homeschool

Question:
My sister is living with her boyfriend (they're in their late 40's) and she has been asked to homeschool the boyfriend's 11-yr. old. She wonders if this is legally ok since she is not the step-mother yet. The boy's counselor said it would be a good idea if he were home-schooled as he is not doing well in the public school??

Answer:
-I imagine that it might depend on the laws in their particular state. In Illinois, a home school is a private school, and therefore, there is no requirement that the parent actually be the teacher. I am not aware of any state requiring the parent to be the homeschool teacher. She can get in touch with a local homeschooling support group to find out the most up-to-date information about laws that may apply to he. -Arizona requires that the homeschooling teacher be the residential parent. That means that even the parent with visitation rights cannot be the teacher. It must be the parent the child lives with. The only exception they will make is for a grandparent that has full legal custody. It's the first set of papers they send you to read when filling out your afidavit. Check the laws in your area. If you're not sure who to ask, call your local school district office. That's what I did here, and they were very nice, and more than happy to give me names and numbers for the homeschooling section of our school district. -I agree but I would add, get a copy of the law and read it. Nothing like seeing what it says yourself, rather than what the school district said, or the lady on the phone from DOE or my neighbor who homeschools. FWIW... - In WA this would be illegal, although not in other states. The fact that the boy's counselor thinks it a good idea doesn't indicate how legal it is in that state. Here in Washington a social worker investigating friends of ours told our friend she should get one of her homeschooling friends to teach her children for her since she had health problems. She was surprised when told it wasn't legal to do that. Bottom line, find the laws for your state and read them. Many state hsing organizations put them online. Streetrat's site is a great place to look: http://members.aol.com/stretrat/homeschool/states.html -I didn't get my information on this from the public school. I called the public school district office and they put me in contact with the homeschooling office for our state. Our state has they're own "district office" for homeschoolers. It's a place to call and get information on requirements, support groups, field trips, laws, and anything else you need. They mail you out an entire package on things to do in our state, places that will give you a discount, phone numbers of support groups, names and numbers of homeschool groups in your area, and lots more. This office, and the people working in it are only there for homeschoolers. They have nothing to do with the public schools. It's a wonderful resource. Sorry if I didn't explain that well enough the first time. -Actually, there is a very good argument against meeting demands by government entities that do not actually have the legal right to make those demands. It sets a precedent for them assuming even more and more control. We work very hard to maintain the freedoms that we have, and allowing them to whittle away at them would only work against us. The law is clear that the schools must treat us like any other private school. If they refuse to give you credit for something you accomplished at home, yet accept credits from neighboring private schools they can justifiably be accused of discrimination.

On the other hand, I have known homeschoolers who don't really mean to homeschool. They are taking a semester off to get past some particular problem and intend to go right back into the school the next year. In that case, I wouldn't argue against them working very closely with the schools to make sure they cover exactly the same thing that will be covered by the child's class at school.