Parents who unschool by themselves

[wynkenblynken&nod]

I am facing being single again and not sure how to go about hs'ing/uns'ing. Not sure if it can be used against me in a custody hearing...not sure if I'll have to put her in school.

*sigh*

Any advice you can give would be great help.

Thanks

Olivia

[simple living mama]

Homeschooling is legal whether it's relaxed, structured or unschooling. As long as your child is going with the state's laws. The states don't stipulate that you must school is a certain way. They just care that your child is testing within a certain percentile.

Now saying this, if you were to go to court and have to defend yourself in the way you homeschool (which IMO shouldn't be happening since it is legal anyway) I wouldn't advertise that you unschool. Unschoolers fall into a very small percentage and not enough folks understand it yet so it it's better to say you homeschool and draw from many resources rather than using one packaged curriculum. Everybody at this stage is comfortable with the word "homeschooling."

If you want to get around it altogether, that is the testing, registering and state legal stuff you can do an umbrella school. One such school would be West River Academy.
http://www.westriveracademy.com/

This way you are free to school as you like without the state or your Ex. on your back. But remember this one thing. Unschooling is legal.

[Lillian J]

This article written by a California lawyer who is a homeschooler might be helpful: Homeschooling after a divorce

Also this series of articles - A Professional's Guide to Working With Homeschooling Families prepared by the HomeSchool Assn. of California - has lots of material that might be helpful.

Here's an article in Home Education Magazine about custody disputes involving homeschooling: How Rulings in Homeschooling Custody Cases Affect Us All

I'd make sure to think in terms of the fact that you're homeschooling rather than in terms of the specific of "unschooling." You don't need to make it any more complicated than it can already be.

If you should be given any reason to be concerned later down the line, this is an email group of lawyers: "This list is an opportunity for homeschoolers to contact homeschooling attorneys and experts about homeschooling legal and litigation issues.":
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AHSA-USA/

It may never come to any conflict at all, but it's good to be informed and prepared. Lillian

[greencurry]

In case you are looking for ideas about making it work on your own aside from the legal issue, here is one thread discussing working and hs

I know there have been others....