Hi, So in my previous thread I talked about my struggle with a "public charter school" at home and I would like to do homeschooling on my own. I looked at filing an affidavit with the state. Seems so complicated and all these laws. Will they monitor what I do? Do I need to keep attendance? Any tips or advice? Maybe there are homeschoolers from California that can chip in. Thank you!
Hi! I have done this for years, you do need to keep attendance but no one has ever asked us for it. So a record of attendance is fine. We chose to be the Private home school, and gave it a name. Each year in October you sign. With that Affidavit you can get discounts and a library card that will give you no late fees and like 6 weeks return dates. It is wonderful! They claim that they may have someone stop by, but no one ever has. But we kept things organized here just in case for a few years there.
So if they ever happened to stop by, what would they look for? Seems so scary given that this is our first year and I'm trying to figure it all out. Are you registered with the homeschool legal defense association? Someone recommended registering with them in case legal issues arise.
well technically you would not have to let them in but to see if you are keeping record of t attendance is the only thing they maybe could do, but I have only known two families who got visited and that was because someone they personally knew was mad at them and so claimed they were not doing a good job lol. no stress! a lot of people register (HSLDA) just in case, but we were not. My oldest is a sr. this year when we started out I did miss mash stuff for Kindergarden. We moved on to Life Paks cause they are organised for you. it made teaching easy and lessons in early grades are really a lot of fun. i made a lesson plan, / schedule because I am a planner. It made things easier and I didn't worry if I was doing everything.. I just moved it to the next week.
Hi, I live in CA and did the Affidavit for several years. I sent you a link to another site that has step by step instructions about how to answer the questions. Over the years, I never had anyone ever question the Affidavit, check up on me or otherwise dispute what I was doing. I knew several other families who used it, too, and also never got checked up on. When it came time to enroll in a charter school, again, I didn't have any trouble due to having a PSA. No one batted an eye. You would do well to keep a file of your Affidavit, attendance records (like a calendar that you check off that you did school each day), and I believe, shot records or waiver for each child (check on that one-it's been a little while). Keep them handy in a binder so on the chance someone from DCS or Truancy comes calling at your door, you can hand it to them. Like TeacherMom says, you do not let them into your home. You can check on HSLDA for guidelines regarding your rights. Really, in my 14 years of experience, I have never heard of anyone, either personal friend or in passing, to get questioned by State agencies. I think you have to tick someone off, like a neighbor, for someone to report you and for you to get a call. Don't worry! You will love being independent homeschoolers! Oh! The freedom! Enjoy!
My parents filed an affidavit and in 20+ years of homeschooling were never visited by any state authority demanding an audit. Actually, filing an affidavit can be really helpful to you for a number of reasons: 1) Maintaining some record of attendance and work done provides you with a tool to gauge your student's learning and progress. 2) It attaches a degree of legitimacy to your school, which is really helpful for developing transcripts, especially where colleges are concerned. 3) Being disciplined about keeping records in homeschooling can be a real challenge for some so knowing you need to do some record keeping for this can be a good form of accountability. I recently wrote a blog post on simple record keeping for homeschoolers, but b/c I'm a newer member on this forum I can't post the link. You can visit collegeboundhomeschooler.com and look for the article "How to Keep Your Homeschool Records Safe and Organized." Hope it helps!
