Home Schooling Curriculum : Guidelines

Before you begin submitting Home Schooling Curriculum to your school district, it is a good idea to talk to other local homeschoolers in your area. You can probably find someone by contacting a support group near you.

Home Schooling Curriculum : Guideline 1:

School officials may consider the subjects the child will study, the length of the homeschool year, and the hours that these kids will be taught as part of the home schooling curriculum.

Subjects the child will study:

Consider the lists of the core subjects such as mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, English, foreign languages and the arts. Other subjects that may be included in your child's area of study may include orthography, reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, religion, drawing, music, the history and constitution of the United States, the duties of citizenship, health education, gym and good behavior.

To follow these guidelines parents can list the subjects that they plan to cover when drawing up their proposal for the home schooling curriculum. A simple list of them should be good enough, since the school is not allowed to dictate the manner in which you teach anyway.

Use certain key phrases or paragraphs that will be of help to convey the flexible nature of homeschooling curriculum. A sample plan should guide in this matter.

Length of the homeschool year:

Cities and towns are obligated to operate the public schools for a minimum of 180 days. However, it does not go so far as to state that the length of a homeschool's year MUST be the same as a public school year. However, you must ensure that your homeschool year will meet or beat 180 days.

Many homeschool families choose to write that their homeschooling curriculum year extends 365 days a year. But make a note to say that your school year is greater than 180 days.

Hours of instruction per subject in your home schooling curriculum:

Parents may want to calculate the hours of instruction based on the way in which they homeschooling curriculum is planned. You should keep in mind that the definition of instruction is a loose one and includes such activities as independent study, field trips, computer-aided learning, and presentations by people that are not teachers. Also, it helps for you to know that following a schedule is not an important consideration in a home school where the use of time is different.

Home Schooling Curriculum : Guideline 2:

School officials might require the parents furnish them with your credentials/qualifications to teach your child. Certification would not necessarily be required for parents under a home school proposal. They will assess whether you are capable of dealing with your homeschooling curriculum to teach your child competently.

As a parent you can say

" I am of competent ability and good morals for teaching my child.

" Summarize your educational credentials, certifications etc.

Home Schooling Curriculum : Guideline 3:

School officials may consider home schooling curriculum and teaching aids, but only if it is to determine subject and grade levels of the children being taught. Since most of the schools feel that a list of resources meets their need for access to teaching materials, and since some of them are happy with far less than that, it would be very hard difficult to argue that physical access is needed.

Some of these resources that you can use are:
" Encyclopedias
" Dictionaries
" Atlases
" reference books and materials (such as textbooks, field guides, timelines,
globes, maps, etc.)
" newspapers
" Magazines
" Library loan books, tapes, magazines, etc.
" educational games
" educational computer software and on-line services
" calculating and measuring tools and utensils
" arts & crafts supplies
" writing supplies
" musical instruments
" audio-visual equipment and materials
" religious materials
" science lab equipment
" sports equipment
" community resources (such as museums, theatres, sports programs,
" private lessons, volunteer opportunities)

All these are essential aids making your home schooling curriculum become a reality to your child.

Home Schooling Curriculum : Guideline 4:

School officials and parents have to agree on a way to host the evaluations of their child after the home schooling curriculum is completed. These may include any of the following approaches:
" standardized testing,
" progress report,
" dated work samples.
" Other methods of assessment, if they are agreed upon by parents and school officials, are also allowed.

You need to choose the one form of assessment that best fits your own individual style of homeschooling, either testing, progress report or dated work samples. If you add a line such as, An annual progress report/dated work sample/standardized test results will be submitted upon request, as was mentioned earlier; it is a good way to just be sure. If they don't ask, you don't need to submit anything.

If the home school proposal is rejected for some reason, the superintendent or the school committee must provide you with details of the reasons for the decision. The parents must then be given an opportunity to correct or change their proposal for the home schooling curriculum as a means of fixing its inadequacies.

However, if the parents start the education of their children at home in spite of the school committee's refusal to approve their proposal, the burden of proof under the laws, moves to the school committee as a way to show that the instruction that was outlined in the home school curriculum proposals fails to meet with the standards of the public schools in the same town.