Dharmafrog

Hard To Find

Is it just me or is it hard to find homeschooling resources? Wether it is purposeful or by accident, it doesn’t help anyone to make things difficult to find. I’m going to try to help, ready?

So say you want to home school your child, where do you start? First you have to find out your state’s laws. http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

Most states require “notice of intent” (a.k.a. a form and/or letter stating that you are going to be home schooling your child(ren) in specific subjects) to home school before a certain date, some states have an actual form, so it’s best to google it. ( your state- notice of intent to homeschool) Also those requirements could include your high school diploma and your child’s vaccination records.

Next you need to find your state’s department of education. http://www.ed.gov/about/contacts/state/index.html?src=gu and send your filled out notice of intent and any other paper work required, to your local school superintendent. I would also recommend taking it to the post office and asking for it to be sent registered so the superintendent’s office has to sign for it, so you have record of when they received it. Just a little added insurance.

Once your local superintendent office receives your information, you should receive a notification that they have filed your paperwork.

Start a file and keep everything! Keep copies of the paper work you send in and everything that they send you. Also keep records of your child’s attendance, certain states like Tennessee require at least 180 days of instruction per school year. I keep a lesson plan as well, like page numbers of the workbook for each subject. It will provide proof of instruction and also help you keep track of where your child is, in case you have more than one child that you are teaching.

After all that, take a breath… now you need to figure out what kind of curriculum you are going to use…