Let’s Talk About Homeschool Laws

Sometimes, we see cows looking longingly at the grass on the other side of the fence, but this Pronghorn decided to take matters into his own hooves or teeth as the case may be.  This Pronghorn worked for quite some time to bite through the lock and through the gate, itself.  Why did he want out?  Only he knows, but maybe he wanted to look at life from a different perspective.  

So, while the Pronghorn contemplates the space outside the fence, let’s take a look at the plethora of homeschool laws.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Education should be controlled by the state, so there should be different laws from state-to-state.  My problem is with how restrictive some of the laws are.  Just for the record, previous to our move to Pennsylvania (the HARDEST state to homeschool in per HSLDA), we homeschooled in three other states.  We began our homeschool journey in Missouri.  I remember researching the laws back then…  HSLDA had the wonderful color coded map on their site.  The different colors denoted how difficult that state was to homeschool in.  Green was lenient.  Red reminded me of a stop sign.  One that said, “Do you really want to live there?”  Red was very restrictive.  Missouri was a green state.  We could homeschool without letting the state or even the school district know that we were.  HOWEVER, we had to keep a plethora of logs with hours in case the school district decided to make a visit.  At the time, we were required to have 1000 hours total:  600 hours in the core subjects and 400 of the total hours in the home setting.  While it took planning to keep it straight, it was the best of both worlds.  

Then, we moved to Arizona.  If I remember correctly, it was a yellow state.  We were required to file with the school district initially, and we had to sign forms saying that we would teach the required subjects, but that was pretty much it.  Since I was used to Missouri laws, I kept up my record keeping as I had been.  After Arizona, we moved to Oklahoma, a green state.  In Oklahoma, there is no requirement to initiate contact with the state or school district, and the only requirement is that the basic subjects be taught for 180 days.

When my husband went to interview for a job in Pennsylvania just over a year ago, I started researching the homeschool laws.  You see, I had made a list of states that were homeschool-friendly to use for job-searching.  When I found that Pennsylvania was not on that list, I became a little concerned.  As I researched further on HSLDA, I became even more concerned, bordering on alarmed.  Here we were leaving a state that has specific laws protecting homeschoolers to move to a state that requires everything that we never wanted to do:  standardized testing, evaluations times two, etc.

Well, as you may know, we did move to Pennsylvania and have been trying to navigate the laws.  The kids recently had their first standardized test, and they did well.  I guess we did fine for 9 years without standardized testing!  I have most of the portfolio together, and we meet with the evaluator this week.

But let’s go back to the homeschool laws…  

It is SO important to know the laws in your state, so you know what can and can’t be asked of you.  I am a member of HSLDA, and I am so thankful that I am.  HSLDA works on the side of the homeschooler to make sure that their rights are being followed.  That they can continue to homeschool within the confines of the law.  They even lobby for quality upcoming bills.  For instance, HSLDA is helping to lobby for Bill 1013 in Pennsylvania that if passed should do away with the double jeopardy of portfolio evaluations.  Did you know I have to have a teacher evaluate the kids’ portfolios, AND then, let the superintendent evaluate them?  Bill 1013 will also allow a parent-issued diploma be recognized by the state.  REALLY?  A diploma from me won’t be recognized by the state even though the superintendent evaluates the portfolio and can see that ALL the requirements for graduation are met?  I’m just finding the laws here to be VERY restrictive.  I get the fact that we don’t want kids to fall through the cracks, but there has to be a better way.  

But let’s look at some other statistics…  (Information taken from chaponline.com.)  Did you know that in 2013, approximately 4% of the U.S. student population were homeschoolers?  Based on that percentage, Pennsylvania should have around 72,000 homeschooled children.  But we don’t.  There are only a little over 21,000 homeschooled children.  Wow!  That is a HUGE difference, isn’t it?  I know there could be a ton of different reasons for this, but the one that sticks out to me is the restrictive homeschool laws.  

When we lived in other states, we would head out to a local park, the library, or even the store and see other homeschoolers.  The homeschoolers are kind of obvious when they are out during school hours, and all the other kids are in school.  We would meet with other homeschoolers, and in Missouri, we were in an AWESOME homeschool co-op.  We met once per week for 8 weeks in the fall and 8 weeks in the spring.  We hired 3 different “teachers” to come in and have classes for things that are a little more difficult to do in the home setting.  One quarter, we had sign language, speech, and science experiments.  I think that is what we miss the most.  The fellowship and learning with other homeschoolers.  Is it because there are no other homeschoolers in our area, or is it because they don’t want to make waves by being out?

Yes, most of our homeschooling is done at home.  We use an eclectic mix of curriculum.  If it doesn’t work, we toss it aside and try something else.  That is one of the best parts of homeschooling!  We can tailor the schooling to the child, and that has been extremely important for both of the kids.  We even tailor the times that we school to the kids.  Yes, that was us homeschooling at 9 pm a couple of nights ago.  We had an experiment that required dark, so we waited until after dark to do it.  It definitely worked out better in the pitch black!  

Well, there is a LOT more that I could say, but I will leave that for another post.  The main thoughts I want to leave you with are as follows:

• Make sure you know your homeschooling laws!  
• I recommend being a member of HSLDA.  I have had good experiences with them, and they are always willing to answer my questions about how to best follow the laws.  This is not a sponsored post, nor is this an affiliate link.  This is truly how I feel about HSLDA.
• If you live in a green state, give thanks for your freedom to homeschool in a truly free fashion.  
• If you live in Pennsylvania, please call your state representative and ask him or her to support Bill 1013.
• Love each and every moment you have with your kids!
• Homeschooling isn’t for everyone!  This is not a post to say you or anyone else has to homeschool.  Homeschooling should be a right and a personal choice.

If you homeschool, what type of state laws do you deal with?