Homeschooling is difficult especially when dealing with young children. I have talked about a few issues that homeschoolers face and now I would like to talk about some of the legal issues that we face. We are lucky in Virginia there aren’t many legal ramifications for homeschooling in our state. In Virginia there are four options in which to homeschool legally. Option 1 is referred to as “Home instruction”. Under this option parents must annually notify their local superintendent of their intention to homeschool. However, approval is not required. The parents must satisfy one of four options: Have a high school diploma, be a “teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education”, provide a curriculum or program of study, or provide evidence that the “parent is able to provide an adequate education”. In addition to this parents must submit a “description of curriculum” Which is a list of subjects they intend to teach. They do not have to describe the content of the individual courses (Homeschooling, 2010-2011)
Option 2 is Religious exemption. The law states “A school board shall excuse from attendance at school any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of a bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school.” Homeschoolers may receive exemption under this statute and will be exempt from all other requirements. Homeschoolers choosing this option need to prove they have sincere beliefs that are religious, not merely philosophical, which demonstrate their objection to attendance in the public schools. One should prepare a letter describing their religious beliefs opposing public school attendance and submit it to the school board. Also, one should include a letter from their pastor or religious leader along with personal references that can vouch for their sincerity (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).
Option 3 is Certified tutor statute. If a parent is certified in Virginia, he need only provide a one-time notice to the local superintendent that he will be tutoring children and verify that he is certified (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).
Option 4 is Private or denominational school. Groups of homeschoolers can create private schools with each home a part of the campus and each parent a teacher. Private schools are not regulated. An individual homeschool cannot be a private school. A private school can establish a distance program, where a child is enrolled in and under the authority of the private school, but the student is primarily taught by his parents.
Parents who choose option one must show their child is progressing academically by showing the result of any standardized test, an evaluation letter from a person licensed to teach, or a person with a master’s degree or higher in an academic discipline, having knowledge of the child’s academic progress, or a report card or transcript from a community college or college, college distance learning program, or home-education correspondence school (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).
As you can see it is very easy to homeschool here in Virginia but there are other states that aren’t so easy going about homeschooling. The state of California doesn’t have a homeschool statute. Instead they allow for the individual homeschool to qualify as a private school by filing an annual private school affidavit (Homeschooling, 2010-2011). New York is one of the hardest states for homeschoolers. They require that you submit a notice of intent followed by an Individualized Home Instruction Plan form listing list of the syllabi, curriculum, materials, textbooks, or a plan of instruction, dates for submission of quarterly reports, and names of the person/persons giving instruction. The quarterly must provide the number of hours of instruction during the quarter, a description of the materials covered in each subject, and a grade or narrative evaluation in each subject and file an annual assessment with the last quarterly report. The assessment can either be a norm-referenced achievement test, or a written narrative evaluation (Homeschooling, 2010-2011).
For most homeschoolers out there our current President is a threat to homeschooling. He hasn’t really said much about it but his actions have made people question where he stands. He agrees with the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of a Child, which was drafted by the United Nations and in my opinion gives the government too much power over family life in any country. In Articles 28 and 29 the child’s right to education is written out, here are a few of the points (Convention, n.d.):
1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:
Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;
Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need;
Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.
2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child's human dignity and in conformity with the present Convention.
1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:
The development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential;
The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;
The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin;
The development of respect for the natural environment.
While these two articles don’t mention homeschooling specifically it does say “No part of the present article or article 28 shall be construed so as to interfere with the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions, subject always to the observance of the principle set forth in paragraph 1 of the present article and to the requirements that the education given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may be laid down by the State.”(Convention, n.d.)
The government wants all children to be in public school where they can teach them what they feel is important. I think that parents should be able to decide what their children are learning and if they choose to homeschool the government should stay out of it. I think that the government has gotten too big and has too much power over our everyday lives. They couldn’t possible know what is good for my child. I agree that there should be standards on some things like math and science. Beyond that, if a family chooses, it should be up to them what their children are taught.
I obviously have strong feelings about this and it comes from my upbringing. My father always told us that we have to stand up for what we believe in and he was very vocal on his opinion of the federal government. It scares me to think that sometime in the future the government may decide to make homeschooling illegal “for the good of the children” and then we, as parents, have no control of our children. I hope that people will stand with the homeschoolers to keep their freedom of choice in this matter because it has the potential to affect more than just homeschooling families.
Convention on the rights of a child. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm
Homeschooling in the United States: A legal analysis. 2010-2011. Retrieved from http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/New_York.pdf.
Picture retrieved from http://www.squidoo.com/Home-School-1 .
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