I need answers
Betty Holder
I live in TN and the state requires testing (by the state) for homeschoolers. We were not required to test this year but we did last year and will be next year. It also requires parents to have a college degree to homeschool the high school years. If no degree is possessed (which we don't) then we must go through an *umbrella* (I think they call it) school. We are approaching high school in the upcoming year and have a Christian school in the town near us to work through. My question is, Do any of you have these requirements? I was just wondering how to deal with the grades that must be submitted to the school ever so often. We don't do much paper and book work except Math and occasionally grammar.
I know he can ace most tests that they give although next year we will be testing through the school we go through instead of the state. I'm just wondering how to handle all the paper work that will be required during the course of the year. I know some states don't have such strict guidelines for homeschoolers but maybe some of you have dealt with this and can give me some advice.
Thanks again for the support and encourgagement I get from the group!
Betty in TN
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I know he can ace most tests that they give although next year we will be testing through the school we go through instead of the state. I'm just wondering how to handle all the paper work that will be required during the course of the year. I know some states don't have such strict guidelines for homeschoolers but maybe some of you have dealt with this and can give me some advice.
Thanks again for the support and encourgagement I get from the group!
Betty in TN
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/26/2002 2:49:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
ninnyridge03@... writes:
Tennessee. I know I don't. I'm really sorry that I can't offer you much
advice on how to deal with testing and paperwork. I know that in Tennessee
there is a third option of signing up with a church related school as a
"satellite." Maybe there are churches - check out the Quakers/Friends church
- that would be more amenable to less paperwork.
It is hard to help you know how to handle it - I don't have a clue what kind
of paperwork they'd want. I do have a sort of "recordkeeping" idea for
unschoolers and maybe you could utilize it and then transform it into what
they want.
The idea is that you list "real" things -- like: "reading, writing, watching,
listening, talking, going, making, doing, etc." Then you observe the kids and
record what's going on under those "real" categories. So you're not recording
things under school subjects like "English," "History," "Science," etc., but
just recording what is really happening. It doesn't really matter where you
record them - the point is that you are keeping records but not having to
constantly think in terms of school subjects. Also, it encourages you to
think of everything as learning - not just school subjects. You can do a
record sheet for each day and then, at the end of a month, you can go through
them and categorize into the subjects required by your official paperwork.
For example, if you have a discussion about a movie - say it is about the
musical, "Annie," you might talk about the time period, what was happening
during the depression, maybe something about who was president, whatever
happens to come up during the discussion about the movie. So -- you could
record that you watched the movie, Annie, under "watching". You could also
record, "Discussed Great Depression era," under "talking." It is also a
musical and so you could put it under "listening."
Later, at the end of the month, if you need to put something under "History,"
then you can include that discussion about the depression or about presidents
or whatever came up. If you need something to put under "Music" then you can
put "study of various musical genres, including musical theater..". The KID
doesn't have to know that you are doing this kind of listing things under
school subject headings - I would really NOT like my kids to think in those
terms. They can just unschool and not have to be aware of what you're having
to do to fulfill stupid state laws.
I hope this idea is useful - maybe it will help you come up with something
that works for you.
--pamS
Some of what is said here may challenge you, shock you, disturb you, or seem
harsh. But remember that people are offering it to be helpful and what feels
uncomfortable to you might be just what someone else needed to hear.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
ninnyridge03@... writes:
> I know he can ace most tests that they give although next year we will beMaybe nobody here has to deal with the kinds of difficult laws you have in
> testing through the school we go through instead of the state. I'm just
> wondering how to handle all the paper work that will be required during the
> course of the year. I know some states don't have such strict guidelines
> for homeschoolers but maybe some of you have dealt with this and can give
> me some advice.
> Thanks again for the support and encourgagement I get from the group!
Tennessee. I know I don't. I'm really sorry that I can't offer you much
advice on how to deal with testing and paperwork. I know that in Tennessee
there is a third option of signing up with a church related school as a
"satellite." Maybe there are churches - check out the Quakers/Friends church
- that would be more amenable to less paperwork.
It is hard to help you know how to handle it - I don't have a clue what kind
of paperwork they'd want. I do have a sort of "recordkeeping" idea for
unschoolers and maybe you could utilize it and then transform it into what
they want.
The idea is that you list "real" things -- like: "reading, writing, watching,
listening, talking, going, making, doing, etc." Then you observe the kids and
record what's going on under those "real" categories. So you're not recording
things under school subjects like "English," "History," "Science," etc., but
just recording what is really happening. It doesn't really matter where you
record them - the point is that you are keeping records but not having to
constantly think in terms of school subjects. Also, it encourages you to
think of everything as learning - not just school subjects. You can do a
record sheet for each day and then, at the end of a month, you can go through
them and categorize into the subjects required by your official paperwork.
For example, if you have a discussion about a movie - say it is about the
musical, "Annie," you might talk about the time period, what was happening
during the depression, maybe something about who was president, whatever
happens to come up during the discussion about the movie. So -- you could
record that you watched the movie, Annie, under "watching". You could also
record, "Discussed Great Depression era," under "talking." It is also a
musical and so you could put it under "listening."
Later, at the end of the month, if you need to put something under "History,"
then you can include that discussion about the depression or about presidents
or whatever came up. If you need something to put under "Music" then you can
put "study of various musical genres, including musical theater..". The KID
doesn't have to know that you are doing this kind of listing things under
school subject headings - I would really NOT like my kids to think in those
terms. They can just unschool and not have to be aware of what you're having
to do to fulfill stupid state laws.
I hope this idea is useful - maybe it will help you come up with something
that works for you.
--pamS
Some of what is said here may challenge you, shock you, disturb you, or seem
harsh. But remember that people are offering it to be helpful and what feels
uncomfortable to you might be just what someone else needed to hear.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]