Hey fellow Ohio ladies! I was looking at the law on the HSDLA website yesterday. We will be "official" next year so I wanted to review it. I noticed it says we have to have 900 hours in certain subjects. How do you do that? Do you keep a log? What does it look like? Also, can you share a sample of the letter you send to your superintendent? Thanks for your help!
I don't. Not at all. Never have. My understanding is that 1) we are not required to keep track of our hours and 2) if they feel we've not had enough, it's up to THEM to prove that we DON'T have enough hours, rather than for US to prove that we DO. I don't know any of my friends that keep track. If it would make you feel better, though, go ahead and keep track. I might also add that I have no doubt that my hours are more than 900. Let's see.... Seven hours a day, times five days, is 35. Yes, I know that includes lunch, which is actually Nutrition and Home Ec. Plus Dad reading to them at night, AWANAS (Bible) on Wednesdays, Street Hockey and Soccer (gym), Art classes at the rec center, summer vacations that include travel (geography, mapping skills) and trips to museums (history, science), and camping (nature studies)..... You don't really send in a "letter", though you can send a cover letter if you want. Here is a link to the form at CHEO's page: http://www.cheohome.org/images/stories/pdf/notificationform.pdf Fill it out, along with a list of what subjects you plan on teaching, and a list of books you plan on using. Keep in mind that these lists are for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. The district does not have the right to "approve" or "disapprove" anything! Also, if something is not working the way you thought, go ahead and change. You don't need to inform anyone. Then, in the spring or summer, you will either test him or have a certified teacher do a portfolio evaluation. There are people who you can pay to evaluate him (usually $35-$50), or maybe someone in your church will do it for free. Often hs groups have a hs mom who is a certified teacher who will do them. The evaluator fills out a form http://www.cheohome.org/images/stories/pdf/academicassessmentreport2.pdf and you send that in with next year's paperwork. BE SURE TO KEEP A COPY OF ANYTHING YOU SEND IN!!! I know that should be common sense, but it never occured to me until the school district claimed they never got Rachael's evaluation the first time I sent it in! (Honestly, they were very nice about it, and I was able to call a retired teacher I use to work with, since my evaluator was a friend who taught in overseas and had already returned to Hong Kong!!!) If you would like to see a copy of how I do my curriculum and materials list, let me know and I will PM you a copy. Hope this helps!!!
Jackie- That was very helpful! I've signed off for other homeschooling Mom's as I'm a certified teacher. I normally don't charge anything since they are friends. So I don't need to send the evaluator form in until the following year? That is good to know. I was planning on mailing things certified mail so that we have proof that is has arrived. I figured I could come up with 900 hours easily! I just wasn't sure if I had to keep an official record or anything! Thanks!
Right. The first year, when she will be 6 on the first day of school, you just send in the check sheet, a curriculum list, and a material list. The next year, you will send those three things in PLUS an evaluation of the previous year. It threw them off with Phillip. I sent his stuff in when he was six, and they called to tell me they didn't have his evaluation. Yes, you're right, you don't have it. Why not? Because he just turned six. But you homeschooled him last year? Yes, but it was off the record because he wasn't madatory age. But he's in second grade.... OH? I never said he was in 2nd grade! (I NEVER mark a grade level!) Isn't he in second grade? Well, he does first grade math, second grade reading, and history/science with his sisters that are 3 and 5 years older than him, so what grade would you consider him? But isn't he in second grade? He's six, this is the first year reporting him, so you don't need an evaluation.... Sigh.....
Thanks so much for your help! So I'll be expecting a similar phone call as yours come August! Is there a date I have to have the letter in by or is the first day of school for my district?
By the first day of the district. My problem came because some idiot secretary called, wanting to know what grade (since I left it blank). I told her that yes, it WAS blank, and no, I wasn't planning on telling her what grade he was in. That REALLY bugged her!!! I explained it wasn't required by law, and I didn't put grades on my children. I was told how OTHERS were willing to do it (That's fine; there's nothing to say they shouldn't. But I chose NOT to!), and how my form couldn't be processed without that information. I explained that I have been filling out those papers for x-number of years (remember this was my third kid!), and have never done it before and I didn't plan on starting now! So she said fine, she just wouldn't process it! I informed her that I really didn't care what she did with it. MY responsibility by law was to turn it in, which I did. If she chose not to process it, SHE would be non-compliant, not me. So she got all huffy and hung up on me. She probably fussed at her super, who probably just rolled her eyes and put 2ND GRADE on Phillip's form and sent it on!
LOL!! I'm worried I'm going to have to deal with someone like that and in with my inexperience think I'm actually doing something wrong! I just keep reminding myself that it is in God's hands!
