Oh, Bother
I have been blissfully living a life free of homeschool laws. In Korea, as the family of a US soldier, the education of children was placed firmly under the responsibility of the parents. Put them in the school provided on base, or one off base or homeschool – they didn’t care, as long as you were indeed educating them.
Then we moved to DC. Several years ago, DC attempted to enact some outrageous homeschool laws that included pop home inspections. Those laws were struck down immediately and the powers that be were way too concerned with other things to bother with better laws. As a result, all you had to do was notify the schools if you were pulling a child out of a DC school. That was it.
Well, that all changed last month. Now we have to notify the Office of the State Superintendent of Education that we are homeschooling. We have to keep a portfolio of our children’s work and provide a copy of our high school diploma. If the OSSE determines there is cause for worry, they can request up to 2 portfolio reviews a year.
Through the grace of God, my high school diploma was not in non-temp storage like usual. Non-temp storage is your stuff the military stores for you when they attempt to cram you into a house too small for your soldier’s rank. It’s free, but the catch is this – you cannot access those things until they are delivered to your next assignment. For various and sundry reasons relating to 5 years worth of non-temp storage being delivered at the same time as all our other household goods, having a one month old baby and general unpacking lethargy, we missed the 30 day deadline to send things back into non-temp storage here.
The point is, and I do have one, my high school diploma was available to be copied and sent in as demanded requested.
The funny thing is, this law just came to the table a few months ago and was passed last month. And yet they set a deadline of August 15th to have your intent to homeschool form in. Apparently, the OSSE estimates there to be 130 homeschool families in all of the District of Columbia.
Let that sink in for a moment.
With a population of 588, 292 (according to the census), only 130 of them homeschool. I have to say that on our base alone there are 70 families registered in our homeschool group. So that means that there are only 60 additional homeschool families in the entire District.
I’m imagining the single filing cabinet that has been set aside to accommodate 260 pieces of paper (intent form plus a copy of diploma).
Someone is going to be very surprised on Friday as the mail starts to pour in.
I did my part to plug up the system and took a moment to fill in the form and copy my diploma.
I may have a slight problem with authority, but I’m not actually going to break the law.
Sounds like you moved to Pennsylvania, LOL! Good grief! Now DC can be on that “pain in the butt” list of homeschooling states, commonwealths and “district”!
130 families? Whoever estimated that number must have been under the influence. Boy are they in for a SURPRISE!!
Actually, they think there are only 130 homeschooled CHILDREN. We have that many in our group alone. So yes, I think they’ll be deluged compared to what they are expecting, assuming most of the homeschoolers even know about the new ruling and also decide to comply with the law. Should be an interesting wake-up call for them.
My high school diploma feels so warm and fuzzy now. I’ve ignored it lo these 21 years, not even opening its cute little leatherette folder. And now it suddenly has such importance in my life. (insert eyeroll here!)
Wow. 130. I can’t imagine the actual number of children or families being that low. they are definitely in for some fun as the paperwork starts rolling in.
I love the look of your blog, btw! I can’t wait to read more.
I sure would love to be a fly on the wall in that office!!! Back when I was homeschooling the first time(in the early 90’s), the city was getting about 150 new families each semester. There was no homeschooling dept. It came under the guidance of the school district lawyer. I can imagine how swamped he was!