HI! My name is Amy and I am new here! We have 2 children ages 2.5 and 14 months. We currently live in MA, but I am originally from York, PA. We have been tossing around the idea of moving back to Southern PA or Northern MD to be closer to my parents. I was wondering if the PA regs. are as difficult to deal with as they seem on paper? I am specifically thinking of the annual psych eval. Seems a bit scary to me. Anyone have any input about the reality of the PA regs.? Also, those of you from MD, any suggestions for some nice towns in Northern MD? I am familiar with Bel Air, and that's about it. Thanks in advance, and I look forward to chatting with you all! Amy
Hi, Amy! Welcome to HSS! I'm Becky, and I hs my 7 yr old, Jeannnie. We're in northern Carroll County, MD, seconds from the PA line. It's nice here, but expensive. If you move back this way, Hanover is your best bet. Houses are cheaper, plus you get more house for your money. Everything is cheaper up there! As far as hsing, all we do is sign a paper saying whether or not we will continue hsing, and take the child in twice a year for an evaluation. During the evaluation the child can show work they are proud of, parents fill out a general form, and that's it. HTH!
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! Becky, I have definitely heard of Hanover, PA, so I will check it out! Thanks!
:lol: Welcome!! We're in VA so can't help with PA or MD.....although I understand your concern since I've glanced at them. I'm pretty sure we have some PA folks on here. Hopefully they'll chime in...of course, its the end of the school year so they might be frantically compiling those portfolios to satisfy PA law ( :lol: )
Our house is a good example of the great difference in housing prices between MD and PA. When we bought our house in '96, in was in the low 90 thousands. A similar house in Hanover was 70-80 thousand, plus there was more land or bigger rooms, or some other type of benefit. We looked up there, but stayed here because my son was still in school and I didn't want to make him change schools.
I think she meant Hanover, MD...not PA....there is a Hanover PA....but the laws in PA are a little stricter than MD. In PA you file a letter every year (by August 1 once the child turns 8) with the district. In that letter you outline objectives (broad brush stroke) of what you will cover in each subject. You keep samples of your work and the child is evaluated at the end of every school year by a licensed evaluator. That evaluator's report, along with a portfolio of work samples, standardized test scores (3, 5 and 8th grades) to your district by June 30th each year. It sounds daunting, and this coming year will be my first "actual" year going thru the process (my dd turned 8 in Oct so she missed the cut off...yay). I practiced this year, and did have her take the standardized test to submit b/c she technically is in 3rd grade right now. You also need to keep a log of days and the child must attend 180 days for it to count as a year. IF you file your letter of intent WITH your portfolio, you can start counting days on July 1. That's what I plan to do so that we can have more flexibility. Like I said, it sounds daunting, but in reality, it's not that hard at all (I found my practice year to be fine). It really all depends on the district you live in...I've heard the district where I am barely even looks at the portfolio - they look at the letter from the evaluator and the standardized tests (and weep b/c the homeschooling kids arent' in their schools b/c they are so darned smart), flip thru to make sure there's some work there, and check the "reading" log and stamp it and send it back! Hope That Helps!!! I have friends who live near York and there's lots of groups around there of homeschoolers, and co-ops and stuff too.
No- I was talking about Hanover, PA- but in terms of the housing there, not hs requirements. The hs requirements I listed were for what we have to do here in our county.
Sorry Becky. Truly sorry (I'm sure had I read the REST of the thread before responding I would have realized that!) Please forgive me! I did read your post! Just missed the MD somehow!
Thanks for all of the great replies and support, ladies! We have a lot of research to do! Thanks again, Amy
I was born and raised in PA. I have considered moving back many times but I enjoy the HSing freedoms Missouri affords us entirely too much to move back before the boys graduate. Since my youngest 2, that won't happen for quite some time
I'm not too much help, but wanted to say welcome! We're in NC. I did grow up in MD, and my parents homeschooled us from time to time in that state. I don't remember it being too difficult on them to do so, but I don't know if anything has changed since. This was the late 80's, early 90's.
