DS is only 17mos. so its no big rush:lol but I want to start planning now

Below is the homeschooling law summary for my state (Virginia) can you help me de-mystify it?



"Section 22.1-254 of the Code of Virginia provides options for home education which include the general home instruction statute used by most Virginia homeschoolers, as well as the Approved Tutor provision, and a Religious Exemption to compulsory schooling. Under the general provisions, homeschoolers must notify their county superintendent of their intent to homeschool annually. They also must provide a curriculum description and evidence that the parent either has a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution; or is a teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education; or has enrolled the child or children in a correspondence course approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction; or provides a program of study or curriculum which, in the judgment of the division superintendent, includes the standards of learning objectives adopted by the Board of Education for language arts and mathematics and provides evidence that the parent is able to provide an adequate education for the child. Evidence of progress (such as independent assessment, standardized test scores or a portfolio review) must be submitted to the superintendent by August 1st. "

????s
I don't have a degree, is unschooling an option for me?
How do you qualify for religious exemption?
Do you have to disclose your religion?
If so, can Paganism be accepted for religious exemption?

We would like to be able to educate DS with as little interaction with the Board of Education as possible. I don't mind semi-textbook based education but, I want to provide as much as an unschooling enviroment as possible.
If I had to go the

"or provides a program of study or curriculum which, in the judgment of the division superintendent, includes the standards of learning objectives adopted by the Board of Education for language arts and mathematics"

route, how would I meet this criteria?

And, how the heck do I

"provide evidence that the parent is able to provide an adequate education for the child"?

Do they want to test me???

Help! Please!:dizzy:

This is my take on it but I could be wrong. If you don't have a degree then you have to submit your lesson plans to the school system and the children must be tested each year to show progress.

No, that is not quite correct. Plus the law is changing on July 1st in our (non-bachelor-degreed parents) favor.

The basics are this: Annually by 8/15 starting the year your child is 5 by September 30th submit a notice of intent to the superintendent of schools where you live. You can opt out for one year by saying your child "isn't ready" for kindergarten. If you do that the next year you can declare your child either kindergarten or first grade. Annually by 8/1 starting the year your child is 6 by September 30th you have to submit proof of progress which can be a portfolio/child evaluated by someone with some sort of credentials (teacher, social worker, etc.) OR a standardized test. Most parents choose the standardized test in the form of the CAT Survey because it is cheap (about $25) from Seton Homeschool in Front Royal, VA and can be parent administered. The kid has to score in the 23rd percentile or higher. The state only cares about language arts and math it seems and so those are the only subjects they need to be tested on or mentioned in the notice of intent.

As of July 1st option 1 will be available to parents with high school diplomas or higher. For that we just have to say we will meet or exceed the SOLs for LA/Math and some BS about how (but nowhere NEAR lesson plans or even saying what books you'll use - Homeschool Legal Defense Association has encouraged that in the past but it is NOT in the law and so not necessary). It's very easy. Some school districts (including my own) don't really even look at the NOI but just do a checkmark of this kid is being homeschooled. Smaller school districts may look more closer. There are examples of NOIs on http://www.vahomeschoolers.org

To answer your specific questions:
Many people unschool in VA under the current option 4 (under that there is a little more explanation of what you will teach that the superintendent can make a judgement on, but still mostly BS works just fine). Of course as of July 1st those with high school diplomas will come under option 1 anyway (no judgement of the superintendent).

You qualify for the religious exemption by writing a letter saying that you are RELIGIOUSLY opposed to the home instruction statute. It cannot be a philosophical objection. It has to be something truly religious.

You never, ever have to disclose your religion if you don't want to.

It all depends on whether the reasons you give are religious in nature.

Unschooling works fine for superintendent judgement. Even radical unschooling. Check some of the samples on VA Homeschoolers website. BS does amazing things (our NOI last year of how we'd meet or exceed the SOLs was total BS because we hadn't really settled on a way to educate yet).

Evidence you can teach the kid can actually be that you've been teaching them their whole life. Most prior option 4 filers submitted a high school diploma as "proof."

Thanks for the great info and all the detailed responses! :)

As a former unschooler myself, I still wouldn't qualify for option 1 unless, only one parental diploma is required (DH has one). Is this the case?


Again, thank you so much! I was glad to see the laws are changing. Maybe by time DS is school-age they will be even better!

Only one parent needs a diploma for option 1. Also, only option 4 required any mention of the SOLs.

I've always wondered if they'd accept a homeschooler's homemade HS diploma.

ZM

Only one parent needs to have a diploma. Option 1 still requires a description of the curriculum (LA/Math only) and most superintendents assume that means some addressing of the SOLs. But no matter what you say under option 1 they can't tell you no. I guess it makes the lawmakers feel better that everyone has "accountability" in the NOI.

I'd submit a homemade diploma for a former homeschooler to meet the high school diploma requirement. They could either say it's not a high school diploma (and if the dad has a hs diploma it doesn't matter you are still an option 1 filer as of 7/1) or just accept it. They may not look closely or they may not know it's from a homeschool and homemade since it's just a copy anyway and won't be embossed or whatever. There are enough homeschooling parents from other states and even other countries in VA that they can't assume all high school diplomas will look the same.

Thanks so much!
I have a feeling that I'm going to be spending a lot of time on this forum!