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States TN/MD/NY
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Hi all!
I’ve been researching homeschooling laws in a few states. I’ve read the Legal Analysis of the laws pertaining to homeschooling (provided by HSLDA) for these three states but it’s always better to hear from a person that lives it out in that state.
If you live in Tennessee, Maryland or New York would you mind sharing the basics on what is required in your state to homeschool? I know every state is different with requirements on what to teach and when, testing, education required for the parent, keeping a portfolio or not, when you have to alert the state of homeschooling, etc.
Thanks!
Callie
Hi Calliemarie! I live in Tennessee and I have homeschooled for 3 years now. In TN you actually have several options under which to homeschool. Here is a link with all the options: http://tnhomeed.com/NLVersion.html
I have been homeschooling under option 2 for 3 years now. We use a local Christian school which basically just keeps a record of my child’s attendance and grades. The law basically says under this option you are subject to that school’s requirements. However, under this option your child is subject to the same testing as that particular private school so we have had to do standardized testing. All this being said, we have decided to switch homeschooling options. Next year we will be homeschooling through option 3 which means we would be considered private schoolers of a satellite campus. But the school we have chosen to “umbrella” through does not require yearly testing which is why we are switching.
Option 1 just means that you report directly to the dept of education. Most people in my part of the state choose options 2-4. I have heard several families say they don’t use option 1 because they do not want to deal directly with the state for fear they would hassle. Another reason being that you must have a BS/BA to homeschool 9-12th grades under option 1 and you must test at certain grade levels. ***The part of the law regarding having to have a BS or BA has recently been ammended so check with HSLDA or the website above for more info.****
This is just a quick overview and I hope I have helped. I don’t have much experience with other states as I have always lived here. However I have been told that TN is a rather homeschool-friendly state.
For New York –
- We need to give a quarterly report on the dates of our choice (I pick 9/30, 12/30, 3/30 and 6/30 because we school year round, but you have your choice, as long as it is roughly at the quarter mark for yoiur school year)
- Our IHIP (what we plan to teach during the year) is due June 30th.
- Standardized testing needs to be done every other year between grades 4 – 8 (so I plan I making them test 5th and 7th – but you could chose 4th, 6th and 8th if you wanted)
- Standardized testing needs to be done every year from 9th – 12th grade
- A written annual report is due at the end of every school year
- Regonal history, fire safety and…..something else that escapes me at the moment…need to be taught once during grades 1-5
- You need to report your child for homeschooling the June before the child turns 6
- You aren’t required to keep a portfolio or anything of the sort, but you need to be able to produce records of hours, things taught etc. in case the school district has reason to ask.
If you want to take a look at the IHIP and Anual report I use, I use this format from this website:
IHIP: http://homeschoolinginnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2005/08/sample-ihip-4th-grade.htmlAR: http://homeschoolinginnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2005/08/sample-annual-assessment.html
Letter of Intent: http://homeschoolinginnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2005/08/sample-letter-of-intent.html
Quarterly Report: http://homeschoolinginnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2005/08/sample-quarterly-report.html
We’ve homeschooled for 15 years in TN. We’ve always registered with Gateway Christian Schools in Memphis (we’re on the opposite end of the state.) They register under Option 3 and do not require testing. We’ve never tested. You can, if that’s important to you. You just arrange it yourself. I fill out the registration papers at the beginning of the year listing what subjects we’re teaching and what curriculum we use for that (they love to see “living books” btw.) After that I simply report each semester how many days we’ve “done school” and grades that I assign. That’s it. They never see any work, never ask any questions. There are other church-related schools in TN who operate this way, Homelife Academy being one.
Blessings on your search.
Yes. This was a fairly new option when we began homeschooling. Dh and I were on the THEA board for 8 years and much has been done (and still being done) to make this option even better.
Gateway is the “old-timer” with HomeLife being fairly recent. I’ve heard good things about them. They apparently have gotten our name from somewhere, perhaps from being former state board members, and often refer families to us for answers to questions, although I’ve not dealt with them directly.
Thank you! This is all very helpful – and very different from North Carolina (where I live). Can anyone speak from a Maryland homeschooling experience?
Hi Callie! I’m in Maryland, but can’t stop to write a lengthy response. Will get on here tonight to respond!!
Hi…I’m back 🙂 I’ve tried to sit down several times over the last couple of days to respond, only to get distracted or have my responses closed out 🙂
Anyways, I have homeschooled in Maryland for 2 years now. I know you’ve said that you’ve looked at HSLDA and read the analysis so I won’t go into too much technical detail, but just to share our personal experiences.
COMAR states that in Maryland you can either homeschool under an umbrella or have portfolio reviews done. We have opted both years to do the portfolio, but know others who do the umbrella option and love it. And, honestly, though I have had no real problems with the portfolio option, if money were not an issue I would also choose the umbrella, simply for the ease of the one that many of my homeschooling friends participate in.
However, for the portfolio option, COMAR states that your portfolio can be reviewed up to three times a year by a school superintendient in a mutually agreeable place and time. It’s important to note, here, that I can only speak for the county that I am in. Requirements can vary a little from county to county (really, from reviewer to reviewer, even within the county), yet still fall under COMAR guidelines. I can’t speak for the other counties from first hand experience. Moving on….The school board will schedule you for a fall and a spring review. About a month or two ahead of time they will send you a post card with a time and a date. We meet in the Board of Education building. The reviewers consist of school board employees, maybe some retired teachers, and my reviewer is a teacher at an alternative education school. Generally speaking, the reviewer is kept the same throughout your homeschooling journey. Obviously, if someone retires that may change, or if you have to reschedule your appointment you might get a different reviewer for that meeting.
What do you bring if you are having a portfolio review? COMAR states that you should be teaching the same types of subjects that a child in public school would be taught. That doesn’t mean the same topic, but just that the student is learning math, science, english, etc. For our county there is a check sheet that the reviewers use. It includes the subjects of Math, Science, English, Social Studies (History) and other-for this they want to see health, music, pe, and art. Now, as they enter high school, obviously, the requirements change. But, in Maryland, reviews are no longer required once the student reaches 16 (we just had our last review for our oldest in May–YAY!!!). So, generally up to 16 they are just looking for the same things. Our reviewer was never a stickler about foriegn language and the sort.
COMAR states that you should bring in samples of student work (worksheets, quizzes, writing assignments, etc.) to show that the students are recieving thorough instruction. It is important to note here that Maryland is not checking (or not supposed to be checking) to see how well the student is doing or “grading” them. Really, they are there to grade you, the parent-teacher, to make sure that the child is being presented a good education. Back to what constitutes a sample: this will vary by reviewer. Some want to see a lot, some don’t need to see as much. It would always be best to bring in more, and talk to and get to know your reviewer to find out their expectations. Personally, I bring in all our work. I realize that it may be overkill and that there are many homeschoolers out there that are against giving the state any more than they are legally allowed to ask. I understand where they are coming from and completely respect their opinion, but my husband and I decided that since we are going to be with the same reviewer until each of our kids reaches 16 that I really don’t want to get on their bad side. That being said, Carroll County (where we live) does try to get you to fill out a form that gives basic information about the child (name, birthdate, grade, etc.) with some details about the curriculum for each subject. However, it also asks for information about where the child “does” school along with the amount of time that is spent schooling. COMAR does not state that we have to give that type of information, and I choose not to. I get around this by typing up my own sheet for the kids with their personal information and a paragraph or two about each subject and what/how it is being taught. Our reviewer seems to be okay with this. You have to do what is right for your family. Also, something new this year, our county wants to start meeting the kids. I have called and talked to the superintendent in charge of homeschooling about this. You are not legally obligated to do this, they really just want to get to know the kids a little bit. I have chosen not to take my kids this year. I do not know about future years. While I know not all people will respect their reviewer, I like ours, and she is open to various methods of homeschooling and have actually gotten some valauable advice from her. She also compiles lists of (mainly) free resourves that parents use and will give those to other parents. I know not all reviewers are like this. My first review was with a different person because I had to reschedule, and I literally came out crying because he was a retired middle school teacher very set in his public school ways. Luckily, I only had him once 🙂
What happens if your review is not “satisfactory?” If it is the first time, they will likely just have you come back for another review in 30 days to see if anything has changed. This happened to me the first time because that particular reviewer wanted to see more work. Most likely, this should not be an issue unless you really aren’t schooling your child.
Maryland requires no log of attendance (COMAR simply states that it should be comprable to public schools…essentially you should school enough to give them a thorough education), no grades, no standardized tests, etc.
I hope that answered your questions…If you have any more, let me know!! And, again, I just wanted to add, this was the experience we have had so far in Carroll County…each county may be a little different!!
Meagan,
Thank you for your very thorough response! I must be honest and say that Maryland’s homeschooling laws seem pretty scary to me. Currently I reside in a state that basically only asks that you school your child 180 days per year and have them take a standardized test at the end of the year. You used to have to mail the test results in but from here forward you only have to keep the test results on file.
Putting together a portfolio of work for a student that won’t be made to do “busy work” (since that’s not what a CM education is about) must be hard if you run into a reviewer that wants to see that. I’m assuming work sheets and quizzes may look better to a reviewer than a dictated narration? Perhaps it depends on the reviewer. And it’s very interesting and different to me that they are requesting to see the children now. Perhaps to make sure they look healthy and don’t seem *odd* to anyone? Just curious…..
Thanks everyone for sharing!
Callie
We are in TN too. I *LOVE* Gateway. Lots of freedom and always happy to answer any questions I have. 🙂
We live in MD as well and as Meagan pointed out, your requirements can vary a bit depending on the county in which you reside. It all comes down to budget and available personnel and some counties are just better funded and staffed than others. We reside in Prince Georges County–which is adjacent to Wash. DC and well…sees a lot of urban fallout as a result. The PG Co School Board has hitherto had more than it could handle with regards to truancy and delinquency so homeschoolers had all but fallen through the cracks. It was not uncommon for HS’ing families to register with the county only to never hear back from them for years on end.
This past year however, PG Co hired more personnel and started cracking down on getting portfolio reviews done. We had been homeschooling for three years and never once had a portfoilio review when all of a sudden we started getting hounded by the county–they wanted to set up a review before we’d even started our schoolyear! We ended up joining a wonderful umbrella group (for the cost of $50/year) that gives us the flexibility to homeschool according to whatever curriculum/method we choose. We answer directly to them now…not the County. Our only requirement is to be reviewed by a fellow umbrella group member once every spring. Several of us review each other…like a mini portfolio review, we show examples of our children’s work to another mom but from the comfort of our own home. We sign off for each other, verifying for the umbrella group that we gave “regular and thorough instruction” in the areas of math, LA, SS, Science, Health and at least one elective like art, music or PE. It’s pretty simple and relatively painless.
MD homeschooling laws are a bit draconian compared to some states, but it’s not impossible–at least for now–to homeschool without the State breathing down our necks.
–Annie
Thanks for sharing your experience Annie! Good to know that there are other options that work in Maryland!
Callie
@Callie-at first I was a little intimidated by MD law, too, especially because we were new to homeschooling. However, it really isn’t as bad as it seems, and like Annie said, there are some great umbrella options out there! Is your family looking to move?
@Annie-it’s nice to see another MD mom on here 🙂
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