<p>The worst case scenario does have pretty bad consequences, the way the law is written. Fines and jail terms for truancy, 6 months community service for the school district. $300 per truancy violation (3 unexcused absences), 5 days in jail. If the child is over 13, the child can be fined that $300 instead of the parents, if the parents show that they tried to make him/her go to school. Their driver's license can be suspended if they have one. <a href="http://www.elc-pa.org/pubs/downloads%202009/What%20Are%20the%20Rules%20for%20School%20Attendance%202-6-09.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.elc-pa.org/pubs/downloads%202009/What%20Are%20the%20Rules%20for%20School%20Attendance%202-6-09.pdf</a></p>
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<p>My school district is one of the easiest ones in the state. Complying has been very simple for me. I haven't heard from them in over a year (so maybe they just lost my paperwork, lol). Going under the radar isn't worth the risk to me. I had heard of one person doing it but don't know if she still is. I'm under the impression a few people don't report their first year (age 8) but then start. Since the point of homeschooling for me is ds's best interest, and that doesn't include his suddenly being tossed into the local school because we've been accused or truancy or my serving a jail term, it was an easy decision for me.</p>
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<p>And we are radical unschoolers. We do what we please from day to day. Ds did need to take a standardized test, last year. I chose one that was multiple choice that he could take at home. He could take as long of a break as he wanted between sections (even days) and some of the sections were quite short. He wasn't thrilled but he did it over several days and won't need to do another for 2 years. So I just had to send in our affidavit, a statement saying I was homeschooling and ds had seen a doctor as required by law at the beginning of the year. Then we lived our lives until spring when he took the test (and did fine). I found an evaluator who is also an unschooler. I sent her 4 portfolio pages. They included a labeled picture of ds and a science experiment, two writing samples (he plays a computer game where he writes scenarios) that were several months apart and showed progress in the complexity of his use of language, and a page of math (this one was contrived. I wrote up word problems, the sorts of things we talked about in daily life like how many weeks would it take to save his allowance for such and such item). He was "interviewed" by the evaluator which can be done several different ways; by phone, in writing answering a couple simple questions, or chatting in person. Ours asked very open ended questions like "tell me about your favorite book or a trip you took." My school district is one of the ones which thinks the portfolio only needs to be seen by the evaluator so all I sent them at the end of the year was the test results and the letter from the evaluator. Oh, I forgot about the booklist and attendance... That was just a list of all the books we read or consulted and a chart full of checks marking that an appropriate number of school days were "attended" which I also sent the SD.</p>
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<p>So, I think a couple hours of my time and $50 a year is worth avoiding the risk of not complying with the law. The money was to buy the test and a fee for the evaluator. You can have your dc take the test for free with the school district but they do a test that is very heavy on the writing and my ds would have been uncomfortable in the strange surroundings.</p>
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