O’DonnellWeb

We got our always helpful information packet from the local homeschool coordinator today. Spotsylvania has a nice pretty new form, in shiny yellow. Here is the exact wording from the Category 1 option – homeschooling when the parent has a high school diploma or better.

Parent must submit a copy of their high school diploma or higher degree and a complete copy of the program of study or curriculum they are studying.

Here is what the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers recommends that we provide.

A description of your curriculum, such as a sentence or two on style, and perhaps a brief list of materials and resources. You do not need to use any formal “curriculum” or specific “educational” materials You do not need to include a book list or table of contents from a curriculum. Still, some superintendents will request this. It is up to you whether you choose to provide it. Many homeschoolers decline to, because they understand that providing more than the law requires can escalate the superintendents’ requests for more information.

And here is the actual wording from the law.

Any parent who elects to provide home instruction in lieu of school attendance shall annually notify the division superintendent in August of his intention to so instruct the child and provide a description of the curriculum to be followed for the coming year and evidence of having met one of the criteria for providing home instruction as required by subsection A.

The county is simply wrong, wrong, wrong. We are under no legal obligation to provide that level of detail. Don’t do it. Do what you normally do, which probably matches what we do. Take last year’s notification of intent, edit it as needed, change the date, and send it in. And always send it certified mail. That way you have the proof that they received it.

Someday maybe they will explain why Michelle has to keep sending in the same copy of her college degree every year. Do they not keep records in the homeschool office?

Oh, and by coincidence the kid’s CAT test results came in today. The state requirement for homeschoolers is that they be above 35th percentile. Both kids just squeezed by in the 99th percentile across the board. Breck aced the test, he didn’t miss a single question.

Obviously, we cheated.

Really, I don’t care about standardized test scores. They don’t mean much, other than that my kids apparently don’t get stressed out by filling in the bubbles. And I guess we are getting the core stuff comfortably covered in the 2-3 hours of “school” we do each day. Mostly, I just wanted this opportunity to confess my little role in the nationwide homeschooler conspiracy to cheat on standardized tests.

I feel better now