We have to register the kids for school every year before school starts. Do I go to the school and let them know that they are being homeschooled or do I just start homeschooling them?? If I do have to let the school know should I write a letter for each of the kids or should I just give them one letter for all of them?? Also how do I keep track of their grades for next year or should I not use a grading system?? I'm SO excited but still nervous. I think that in the process of getting ready I have made things harder than they have to be. LOL!! Hubby is COMPLETELY on board with the homeschooling now. He defends me when people say something against it. so that helps a TON!! Angela
Here in Texas you only have to let the school district know when you pull your children out. After that, you never have to talk to them again. Here is a link for the Texas Home School Collition that will help answer all of your questions. They have a Sample Letter of Withdrawal that you can print out to send to your school, and instructions on who to send it to. http://www.thsc.org/Getting_Started/default.asp
You'll have to call the central office of the school system and see what they want you to do. Ask for the home school liason/coordinator. It could just be a simple form you sign, like we do here. When you talk to them be sure to ask about any requirements they might have, like meeting with you once or twice through the year to check progress. Your state might not even require that, though. Find out if they require testing at all. If you're not sure what you'll teach this year ask iof they have resources you can look at to get ideas. Our school system will let you copy their curriculum if you want to. Ask all you need to, because that's what they are there for.
Please do exactly as Marylyn TX told you. There is no better way to handle it than as Texas Homeschool Coalition recommends. They are the best resource, and they would tell you not to follow the other advice that you have been given, advice that may work in other states but not in TX. Because we have such wonderful freedoms in TX, there is always a school district somewhere in the state that tries to go beyond their boundaries. Do not call the school or the district in person. Do not sign their form. Use the one from THSC. Do not ask the district for help. If you do, you are opening a can of worms and could open yourself up to harrassment. It does happen. If you do these things instead of doing exactly what THSC says, you could be exposing yourself and your family to lots of problems, and if you live in an area with school officials who aren't familiar with (or choose to ignore) TX homeschool laws, you could be needlessly giving away some of your freedoms. TX is one of the best states to HS because we have so many freedoms, and we have to protect them diligently by doing exactly what is recommended by THSC. They also have a great book on the HS laws in TX, and if you join and sign up for their e-mails, they send out a great magazine and e-mails that keep you up-to-date on HS issues. I cannot recommend them enough.
Listen to Marylyn! Last year a week before school started I sent a certified letter return receipt requested(you can get the letter format from the website she gave above) to the school she was supposed to go to. That is all you have to do. I never have had s single bit of trouble. If you have a child that has never been in ps you don't have to do anything at all. Isn't Texas a great state?
Great!! I forgot about the THSC. Do ya'll have a membership with them?? I'm thinking of getting one. I like the idea of the homeschool I.D. cards for me and the kiddos. Yes, Texas is DEFINATELY a great state!!! I LOVE it here. Angela
Yep, listen to the Texan's. lol I will tell you that when I first started homeschooling I was clueless lol. I couldn't figure out why I would need to belong to THSC if Texas was such a free homeschool state. WELL..... They do A LOT and are really under appreciated by most. Probably because most people are like I was, when I started. I've attended the THSC leadership retreats that they do for homeschoolers and truly it's just an organized way for leaders to share ideas of things that worked in their community and things that don't we seek advice from others on what they did which did work. We get updated on what THSC has done for the year and what the vision is for the upcoming year. This is a paid event gals. I pay out of my own pocket to attend these retreats for the knowledge and growth they provide. I will tell you that Tim Lambert is a sweet dear man who does A LOT more than he would lead you to believe. We have called him on his cell phone a few times (when we felt under crisis about something, that couldn't wait) and he is sitting on the Capital steps in Austin. They live in Lubbock! They travel and speak all over the place and they truly do it from the heart! They don't charge $1,000+ to come to speak to your group like a lot of speaker do. They don't even ask for donations but...it's sort of understood that if they come to you that you will give them something. Back in 2004, we had them come to our area. Tim & Lyndsay and they both talked. We had a great time, great turn out and I forget how much we gave them...couple hundred and their dinner. Now....I'm sure that didn't cover their airfare let alone their hotel room BUT....they came because we needed them and they realized that our area had become so scattered that it needed them. What I will tell you is that it paid off. Not necessarily monetary but...by educating homeschoolers and building more leaders. Tim is funny in that he says he has to write a ministry letter to some of these schools, DMV, etc...There was a big brew ha ha going on with our DMV here giving homeschoolers a hassle when trying to get a drivers license. Well....it's good to have friends. We called THSC, Tim gave us the DMV's head dogs name and number and....the next week the mom took the daughter back and...poof magic everything was perfect. The homeschool book fairs that are all going on right now....yep those vendors PAY to be there. Some vendors have their stuff to sell you and some like STW (Smoothing the Way) and THSC are mostly there to inform and educate you. Talk to them!!!! They do have tapes, membership and such to sell BUT....they help you regardless. A rare thing now adays. kwim? Ok...so lot's of blah blah blah to say...that THSC is great and I do recommend you join them. Woodlands book fair in August is free to all THSC members.
So in TX you only have to let them know when you start or do you have to let them know every year? Her in VA you have to submit an NOI and a curriculum description every year before the start of the school year.
Kim, Just when you start from pulling a kid from ps. If the child was never in school....you do NOTHING! We LOVE it!
I don't have a THSC membership but I get their magazine. I've never had an issue with the school distict so I didn't want to spend the money. My friend who hs her 3 kids does have a membership though just in case. I had to send the letter to Samantha's school last year but I won't have to notify anone of my intentions to hs Grace because she has never been in ps!!
That would be so nice! Here you have to fax it or mail it, and then they send you a letter in the mail and call you. You have 30 days to get it in if you pull your child during the school year and they are in 1st grade or above. Otherwise I believe it's due by August before the school year starts. When we pulled dd back in Dec I got a call from the superintendants office and the lady told me "well your curriculum description will work for this year, but we'll need a more detailed list for next year" Grrrrr. Umm no, it's not up to any of YOU to approve it. All YOU get are the test results at the end of the school year and that is for you to approve or disapprove depending on scores. Oh well, it could be so much worse lol. The homeschooling community in this part of the state is HUUUUUUGE so that helps.
wow, we have to register with county each year in October here in Ca. a letter of intent I guess they call it, file for afidavit?
sounds like here teachermom, do you have submit some sort of standardized test every year also? Kindergarten is the only year we don't have to test here. But 1st grade and up do. Our letter is called notice of intent to homeschool.
not yet, they are not mandatory in California on choice 3 but who knows they may make it that way eventually.
We don't have to test in Texas unless your part of an online ps at home type thing - like k-12 or something. In Texas a hs in considered a private school and you don't have to report anything to anybody other than a letter of intent once. I was actually shocked when I started researching hs'ing.
In New York you have to file a letter of intent and an IHIP. Then every quarter you have to give them an update. Then at the end of the year you have to give them a year end assessment. Funny, but the teachers up here in ps don't have to jump through hoops like homeschoolers do. Such as we have to finish 80% of the curriculum we choose. Ps teachers don't have to even open the text book if they don't want to.
Here in Utopia all you do is sign that paper each year. They offer it at your last evaluation so you don't have to trek back in later. If you wait, you can wait until 2 weeks before school starts. They send you papers to fill out, listing your curriculum and activities your child is in. However, across the top in big, dark letters it says the papers are optional. I fill them out just to brag!
