lorihadams
Always doing laundry
The problem with homeschooling in the states is that it is all state run. Every state has different requirements. I am in Virginia and have to file a Notice of Intent every year and prove with documentation that I am sufficient to teach my children. I have a bachelor's degree and used to have a teaching license so I am okay. I have to give them a copy of my college diploma every year. If you don't have a college degree you have to prove to the school board that you are fit to teach or are providing your child with someone who is. You can also file for a religious exemption but I think you have to have documentation for that too.
We have to provide "proof of advancement" by August of every year following the present "school year". That can be done by having someone administer a test to your children and in the state of VA we can use the California standards test or the Iowa test of basic skills to do that every year. They are required to test in the 25th percentile or better in english and math and are not, for now, required to have testing in any other subject areas. I also have to provide a description of the curriculum that will be used for my children every year. Some counties require very detailed descriptions and some are happy with very general ones.
This is the first year that my son will have to be tested, he is 6 and technically in the first grade even though his is behind that in certain areas and past that in others. We plan on testing around May-ish. I will probably use the Iowa test of Basic skills and can usually find someone in a local homeschooling group that can adminster it to him. I will have to pay for the testing.
Some states make it very easy to homeschool and some others make it darn near impossible. There are some countries that will arrest parents for homeschooling. There is lots of documentation to prove that homeschooling is valid and works but some jurisdictions still require you to jump through so many hoops that a lot of parents just give up and make their kids go to public school. Sad really that we, as parents, can't decide how our own children will learn....especially since there weren't public schools once upon a time and some of the greatest minds ever were schooled at home.
Public schools were formed largely as a way to control large groups of children and only teach them what certain adults thought was useful. They were a way to organize the masses and take away independent thought. Most kids that are homeschooled are more creative, inventive, independent thinkers and at the time, that was not what the "powers that be" wanted in that generation. They wanted children that would obey and conform and only learn what they were given. They weren't encouraged to ask questions or figure out why things are the way they are. Look at current textbooks....kids are force fed disjointed bits and pieces of general information that makes no sense and is so boring that they don't remember any of it. History has been rewritten to fit into neat little lessons that are politically correct and cause no emotion even though history is full of things that are definitely NOT politically correct and caused plenty of emotion. Kids don't know WHY things happened anymore. They don't have the time to dive into a subject of interest and study it fully until their curiosity is satisfied. If their interests don't fit into the prescribed curriculum they are told "we aren't studying that right now" and put off.
Kids know what their brains are ready for. My son is very interested in science and studies lots of subjects that otherwise, he wouldn't be taught until sometimes 3rd or 4th grade. If he is interested in it why would I not answer his questions? Why would I say to him, "oh, we can't study that right now....you can do that when you get to 3rd grade"?
Anyway, getting off my soapbox and back to topic, every state and country has different regulations. We don't have to "register" as a homeschooler, we just have to notify the school board why our children won't be in school so we aren't arrested for truancy and prove to them that we are smart enough to teach our children and that they are learning something and not just sitting at home playing video games all day.
We have to provide "proof of advancement" by August of every year following the present "school year". That can be done by having someone administer a test to your children and in the state of VA we can use the California standards test or the Iowa test of basic skills to do that every year. They are required to test in the 25th percentile or better in english and math and are not, for now, required to have testing in any other subject areas. I also have to provide a description of the curriculum that will be used for my children every year. Some counties require very detailed descriptions and some are happy with very general ones.
This is the first year that my son will have to be tested, he is 6 and technically in the first grade even though his is behind that in certain areas and past that in others. We plan on testing around May-ish. I will probably use the Iowa test of Basic skills and can usually find someone in a local homeschooling group that can adminster it to him. I will have to pay for the testing.
Some states make it very easy to homeschool and some others make it darn near impossible. There are some countries that will arrest parents for homeschooling. There is lots of documentation to prove that homeschooling is valid and works but some jurisdictions still require you to jump through so many hoops that a lot of parents just give up and make their kids go to public school. Sad really that we, as parents, can't decide how our own children will learn....especially since there weren't public schools once upon a time and some of the greatest minds ever were schooled at home.
Public schools were formed largely as a way to control large groups of children and only teach them what certain adults thought was useful. They were a way to organize the masses and take away independent thought. Most kids that are homeschooled are more creative, inventive, independent thinkers and at the time, that was not what the "powers that be" wanted in that generation. They wanted children that would obey and conform and only learn what they were given. They weren't encouraged to ask questions or figure out why things are the way they are. Look at current textbooks....kids are force fed disjointed bits and pieces of general information that makes no sense and is so boring that they don't remember any of it. History has been rewritten to fit into neat little lessons that are politically correct and cause no emotion even though history is full of things that are definitely NOT politically correct and caused plenty of emotion. Kids don't know WHY things happened anymore. They don't have the time to dive into a subject of interest and study it fully until their curiosity is satisfied. If their interests don't fit into the prescribed curriculum they are told "we aren't studying that right now" and put off.
Kids know what their brains are ready for. My son is very interested in science and studies lots of subjects that otherwise, he wouldn't be taught until sometimes 3rd or 4th grade. If he is interested in it why would I not answer his questions? Why would I say to him, "oh, we can't study that right now....you can do that when you get to 3rd grade"?
Anyway, getting off my soapbox and back to topic, every state and country has different regulations. We don't have to "register" as a homeschooler, we just have to notify the school board why our children won't be in school so we aren't arrested for truancy and prove to them that we are smart enough to teach our children and that they are learning something and not just sitting at home playing video games all day.
