Homeschooling without the school district???

[SDorsey86]

I am wondering if there is any way to home school my six-year-old without going trough the district. I live in Riverside county Ca. and the policy as far as I can find is that home schooling can only be done once you start school and get on the waiting list, get you spot open, get approved to teach your child, then you still have to go by their curriculum and go all day one day a week to see a teacher and get tested.
To me that is not "home schooling" that is going once a week and getting lots of homework.
For a little background I want to homeschool my son because he doesnt fit in well. We moved 3 times to different states during his kindergarden year. He is on medications for bipolar disorder and moving makes you have to get reestablished with new doctors so his medications we far from steady.
He is very sensitive and very sweet but telds to be be clingy which pushes other kids away and makes him a target to get picked on. By both students and teachers. One school he went to he sat in time out all day, didnt get to play on the playground, was humiliated by the teacher daily. I made the mistake of trying to explain to her that he was on medications and was a little differnt than the other kids thinking she might have some compation but insead she stood him in front of the classroom and told him not to come back untill he had better medicine.
He wouldnt go back for a week. He came home crying almost everyday. He has no desire go back and I refuse to send him.
I feel that the education system has failed him. I dont know if he will ever get past the damage they did. And worst of all but not to suprising, he got nothing good out of it. He did not master a single goal for the whole year.

I dont see doing there homeschool so they get funding being any different than him being in school.
I know they are very strict about truancy because they loose funding. How do I go about bypassing them all together?

I am all for just about anything it takes. I considered that there be some way to say its for religous reasons and then they cant really say or ask much.

Any thoughts? Please help me!

Steph

[seaheroine]

http://www.hsc.org/index.php might be a good place to start.

I think you can declare yourself a private school with the state, withdraw your child from school, and that is that -- not sure, though, an experienced CA HS'er could probably clear that up. We're in Riverside county too, so I'll be watching this thread!

[luv-my-boys]

not sure if your county has county specific regulations but im in CA and all I did was file a affidavit to make myself a "private school" no school/district/county involvement at all. I am basically on my own

[zjande]

I haven't lived in CA for 4 years, but for all the years I lived there I never heard of such a program that you mention. We filled in an "r4 affidavit", and that was it. We homeschooled without any contact from any officials or anything. Here's a link I just Googled real quick that lays it all out:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/...liforniaR4.htmhttp://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/...liforniaR4.htm All you need to do is fill that out to be considered a private school & you're done.

[LemonPie]

CA technically doesn't have any 'home school' laws. That being said, there are several ways you can legally home school.
http://www.californiahomeschool.net/howTo/howTo.htm (click the link to open a .pdf file that gives you detailed instructions on how to do any of the 4 ways to homeschool in CA).

We're going to file an R-4 affidavit declaring ourselves a private school. This gives us nearly complete and total freedom over our kids education. I get to pick the hours, the curriculum, etc. No standardized testing, no reporting to anyone. If you're interested in this option, this link is really good and helfpul:
http://www.hsc.org/legalprivateschooloption.php

As for getting the school district out of your business, just pick one of your four options and then send the school district a letter declaring that he is no longer enrolled in the district and is now currently enrolled at ______ school. The CHN link above has detailed instructions on how to do this and even has a generic form letter that you can use and just plug in your own info.

HTH! And good luck, I'd be pulling my kids out FAST too!

[eclipse]

Yeah, you need to file an affadavit if you want to homeschool independantly.

However, California has some great charter schools that provide funds for outside classes, curriculum if you want it, kids do not have to attend at all, etc. There are hoops, though, like monthly meetings with an "Educational Consultant," standardized tests (although the one we use doesn't require the testing, they just strongly encourage it), etc. It's not homeschooling directly through the district, but it's not independant either. I've heard great things about this charter http://www.dehesacharterschool.org/ as far as being very hands off (and I know unschoolers who have used them) and they operate in Riverside.

[AJP]

The private school form is no longer called R-4, it's now PSA (for Private School Affidavit), and it's done online (R-4 was the name of the paper form). It is very easy, both of the HS support organizations liked above have step-by-step instructions on their websites. It gets filed with the CA Dept. of Education each year in October, you can also file at other times if necessary (like if a child is withdrawn from school to be HSed), they just prefer to get all the affidavits sent in during the same 2 weeks (regular private schools file this same form). As long as it's only your own children enrolled in your private school, you're then required only to keep a few basic records such as attendance and vaccination records or waiver, you don't report to anyone, no one checks your paperwork, no testing (unless you choose to), no one from the state contacts you. I think the only thing you're legally required to show in the case of any question is the printed copy of your PSA. You do, however, need to make sure your child is properly withdrawn from the public school, there have been occasional cases of paperwork not getting filed properly or parents not actually withdrawing their kids from their previous school and the district then considers them truant.

The HSC (link in above posts) has a legal advisory team, if you ever get any hassles from the district you can call them and the HSC folks can tell you what needs to be done to get them off your back, in some cases they have even called the district on behalf of families having issues to inform the district of the actual educational code (they sometimes behave as if something is the law when it's not) and the family's rights.

You can definitely HS in CA without the involvement of any school district. Like mentioned above, there are a lot of publicly-funded charter schools with home study programs though, if you want to try going that route to get access to some educational funds or free classes or community. There are also a lot of HS groups not associated with any particular charter school, some are co-ops that do classes, some are strictly social (park days, field trips, etc.). So many options! Go for it.

[SDorsey86]

Thanks so much for all the replies. I have a few questions though. First I went and looked at the links and everything says that the form is available starting oct 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year. Does that mean I just home-school with nothing for the first few months then do the affidavit? What do I do in the mean time?

[zjande]

Originally Posted by SDorsey86

Thanks so much for all the replies. I have a few questions though. First I went and looked at the links and everything says that the form is available starting oct 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year. Does that mean I just home-school with nothing for the first few months then do the affidavit? What do I do in the mean time?

According to this link, you're supposed to fill out the form between Oct 1st - 15th. So yeah, the form is just a form for the state to have on record. You homeschool however & whenever you like, whether you bother to fill out the form or not. Most of the families I talked to in CA didn't fill out the form for a myriad of reasons. The form isn't really a big deal. Just plan to homeschool however you want!

[AJP]

I believe that in the mean time, what you should do is formally withdraw your child from the public school, choose a name for your private school and tell them he will be attending that (no need to even mention the word "homeschool"). Probably best done in writing, less opportunity for some busy-body to give you a hard time. Then file your PSA in October. Your private school is formed simply by you declaring it so, getting together the records required, and commencing with whatever activities you choose. The affidavit is simply notifying the CDE of the existence of your school, the state does not approve or endorse private schools, they only require the annual filing. It probably would be best to join one of the state-wide email lists run by HSC and CHN, then ask your question there (you don't need to be a member to join the HSC list, I'm not sure about the CHN list). I've seen this issue come up on the HSC list quite a few times, but I'm not sure I'm remembering correctly the consensus about the best way to handle a situation like yours.

[AJP]

Originally Posted by zjande

Most of the families I talked to in CA didn't fill out the form for a myriad of reasons. The form isn't really a big deal. Just plan to homeschool however you want!

If you don't submit a PSA during the filing period, your child can be considered truant, which can create all kinds of problems. I'm sure people get away with it, and some would have a philosophical objection, but state law does require all children to be enrolled in school, and for private schools to file the PSA annually, so without doing so you could be asking for trouble.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by AJP

Your private school is formed simply by you declaring it so, getting together the records required, and commencing with whatever activities you choose. The affidavit is simply notifying the CDE of the existence of your school, the state does not approve or endorse private schools, they only require the annual filing.

I just want to emphasize this point, because I think it's important. You're not asking for permission to start a private school, or anything like that - you just go ahead and create one, and tell them about it at the time they specify, in October. You're still legally a private school during August and September, assuming you're following the (very easy to follow) state laws regarding private schools - offering certain classes (and your child doesn't necessarily have to take them, as long as they are offered), keeping attendance, etc.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by zjande

According to this link, you're supposed to fill out the form between Oct 1st - 15th. So yeah, the form is just a form for the state to have on record. You homeschool however & whenever you like, whether you bother to fill out the form or not. Most of the families I talked to in CA didn't fill out the form for a myriad of reasons. The form isn't really a big deal. Just plan to homeschool however you want!

Just want to clarify - are you saying you know a lot of people who are homeschooling without having notified the state with an affidavit? Because the form is a big deal in that it's one of the requirements for private school legality. Anyone who is not filing an affidavit could be bringing on some big hassles for themselves - they would be considered "underground" rather than an established private school. There have been cases where someone has been reported because their children are not going to school, but when a truant officer comes to the door and is shown a copy of the affidavit, that's the end of it. A private school needs to have a copy of the affidavit and attendance records that show absences - although, of course, it's pretty hard to imagine what an absence from a home based school would be. I know of a couple of other cases years ago where an ignorant truant officer went ahead and reported them to the student attendance review board in spite of knowing they had an affidavit filed, but when they showed up at the meeting with a copy of the affidavit, that was the end of it because it showed that they had established their own private school and therefore were not subject to attendance in a public school. There have been cases where people have been able to file the affidavit and get authorities off their backs after they've already hassled them - but you definitely don't want to get yourself in a situation like that! - Lillian

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by Dar

I just want to emphasize this point, because I think it's important. You're not asking for permission to start a private school, or anything like that - you just go ahead and create one, and tell them about it at the time they specify, in October. You're still legally a private school during August and September, assuming you're following the (very easy to follow) state laws regarding private schools - offering certain classes (and your child doesn't necessarily have to take them, as long as they are offered), keeping attendance, etc.

Yes, keep in mind that you're not handing in an application or asking for a license or permit - you're simply notifying them that the school exists and has x number of students, etc. - Lillian

[zjande]

Yeah, you guys are right, the form is important. I only mentioned that many people don't bother with it simply to point out that you can teach your children without it. The OP was sounding to me as if she didn't know if or how she could homeschool before she turned in the form. I just wanted her to understand that it is just a form, not something that will make it physically possible for her to homeschool.

But on a side note, none of my friends filled that form out in CA, & none I've asked have filled out the one in Oregon.... a lot of homeschoolers are just hard headed that way. They want to just do what they want to do without the state or the govt. being all up in their business. I don't condone this, just mentioning it because you asked!

To sum up: Yes you need to fill the form out to be legal and it is a big deal! No you don't NEED the form in order to get the books & pencils out & physically homeschool with your kids however & whenever you want!


(and PS. Yes I have turned my form in as per Oregon law! )

[Dakota's Mom]

To avoid hassles, give them what they require but absolutely no more than the law requires. Send in the form, make an attendance register and have fun.

Kathi

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by zjande

But on a side note, none of my friends filled that form out in CA, & none I've asked have filled out the one in Oregon.... a lot of homeschoolers are just hard headed that way. They want to just do what they want to do without the state or the govt. being all up in their business. I don't condone this, just mentioning it because you asked!

HOLY MOLY! I wonder if at least some of them are enrolled in charters or something to cover their legalities. I've known a couple of people who've made the decision to homeschool underground, outside the law, but I just hate it when someone gets caught and ends up in a huge hassle, and then the word starts going around that the state is "hassling homeschoolers." Oh, well...

Lillian

[zjande]

In states that require standardized testing, many people don't register as homeschoolers. I moderate a lg. homeschool list (& live in such a state) so I've seen the the topic come up many times. I'd not be at all surprised to hear that the majority don't register.

Sorry for the hijack OP.

[LemonPie]

Originally Posted by SDorsey86

Thanks so much for all the replies. I have a few questions though. First I went and looked at the links and everything says that the form is available starting oct 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year. Does that mean I just home-school with nothing for the first few months then do the affidavit? What do I do in the mean time?

Yes. You just home school and file the affidavit after October 1. From the HSC link I posted above:

The fact that the affidavits are filed after the school year typically starts is not a problem. No private school can file before October 1, and the state does not claim that every private school student is truant between mid-August and October 1. If you are contacted after the typical school year begins but before October by anyone who has a right to see your school's affidavit, you should explain that no private school can file an affidavit before October 1. You can also offer to show them your affidavit from the prior year, or, if you did not file in the prior year, offer to mail them a copy when you can.