Was just on the HSLDA website, doing some research for my SIL. There are 4 options for homeschoolers in California. Three of those require basically that you are either a licensed tutor, use the ps curriculum and abide by their rules, or enroll the children in an online school. The only option I see that makes sense is the first, which still requires you to register as a private school, and file an affidavit between Oct. 1 -15 with the Superintendent. So if my SIl wants to start homeschooling right now, she cannot? Until next Oct?? Am I understanding this correctly? This cant be right!
I went to check it out and I was reading the same information. However on the California Homeschool Network website it states "The Private School Affidavit may be filed online at the California Department of Education website from October 1st to October 15th of every year. Schools that are created after the filing period should file at the time the school is established. The CDE usually leaves the form up until early spring. If you need to file your affidavit and cannot do so electronically (or choose not to), you can still file a Statement in Lieu." It gives a lot of information on how the Private School works and what she needs to do in order to have her own private school for her children. I would link a link but cannot as of yet
I am in CA and have a PSA (formally called an "R4"). Here's the scoop: *You have between Oct 1 to Oct 15 to file the PSA. If you choose to homeschool after you miss the deadline, you can still homeschool. You would tell whomever questions you that you began after Oct 15 and intend to file the next Oct 15. You keep your childrens work, shot records, and attendence records, just like you normally would when you have your PSA. That's really it. Your SIL most likely will not have anyone question her intent. The school that she pulls them from will ask where they will be attending. She would simply say they will be homeschooled and that she is filing a PSA. She doesn't have to show the prior school her PSA. They just write it down on the disenrollment form. Hope this helps.
I always file during that time but never even worried if we would not have done it. They re so cool about homeschooling in my area I have not ever been visited though one year they sent us a form that said we may be with our afidavate. it does come in handy to get teacher discounts at staples, the library special institution cards and the Jo Ann teacher card I think
Established homeschools have to file between October 1st through October 15th of each year. Homeschoolers that start after the deadline STILL HAVE TO FILE. They have, a couple of weeks from their starting date to file with the state. Anybody who does not file is considered truant. This information is on the state website and I assume HSLDA has it somewhere as well.
You are already an established homeschool so while it is against regulations, if you didn't file you do not have as much of a chance of getting in trouble as a parent who withdraws their child from public school with the intent to homeschool.
THIS IS TRUE! I would not want to have to do that.. so it would maybe be harder, but if they are keeping tabs on all the info then it should be good I think? Can the SIL get a copy of the papers from the school that she would need if she were transferring:?: to another private school? Maybe there is a loop hole someplace?
That's right, Patty. One year I truly forgot to file and missed the deadline by, like, 6 months! I was so worried someone was going to come knock on my door. I think I was fortunate no one 'missed' my kids. Since then I have it marked all over my calendar, tell my husband, and otherwise stick it in my brain so as not to forget.
This site walks you through the PSA form. It's the up to date form. One thing to be careful about is how you answer certain questions. For instance, one question asks if children will be staying overnight. You might answer, well, yes, they live here. But you need to answer NO because it is not a boarding school. Answering YES would open you up to inspection as a boarding school. The website below goes through question by question. http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/regional/CaliforniaPSA.htm
HSLDA also has a page that walks you through the affidavit. They also suggest only the required fields be answered. California has a couple questions that can get a person in trouble if they do not know the law and of course, the state doestn't reveal that to us when we file. This is why I like using HSLDA as a guide.
"New private schools that start up later in the school year should complete an affidavit and file it when they start up." According to HSLDA, the SIL HAS TO file when she starts her homeschool. The children are not tranferring as much as they are being withdrawn from the public school. Even then, they might be tranferring to their homeschool but the new home school still has to be established with the state. So the affidavit is required no matter how much paper work she gets from the school. She will simply be considered a "late filer" because it is a new school. Otherwise she needs to file between the required dates of October 1- 15. Did that make sense?
I was going to mention that if your SIL wants to truly homeschool, she will need to file the affidavit. All the other options, though deceiving, are not considered homeschooling as much as they are consider a home school. If you read HSLDA's analysis carefully, you will see that under some options homeschools are listed as home schools. They are all options for home instruction but option #1 is the only option for homeschooling, or parent directed and supported education. The other options for home instuction place the student under the authority of the state, program, or tutor, but not the parent. Any of the options are fine if they work for your SIL, but if she is lookig to direct her child's education, option one is the only option that allows this choice.
I'm in California and pulled my DD from school last March. I decided to go through an umbrella school. This school takes care of all the required paperwork. I decide what curriculum to use. The umbrella school I went through is Cedar Life Academy.
We were once part of an umbrella. The paperwork was filed for us as well because although I taught my daughter, the director was legally considered the teacher. So basically all the homeschooled students were enrolled under the care of the director/teacher although we did the teaching. I believe umbrellas file a PSP while private homeschoolers file a PSA. They aren't considered the same thing. It was nice for a while but the fees were more than we wanted to pay once work slowed down. We were allowed to use the curriculum we wanted but we had to purchase everything. Along with all this we had regularly scheduled mandatory meetings, testing, we had to keep report cards, attendance, semester objectives, a list of curriculum we were using, and we had to notify the director/teacher when we changed anything. It was helpful in our early years of homeschooling but once I changed to a private homeschool, I was doing the exact same thing as I was under the umbrella minus all the extras that came along with the rules the director/teacher set. I really enjoy the freedom to not have to report my changes. The one thing I did like was they had some great fieldtrips. Thankfully filing the PSA is easy.
