SAT or ACT. Wow. It was a total waste of time—particularly as the 11th and 12th grade test are exactly the same! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKT Posted September 28, 2023 Author Share Posted September 28, 2023 10 hours ago, cintinative said: You know, I have mixed feelings about this rule change. On the one hand--yay! No more testing requirement! (Although I have a junior and a senior so we are testing anyway via ACT, etc.). On the other hand--I always thought it was a good thing that they required testing or a portfolio review. It didn't seem like too much of a burden to me. I did the portfolio reviews for years when they were young, and it was helpful to talk over my kids' progress with the reviewer. Of course I know that YMMV on the quality of a portfolio review, but this new generation of homeschoolers will have to seek that out themselves and I worry a little that they won't. Not my circus, not my monkeys, I know, I know. I know, I feel the same! We've never done testing; we've always done portfolio reviews, the whole way through. I never found them to be overly burdensome, either, and I never felt restricted by that requirement. I DO like the part of the new law that simplifies the required subjects. (I don't think safety and fire prevention needs to be covered every year, lol. Like, my kids already know how to stop, drop, and roll....) So, I feel like the new list of required subjects much more accurately reflects how people actually home educate, especially in the high school years. (I have homeschooled in two states - Ohio and Maryland. And I remember being frustrated that in Maryland, music, art, and health were required every year. These subjects are great! But at the high school level, kids usually specialize into doing either visual arts or music, and they usually do health once in high school, not every year--so I always felt like they were requiring more of homeschoolers than of the public schoolers in that regard.) So I like that the part of the new law that addresses subjects is simplified, and you're completely free to choose your own electives, etc. And I also like the clarity of the August 30th notification date. That will be easy to remember and execute! So, I'm largely happy with the changes! But I share lots of the thoughts expressed by OHP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Likaly Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 We had assessment in SC and no assessment in Tx, now in MD, I am VERY HAPPY with assessment, testing, opportunities, high school sports, etc. At least they should know how MUCH we do homeschooling))) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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