Don’t Let Home Education Laws Prevent You from Homeschooling
By Mimi Rothschild
While home education laws differ depending on the state, every state does have laws regarding home education or homeschool. While some state laws require only notifying the school district of your intent to homeschool your children, other states require stringent reporting and some states mandate specific testing. Still other states require a certain number of attendance days.
It’s important that you familiarize yourself with the laws of your state regarding home education. Failure to do so could subject you and your family to unpleasant surprises, such as visits from truancy officers, or even visits from your state’s Children’s Services Department’s social workers. Communication with the school district is very important.
Texas, for example, is one of the states with the least restrictive statutes regarding home education. In Texas, you don’t even have to notify the school district of your intent to homeschool. You can simply set up your homeschool and go about the business of educating your children. While the law does stipulate that the subjects taught must include reading, math, spelling, grammar and good citizenship, it is silent on the amount of days in attendance required and there are no reporting or testing requirements.
New York, on the other hand, has very different requirements. State law mandates that the equivalent of 180 days in attendance be adhered to, although this can be broken down by hours. For example, in grades kindergarten through sixth, 900 hours of instruction are required, and in grades seventh through twelfth, 990 hours of instruction are the requirement. Attendance records must be kept and made available upon request, but they must also be filed quarterly along with a summary of the material covered in each subject, and either a grade or a narrative evaluation of the child’s progress in each subject. There are other requirements as well. Regardless of the state in which you homeschool, check the legal obligations and ramifications.
Some parents find the interference by the government disdainful, and there has been legal action filed on both sides - homeschool parents and school districts - for decades. There is almost always pending legislation regarding homeschool laws in one state or another at any given time. Your best defense against unwanted intrusion into your homeschool is to know the law and abide by it in the least restrictive way possible. If you find the law in your state to be too intrusive or otherwise disheartening, contact your legislatures. You wouldn’t be the first homeschool parent to change home education laws.
 E-Mail to a Friend
|