clinstrom5

Hi all- I'm in IA right on the border of IA and IL. The laws in IA
do not make it easy for the unschooling home schooler. Here we have
3 choices which consist of annual testing, portfolio review or
supervising teacher. Believe it or not I actually have chosen the
supervising teacher because a home schooling friend also happens to
be a licensed teacher (she left teaching to home school several years
ago but keeps her license current to supervise other home learning
families). These options wouldn't be so bad for the unschooler
except that when we file our paperwork each year with the district (a
form called the CPI--competent private instruction) we also have to
list our curriculum choices for math, phonics and language arts up to
4th grade and then after that we also have to list science and social
studies. The funny thing is that although we are required to list
the choices the district has no legal right to approve or disapprove
of our choice. Of course when we moved here I said "what the
bleeping point of that?" But whatever... In any event, I do have
another unschooling mom who lists Ruth Beechicks 3 R's books as her
curriculum to satisfy this requirement. We also have an attendance
requirement of 150 days per year.

IL on the other hand is like Texas. In fact I would love to jump the
river and move! They do not have any requirements of any kind (at
least that what my IL friends tell me). They are considered private
schools but their rights are not protected by legislation but rather
by a state supreme court case decided in 1950 so things don't really
change for them over there.

Kristi in IA