Unless you know of a link somewhere that will rate ease of homeschooling by state, please tell me where you live and how easy/hard it is to homeschool there. My hubby's job may be transferring him soon, so he asked me tonight where I would/wouldn't be willing to move. We're in TX right now, which I LOVE, so I'd like to find some place that has little or no red tape, regulations, big brothers, etc.
I believe that Homeschool Legal Defense's website has all the information for every state. I checked it when we moved to CO to find out what would be changing for us. Oh and Colorado is very easy.
Ohio, according to HSLDA, isn't particularly easy, but I've not found it difficult at all. We send in a list of what we plan on teaching and a list of materials we plan on using. Then we have either a portfolio evaluation by a certified teacher or do testing.
In VA we just submit our letter of intent every year and then we take the Cat-5 test (at home) and submit the results. Easier than most people think.
Yes, Indiana is quite easy. If your child has never been in school you do not have to register with anyone (The state education website "requests" that you do , but it is not law.) For those in a school already in Indiana, the school only needs a letter of intent telling them you're pulling them out to hs. After that, the only record keeping you need to do is simply check marks on a calendar. IF anyone from the state dept of education ever knocked on your door, you'd have to prove your child(ren) are in attendence for 180 days. I've known of no one who has been asked. No submitting curriculum, lesson plans, no testing. Of course, I keep detailed records for myself and the kids, but nothing is required by the state. Carol
In NM is very easy. You have to register a new homeschool within 30 days of "starting". then every April thereafter. If I remember right you don't have to put the childrens names, just ages. There are "rules" about what to teach, in that if audited you would have to be able to prove you covered Math, History, English ect. But I have never heard of anyone getting audited.
PA is considered Highly Regulated according to HSLDA, but truthfully, I have not found it difficult at all. We submit an affidavit and objectives by Aug 1 of each school year for children who are age 8 or older as of Sept 1st. They have to take and submit standardized tests in 3rd, 5th and 8th grade. They need to be administered by someone other than the parent (can be a grandmother, literally). They need to be evaluated each year by a licensed teacher (not hard to find at all, we have about 6 or 7 evaluators in our coop alone). The evaluators letter, a log of 180 days, and a portfolio showing samples of the child's work during the year are submitted by June 30th to your school district. It's REALLY not difficult or invasive at all so far. I just keep a binder an dput all their worksheets in it! LOL THAT's our portfolio!
I agree with Krista, the law here in PA looks terribly scarey when you first look at it, but I have never found it hard to comply with, and I'm not even an organized person... just grab a handfull of work from the year at the end of the year and put it into a portfolio, visit our friendly evaluator and turn everything into the district on time, no big deal.
KY is easy too. We turn in a letter of intent each year and keep an attendance record. We are required to do 175 instructional days each year. No testing or record keeping of work.
Map at http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp I believe that what is easy for one and not for another is rather subjective regarding homeschool laws. Florida, for instance, in my opinion, has higher regulation than Georgia, like yearly testing that must be turned in for review instead of once every three years that just must be on hand for review upon request, but then Georgia has annoying requirement of submitting a monthly attendance record. (Georgia is, I believe, the only state where a there is any kind of monthly reporting....:roll It really is a matter of what you consider easy.
LA where we started HSing was super easy, you just issue your statement of intent for children over 7 and that was it. ND on the other hand is still just as easy but prior to election year if you didn't reach certain standards set by the state you would have to be monitored 2 hours a week 8 a month. Now is you have a High School diploma you are eligible to HS as long as you issue your statement of intent and in grades 4th, 6th, 8 and 10th have them tested by a certified teacher (this is just a trial period and remains in affect until July 2011)
In Florida you can choose between registering as a homeschooler or registering under an umbrella school. If you register as a homeschooler, you just need to keep a 2 year record of what was done each day and a booklog and a portfolio. Then once a year there is an evaluation. For an evaluation you can choose to either have your child take the FCAT or have the child evaluated by a psychologist or certified teacher (you get to choose the person). The superintendent can request your records and you have 2 weeks to turn them over, but he/she cannot judge the contents of the portfolio. Most superintendents do not request portfolios because they can't really do anything with them anyways. Apparently I just moved to a county where the superintendent has a lottery and whomever gets picked has to send in their portfolio.
Krista, I think NY is the only state with laws as strict or more strict than ours, and I think we are closely followed by Ohio (seems they need almost the same things we do, only not have to do all of it.. test and port/eval.. they pick one)?
Anyone know about AL? According to what I've read, it looks like HS'ing is "illegal" (so to speak) and that you have to be under an umbrella school. Here's my issue... I don't want a state that will require me to state what ages/grades the kids are (since ours are way off), and I don't want to have a time restriction (days/hours) because I don't think we'd be able to keep that sort of schedule, especially this young. I've seen laws that say you have to work 4 hours, but we usually do less than 1. I've seen ones that say you have to test at the grade level you think your child is, but that doesn't really work when each subject is a different grade. His subjects vary by 6 years! Why can't everyone be as easy as TX? LOL!!
California is super easy! You register as a private home school and have to record attendance but you dont have to turn in anything and are pretty much on your own! No one has ever told me what to do other than that we have to teach pretty much equivalent in offering what the public schools here have offered to the students. It does not say I have to teach it all just have it available if the student should want to take the course that sort of thing... at least thats how I read it! So I actually looked up the local schools to see what they teach. I am doing a super job offering more so! Whooo hoo! Simple - you register once a year in October , end of story
