The Homeschooling Handbook_ From Preschool to High School - Mary Griffith [24]
How does all this affect my homeschooling? Personally, it’s been time-consuming to write the reports. This probably reflects my conflicting thoughts on doing the report—part of me wanting to make a personal statement about our educational philosophy and brag about our wonderful learning experiences, another part feeling the school should not be given more than the minimum required to comply with the rules. On the bright side, the writing has helped us clarify our views on learning and has been an opportunity to reflect on how things are going. I’ve tried not to let school or societal expectations drive what we do. I think it is much easier to do this by writing my own reports than submitting to testing.—Linda, Hawaii
We currently live in California and intend to move to Washington state. Both states have pretty livable requirements at this time. The worst I’d have to do is make a portfolio of each child’s work each year, and I can bear that if I must. Brittany is not yet of school age in California, nor in Washington. I waffle on whether I will let the authorities know that we’re homeschooling. On the one hand I don’t think it’s any of their business—I really don’t. On the other hand, bureaucrats tend to get all huffy and difficult if they discover you’ve broken their silly rules. So I haven’t decided.—Pam, California
Our state has a long form to fill out, including information on the children, the course of study they are being taught, and the credentials of the teacher. We have to fill out notarized forms stating that we agree to allow ourselves to teach our children. These forms are filled out by all unaccredited schools. Home schools here are considered unaccredited schools. It’s a very silly thing to make homeschoolers fill out. If the state requests it, we are also required to test our children. Currently they are not doing this.—Beverly, Nebraska
No matter what the law in your state is like, most homeschoolers have no legal problems connected with homeschooling. Homeschooling is now a widely known educational choice; it’s not necessary to keep the fact that your family homeschools a secret from anyone or to make special rules (such as staying inside during school hours) for your children. Most homeschooling organizations and individual homeschoolers believe that homeschooling publicly and openly helps keep homeschooling legal and accepted by the public. As homeschoolers become more visible members of the community, they become more familiar as well and are likely to face fewer problems as that familiarity grows.
Getting Legal Help
In the late 1970s and through the 1980s, the legal status of homeschooling was much less firmly established, and many families had trouble convincing local school officials that homeschooling was either effective or legal. Early issues of Growing Without Schooling contained numerous articles discussing statutes of various states and giving updates on the latest court cases. In some areas parents were justifiably concerned that their curriculum might not be approved by a local school board or that they could be successfully prosecuted for truancy violations.
Such cases are rare today, for a number of reasons. Far more states have laws explicitly allowing homeschooling, and homeschooling cases more often involve the details of compliance with legal requirements than with the fact of homeschooling itself. In addition, public support for homeschooling is greater: Most people—even those who would never choose it as an option for their own families