Howdy,
Just curious, how many people have to do some type of official reporting of their homeschooling? What do you have to report - curriculum used, tests, sample papers?
We live in Illinois where you don't have to do anything. Wondering what everyone else was facing...
Christine

In Arkansas we are required to:
* sign a Waiver, excusing the state from responsibility of our children's education... (Like it's the state's responsibility to begin with...)

* List all the children of school age

* report a curriculum, start & ending date, aprox days of school, time of day in session. (I'm just usually vague and say something like "similar to Shiloh Christian's curriculum and schedule.")

* give the education level achieved by parents

* grades 3-9 submit to a standardized test in the spring of every year.

In TX, we do not have to report to anyone. We do not even need to notify the local district to tell them that our children will not be attending school there. We also have no reports, no required number of school days, etc. We are required to teach certain subjects such as reading, math, citizenship, and spelling. We are truly blessed to not have to suppy any information to school districts, etc. Having taught for over a decade in a local district, I am sure they don't need any more paperwork and stuff to keep tabs on anyway!

I live in Missouri and have about the same requirements as cg2264. we don't have to officially report homeschooling to the authorities. i am sending in a letter of intent though so that we won't have truancy officers on our doorstep. There are no testing requirements but we are supposed to keep samples of the children's work and a journal and list of grades made by the student. other than that we are ok.
Tammie

In Florida we have to:

- File a letter of intent with our local school district within 30 days of beginning a homeschool program.

- Comply with FL compulsory age of attendance (6-16).

- Maintain a portfolio for two years (the portfolio is really broad because FL has no state mandated curriculum for the public schools...i.e. the school districts just need to teach the kids to pass the FCAT).

- Provide the school district with the portfolio within two weeks of such request.

- Annual Assessment - There are 5 choices in Florida:
1) Register and take the FCAT with the school district
2) Using a certified teacher/administrator (such as a librarian), take any national standardized test
3) Evaluation by psychiatrist or psychologist(this is an education eval...I'm assuming this would be beneficial for special needs children).
4) Certified Teacher Evaluation (my personal favorite!) - using a (hopefully homeschool friendly) certified teacher to evaluate the child's progress via child's portfolio and/or interaction/interview etc. Evals must be sent to district prior to anniversary (which is the date one's letter of intent was approved by district). Eval letter is nothing more than a simple I, Certified Teacher, blah blah blah, certify to District that Student has shown suitable progress etc in accordance with FL statutes. It's signed by the evaluator and the parent and sent (registered return receipt) to district.
5) Any other method agreed upon by the district and the homeschooling family.

Ummm...I think that's it. Some counties in FL have tried to make up their own rules for homeschoolers, but the HSLDA has set them straight. I keep my guard up, but mostly I just fade into the background.

We lived in Florida from April '95 to December '06. Instead of complying with the homeschool law, we registered through an umbrella school (another legal option there). They kept our records for us, but I was still able to choose our own curriculum, etc.

Now, in Texas, homeschools are considered private schools. We don't have to register with anyone. Compulsory attendance age is 6-18 (or until they graduate), and we have to teach reading, spelling, grammar, math and good citizenship. But that's it, very easy.

I've thought about the umbrella school option. I learned more about one in particular at the HS convention in July. I am waiting to see what happens with some legislation here. Gov Crist had talked about giving tax credits to families who have children in private school...it may or may not apply to homeschoolers. But if they give private school tax credit, the unbrella school would qualify. That would be so nice to have my public school tax funds actually funding my children's education.

In Tennessee, we have 3 options. I have chosen to enroll under an umbrella school. However, before our state senate there is currently a bill that would require any nonpublic school child to be tested against public school ciriculum. Please help us pray about that. It goes before the State House committee on 3/19.