VA vs. Maryland for homeschooling?

[OTMomma]

My dh has just accepted a job in DC, and we are going to be moving this summer. I' ve been homeschooling inTennessee for 4 years now through an umbrella school. Tennessee is pretty homeschool friendly, especially if you use an umbrella. Anyway, we are leaning towards living in Virginia because we have family there, but dh asked if it would be better to homeschool in Maryland. Can anyone here answer that for me?

I know Virginia requires annual testing or a letter from a certified teacher and that you must register with your local school at the start of the school year. I don't know what Maryland requires. I would like dor dd to have IQ testing for giftedness this year so that she may be able to qualify for a camp next summer. I hope that if I register with the school I can get the testing done there. Anyone have experience with this in either state?

TIA,

[heatherdeg]

You might want to hit up the VA and MD boards in Finding Your Tribe.  We looked at VA for relocation, but not MD.  The thing about VA is that you have to register and when registering, you have to declare if you're homeschooling for religious reasons or non-religious reasons.  Dh and I looked at that and thought "So, if you're doing it for religious reasons, does that mean they can't really take that right away from you because it's tied to your freedom of religion whereas it COULD maybe be taken from you if you were homeschooling for non-religious reasons???"  We didn't love that.

On the flip side, I was (still am) on an advisory board for a NJ homeschooling organization and we have previously had some dealing with VA.  It's interesting to note that the VA homeschooling community employs their own lobbyist. I'm not sure which faction of homeschoolers this represents, though.  I know here in IL there is an organization that is heavily religious-based and has a large number of "school at home" type homeschoolers that regularly coordinate these legislative initiatives like "take a pie to your rep" day not long ago.  The thing is: they don't really represent the rest of us (who are not generally "school at home" types).

A quick look at HSLDA's stuff on MD looks like you have to be under the supervision of a certified body, which I will take to mean they look at what you're doing all year.  I'm not sure how that manifests in reality--especially if you subscribe to a delayed academics (not starting until 2nd grade-ish) pedagogy.

[OTMomma]

Thanks for the info, Heather. Right now I'm not seeing a clear advantage to one state vs. The other, but definitely some differences. It's good to know this stuff going in.

[heatherdeg]

Agreed.  And I should clarify: we looked into MD for relo, but our son was SO young (and profoundly delayed, and we were at the time brainwashed to believe he could never be homeschooled) that we didn't look into that aspect.

The local boards and possibly some of the Yahoo groups for homeschoolers in each state or the city-data forums might help.  That was another way I got the low-down.  I also liked to attend homeschool conferences in the states we looked at.  It is exactly what sent us running from NC (for our particular needs--I'm sure it's fine for many).  If you CAN do that, it would be ideal; but I'm not sure what your timeline and resources are to pull that off for TWO states.  I only had to do it one state at a time.

[fritz]

First, some links:  MD Homeschooling Laws, HSLDA pdf of MD homeschooling laws, Anne Arundel County school registration form that I filled out, and a very comprehensive site listing all the MD state curricula requirements from K-12 (click on the topic on the right, then select grade level).

I can share our experience in MD so far.  Last year, when DS was 5 (spring baby), we registered with our local school district (It was a one-page form that wanted parents' names, child's name, home address, contact phone numbers, and email.  Oh, and a spot to indicate if you wanted your child to participate in standardized testing--we opted out of that.  After I mailed it in, they put us in the system, then mailed back a copy of the form with a note saying we were registered and to retain our copy; they also identified which local elementary school DS would have been assigned).  There is an option to delay the start of academics for a year, but I figured we might as well get acknowledgement from the school district for all the learning DS was going to be doing anyway.

The home school coordinator for our district held an introductory meeting that was completely optional to attend.  We sat and listened to about 40 minutes of lecture followed by maybe 20 minutes of Q&A.  They had info packets available that spelled out the twice-a-school-year review process (we're early birds by choice, so our first one was in Nov, and our 2nd one's actually today), also listings of a wide variety of websites for various curricula (some free, some not).  In hindsight, we totally could have skipped that meeting, as I already knew everything in advance from my online research.  However, I did learn that DS was capable of sitting still, quietly, for an entire hour, which really surprised me (I gave him my pen and paper when I realized I didn't need to bother taking any notes).

Periodically we receive emails from the home school coordinator about various items of interest--used curricula sales that seem to happen every month is the most frequent one.  They also email us to schedule the reviews, which take place at several of the county libraries.  The review lasts about 15-20 minutes.  You meet one-on-one.  If you use workbooks, bring those in.  We don't really, so we bring in a portfolio.  For Kindergarten, I'm using a 1" binder, which contains printouts of the spreadsheet I maintain daily that lists all the educational things DS does (title and author of books he's read; names of music CDs listented to; titles of documentaries watched; brief description of activities/field trips; which subject it was in [lots of things qualify as multiple subjects--they have 7 core areas for K-5th grade:  Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, Music, Phys Ed, Health]); and approximately how many minutes were spent on each activity.  Our portfolio also contains pictures of DS doing a lot of these things.

MD's big thing is regular, thorough instruction.  So they really want a sample from each subject for every week.  In our case, that's mostly in the form of pictures of DS doing science experiments with DH, field trips, racing hot wheels, writing on the whiteboard, various art projects, etc.

HTH!

[OTMomma]

fritz- Thank you so much for sharing you experience and the links. The portfolio you describe is a lot more than I have to do right now- though I keep records for myself, no one reviews them. Interesting.

[lotusdebi]

You can join an umbrella in Maryland if you don't want to deal with the county reviews. We have a few secular umbrellas, as well as many religious ones. Different umbrellas have different requirements. Some stick as close to the law as possible, while others expect more.  It's just a matter of finding the right fit for your family. If you'd prefer to deal with county reviews, it's a good idea to ask homeschoolers about the review expectations in the counties you're considering. Different counties seem to have different standards, even if the law is the same for all of Maryland.

[OTMomma]

Lotusdebi, more good info, thank you!

Lots of input from Maryland homes hookers.,,, wondering if any Virginia homes hookers could tell me if that state is hard to work with?