How to Home School children

In my last entry I mentioned that I would like to explore the legalities and specifics of home schooling a child. With 55,000 Florida students registered in home school programs I figure there has to be some sort of rules and regulations governing this type of education. I went to the Palm Beach County School Board for answers.
First of all, parents need to send a written letter of intent to the Superintendent of the school district the child lives in. Other parental responsibilities are to maintain a portfolio of records, containing educational activities, writings, worksheets, and any other material used or created by the student. This information needs to be kept for 2 years and made available for inspection if requested by the superintendent. Since there is no attendance policy, an annual educational evaluation of the student’s progress is required and the law provides 5 evaluation methods for parents to choose from. Since there are no state funds available to parents choosing to home school their children there is an expense. There are websites and other vendors that supply workbook and textbooks to parents. Students can also take courses from the Florida Virtual School. It is a public online school providing free courses to middle and high school students. This seems like a good feature. It offers some sort of control and standardization over the child’s education. Again, I’m not real keen on this home school idea.
Home schooled students are eligible for Florida Bright Futures scholarships. They can take the general educational development (GED) test and receive a GED diploma. Home schooled children have the same opportunities as public school kids to enter a community college or State University of their choice. As for extracurricular activities a home schooled child has the opportunity to participate. Even if the activity occurs during school time such as band or chorus classes. The school district offers the student to opportunity to enroll in that class. A grade point average needs to be maintained just like the other public school kids. This will be agreed on by the principal of the school and the parent thru an evaluation process.
If a parent think their child has a learning disability, the school district is obligated to evaluate the child. This evaluation is at no cost to the parent. If the parent agrees that they cant properly care for the childs needs at home, the parent can enroll the child in public school. If the parents takes on the responsibility at home the school is not obligated but may offer some sort of assistance for the child. Such as speech or language classes.
I think there are some interesting aspect to home schooling. I still have no idea why anyone would want to go through all this trouble. It seems that the parents work closer with the school district than I thought. I am not fond of the free for all type curriculum that parents offer their students. It seems like they just “wing it” until the end of year evaluation comes around. What if their child is behind. I think at least the districts should monitor the students progress more often than once a year!! That’s it for now :o)