MN Homeschoolers

Hi, Amber,

I have a file box for each of my children.  I have dividers for each year with the grade.  In it I keep the following:

• a copy of their standardized test score (I keep the original in my file cabinet with my letter of intent and to homeschool and the immunization record report I sent to the district.  I like to have two copies in different places just in case I can’t find one of them.)
• a spreadsheet file that I update every year that shows what curriculum/books we used for each subject; specifically I want to show I’m complying with the law by teaching:

1. basic communication skills including reading and writing, literature, and fine arts;
2. mathematics and science;
3. social studies including history, geography, and government; and
4. health and physical education.

• reading list
• drawings
• any writing that they did (we haven’t done narrations but are starting this year)
• they do math using Teaching Textbooks so I include a copy of the gradebook
• they don’t do a lot of worksheets so there really isn’t a lot of papers

We are not required by law to count school days so I don’t.  We usually start in August (when it is hot!) and end in March/April.  We take off a day here or there but I don’t schedule weeks off. 

I would encourage you to read the MN statute.  I think you’ll find that there isn’t a lot required in the form of records so it is an individual preference.

Jenny

One more thing…

I used to send my forms (now it is just the letter of intent to homeschool) to the school district by certified mail.  That way I had record that they received it.  This is my 8th year homeschooling and after a few years I just didn’t bother to make the trip to the post office.

The school district has contacted me twice.  Once to tell me I wasn’t in compliance because I didn’t submit report cards and they didn’t have a college diploma on file for me.  (This is the old law.  You had to do one or the other.)  I told them a copy of the degree had been sent and I have the date I sent it.  I asked if they would like me to send another copy.  Eventually the found it.  Apparently it was misfiled.

The second time was to tell me that my 5 year old was not in compliance because they didn’t have immunization records for her.  I told them that I don’t even need to report her until she is 7 and how did they even know I had a 5 year old.  I’ve never told them and she’s been in zero outside activities besides playing in the yard.    She wasn’t sure where they got the information but she had a whole list of people to call and she said oddly enough a lot of them were homeschoolers.  Strange.

My point of the first story is that the most important records that you can keep are documentation showing you are in compliance.  Make copies of what you send them and note the date.  The people who called me from my district were very nice but I have the feeling they have enough to do and filing our homeschool records is not on the top of their list.   

I don’t really have a point to the second story.  I would just like to know how they knew I had a 5 year old.