Fears about non "Homeschool friendly" states

[MamaAllNatural]

I am 95% sure that I will be homeschooling my now Kindergartner. I am having some fears though about relocating to a state that might not be very "homeschool friendly." I think we will most likely be moving out of state in another couple years. Is this something I should be worried about? (p.s. I don't know which state it will be).

[lizzie]

Hi MamaA.N.!

I have the same concern. I know that we'll be moving from CO before either child is 'school-aged'. What I don't know is what state, even which coast or possibly country we might wind up in! I'm always reading the threads about specific states to try to narrow down where appeals, and why. Great thread, and I'll be watching with you!

lizzie

[Ann-Marita]

We live in Texas, and our experience has been that it is VERY homeschool-friendly. Homeschools are considered private schools, and the state doesn't regulate them.

We have talked about moving to a different state, and I would definately look into the homeschool laws and climate before I would consider moving.

So, to answer your question: Yes it is something to, maybe not worry about, but certainly investigate, at least to me.

Ann-Marita

[MaWhit]

We will be relocaitng from CO in the next couple years and will not consider living in a state that is not hs-friendly. Even though all my family is in WA, there is no way we'll be moving there. OR is similar to CO, but Montana is our first choice.

[MamaAllNatural]

Uh oh, Washington was one of the places we were considering!Can you tell me a little more? Is it too hard to homeschool there?

[MaWhit]

WA: Unless you choose to join an "extension program of an approved private school designed for parents to teach their children at home", you'll need to do the following:

Qualifications: Either: 1) be supervised by a certified teacher, or 2) have 45 college quarter credit hours or completed a course in home education, or 3) be deemed qualified by the local superintendent

Recordkeeping: Maintain standardized test scores, academic progress assessments, and immunization records

Testing: Annually administer and retain a state approved standardized test by a qualified person or have the child evaluated by a certified teacher currently working in the field of education

Go here http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=WA#1 to learn more.

There are definitely states that are more HS-friendly.

[momto3cuties]

Georgia is not too bad....

There are 3 things required here. First you must file a letter of intent to homeschool with the superintendent 30 days before the schoolyear or before you plan to start. Second you must send monthly attendance reports..lol (this one is kind of silly I know). Third you must test but only every 3 years.

I know alot of people say Ga isn't very HS friendly but I think I can live with these few "checks". I remind myself that there are actually parents that make these things necessary unfortunately.

Good luck,
Heather

[mattemma04]

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[jennas2]

Hi everyone! This is my first post here. I'm Jenna and plan on homeschooling ds who will be 3 April 13. So far we just wing it. I just follow his lead and that seems to be going well. He is also still really young. Anyway back to topic. Here is a link for OR homeschooling requirements and laws.

http://www.ohen.org/

Here is another for Greater Portland Homeschoolers...

http://www.gphomeschool.org/

Cheers, Jenna

[MamaAllNatural]

Wow, thanks for the info everyone! It's really helpful. Please keep it coming!

[Eris]

Originally posted by Whit
[B]WA:

Qualifications: Either: 1) be supervised by a certified teacher, or 2) have 45 college quarter credit hours or completed a course in home education, or 3) be deemed qualified by the local superintendent

Or take a relatively inexpensive weekend course in how to teach/homeschool.

Recordkeeping: Maintain standardized test scores, academic progress assessments, and immunization records

Annoying, but these records don't go to anyone- you keep them in your files.

Testing: Annually administer and retain a state approved standardized test by a qualified person or have the child evaluated by a certified teacher currently working in the field of education

My understanding is that parents can administer the test, to be "assessed" by a qualified person. http://www.familylearning.org will do that grading, returning the results to the parent- the results never need to go to anyone else.

I know there are friendlier places to homeschool, but on the whole it seems a lot less onerous in ways here than in California, where it seems like most people these days are going through the public charter schools (souls sold, and all that), or else you have to declare yourself a private school... except some years when homeschooling that way has been severely threatened. At least in WA, the idea that parents can homeschool is written into the law, suggesting at least an acceptance of the concept.

[Korwynne]

Eris, thank you. We're planning on moving from GA to Washington before we're at "that age" and this kind of scared me!

[MamaAllNatural]

Eris,

We're actually in California right now and I would be declaring us a private school. I was under the impression that this was the best way to go. Is this a stable route? I hate having to feel worried about just being my own child's teacher.

[lizzie]

This is great info.. WA, OR, and CA are in our top five, and while I *LOVE WA*, I was leaning towards CA just because of the private school option. (I guess I haven't seriously considered OR before, but y'all are making me think about it!!)

Eris, can you tell us more about the weekend course? Once taken, that qualifies you, even if you don't have any of the other requirements?

Dh still dreams of NYC... any Big Apple HSers here?

Lizzie

[Faith]

Originally posted by Eris
My understanding is that parents can administer the test, to be "assessed" by a qualified person. http://www.familylearning.org will do that grading, returning the results to the parent- the results never need to go to anyone else.

At least in WA, the idea that parents can homeschool is written into the law, suggesting at least an acceptance of the concept.

Just wanted to add for the testing requirement in WA, that there are places that will accept a parent's evaluation. All you do is write up what your DC did that year (or do a quick check list they provide), mail it to them, and a group of teachers okay it and send it back to you. I found this out at www.unschooling.com This is what I will do because it only affects me, not DC at all. I want to say it was only like $35 a year.

[Dar]

Originally posted by Eris
O
I know there are friendlier places to homeschool, but on the whole it seems a lot less onerous in ways here than in California, where it seems like most people these days are going through the public charter schools (souls sold, and all that), or else you have to declare yourself a private school... except some years when homeschooling that way has been severely threatened.

Homeschooling under the private school option in California has never really been threatened at all, although the misconceptions abound. The state did some verbal posturing a few years back, but the homeschooling organizations here are very strong, and the state did eventually have to admit that they were wrong and the private school option was indeed totally legally. It's easy, too, one form once a year, no testing, no specific teacher requirements, no portfolios - they never even get your children's names in the system.

Legally speaking, our homeschooling freedoms are much safer because we homeschool as a private school. If the state creates new legislation, it will apply not only to us but to the thousands of private schools operating as traditional schools (your neighborhood Catholic school, your local Waldorf), and many of them have lobbying powers as strong as or stronger than the homeschoolers. They don't want mandatory standardized testing or requirements for who can teach, either. If the law was specifically describing "homeschoolers", we would lose that, and in states with laws about homeschoolers specifically, the regs often change with some frequency (Alaska and Arizona have both made significant changes within the past 10 years, for example).

Another nice thing about California is that most areas have large, well-organized homeschool groups, both secular and religious, and it's pretty easy to find a community.

Dar

[lizzie]

Nevada is on our short list as well... could anyone throw out a brief description of how things work there?

I have a bunch of Nevada HS websites, but I was wanting a personal opinion of how things go for families. Thanks!

Lizzie

[Charles Baudelaire]

Hi! I live in Nevada and it's generally pretty HS-friendly. We're not quite that age yet -- my dd is three -- but here are the requirements, from what I understand:

1. File a letter of intent with the state superintendent (they have the letter all typed out for you and you basically just sign off on it).

2. Unless you've been HSing for 3 years, you need to have your 1st HSing year done under the auspices of a coordinator (the state will give you a list of people). Some people charge what I think is a ridiculous fee for basically signing off on your paperwork, but fortunately there are some folks on the list who regard what they do as a public service (bless them!) and don't get in your way at ALL; they're there to be your official person and that's it.

3. If you're a certified teacher, requirement #2 is waived. I'm certified to teach high school, but apparently they don't really care if I'm a high school teacher during the day and a kindergarten teacher for my dd at night.

Other than that, as far as I know, it's pretty laissez-faire, which is fine with me. Check out www.homeschoolmeltingpot.com or .org for more info on HSing in NV. Good luck!

[Eris]

Thanks Dar- that's good to know. I know that if we are back in California when DD gets to compulsory school age, we'll have no qualms with filing the R4... but it seems like everyone I know in CA is going through a charter school to homeschool, and I get the impression (but it's only an impression- no real information) that it's gotten harder to find independent homeschool support groups... Anyone know of one (some?) in Santa Cruz? I'd like to hook some friends up, who are losing their charter school and are a bit scared of going independent.

About the qualifying course for homeschooling in Washington, here's a list of places which give them- I really don't know much about it yet (compulsory school age here is 8, and DD is just 2.5).

http://www.washhomeschool.org/whoQualify.html

[lizzie]

thanks, Eris and Charles!

lizzie