How do I homeschool my child? By this, I mean education is compulsory for all students under age 18, so how do I work this out with the public education system? Do I have to fill out a special form? How do I get "certified" as a homeschool teacher? :cry: Thanks.
It's different in every state and province. Here in Nova Scotia for example I just register once a year with the provincial department giving them a one page summary of what programs I'll be using. Then at the end of the school year I submit a very short report. There's no "certification" for me and I don't work with the public school system in any way. Here's a site that will help you find what you need to do in your state (I assume you're in the US?). Other then that I'd suggest you find a few good message boards like this one and maybe the Well Trained Mind forum and start reading and asking questions. You can also get a lot of good info by checking out homeschooling blogs. Lots of members of both forums have links to their blogs in their signature line (like I do). They'll give you a good view of what homeschooling looks like in different families. You may also want to see what books your local library has on the subject.
Go to Homeschool Legal Defense website and look up your state. HSLDA will have all the info such as whether testing is required and how much oversight your state has.
I agree with the others. The legal requirements do seem pretty scary at first. But I haven't found them much more than an inconvenience at this point (we are still new). In my state, Maine, I have to sign a piece of paper every year. My kids have to be tested yearly, or a certif. teacher must review their work. That's it. There were other options as well, but this is the route we took. I am not a 'certified homeschooling teacher' either. I don't have to be in my state.
Yup - depends totally on where you live. In Idaho all we have to do is tell the school we're homeschooling. That's it. We can do whatever we want and don't have to present any kind of documentation at all. We don't have to ever step foot into another school or office again after we've told them we're homeschooling. It varies a lot.
Despite what most kids think ............... parents are actually smarter than they are..... no certification neccessary. (in most states). Don't worry about what people think
I am from CA. There are a few ways you can homeschool: -You can be independent and file a PSA (public school afidavit) and re-submit it yearly in OCT. You are calling yourself a private school so you'd need to keep attendance records, like a calendar, and your child's shot records handy. For specifically how to fill out this form, go to http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/regional/CaliforniaR4.htm I do this and nobody has ever asked to see anything but I keep it anyway, just in case. Now, you do not have to answer to anyone, test the kids or be 'certified' yourself in any way. -You can use a charter school and have a certified teacher oversee what you're doing. This is the least flexible way to homeschool, but newbies tend to like it. You get some funds in an acct at the school to buy your curriculum & classes. If you have any other questons, you can look at that site I listed above. There's a ton of information compiled there. You can also private message me and I'll try to help.
I can't post links yet and hope I don't get punished for sharing this, but there is a really good link on californiahomeschool dot net site (/howTo/pdf/justTheFacts07 dot pdf) that is a *very* good guide to how to homeschool in Ca. I would suggest signing up for email lists, too. You can Google those and dig through the sites to find lists; you may find them by county and there are a few that are state-wide and have quite a few people on them. Those are higher volume (like the California Homsechool Network (CHN) list) and can be overwhelming. I have my blog in my siggy, and the post from today actually has the Ca private schooling affidavit link. The info on the CDE website is a bit daunting, I think, for folks that are new to homeschooling. Starting homeschooling can really be overwhelming, so good for you for reaching out and finding resources and support! I have links to the Ca yahoo lists and the CDE, etc, so if the few that I've attempted to share don't make it into the post, feel free to message me for more info. Tikki
Just wanted to share a couple sites with you. http://guiltfreehomeschooling.org/blog/2005/04/can-you-convince-my-husband-to-homeschool.html#comment-762 http://homeschoolnetworklibrary.com/videolibrary/videolibrary.htm
