Email of the Day:
Hey! My kidlet is 4 years this summer. He was diagnosed with a special need at 2 years old.I am interested in homeschooling him right away. Would you send me the curriculum for preschool? ?
Answer:
You have until the fall of 2021 to get this figured out.
Compulsory attendance in WA is from ages 8-18. Children under the age of 8 are not required to attend school, including homeschool. Therefore, none of the HBI (home-based instruction, the legal name for homeschooling) laws apply to children under the age of 8.
Those children remain educationally free.
Beginning on your child’s 8th birthday, you must either enroll in a school, or homeschool. To homeschool, you must qualify, declare intent, begin to cover the 11 subjects, test or assess annually, and keep certain records. More on each of these here: http://washhomeschool.org/homeschooling/law.html
You have until the fall of 2021 to get this figured out.
The Washington Homeschool Organization’s mission is to support homeschoolng and homeschool parents on their own journey. We work to help patch you to opportunities and curriculum that works well for you and yours, but we are not a “homeschooling program” with a curriculum of our own.
How, when, where you homeschool – these are choices that are completely up to you. The law specifically states that “parents who are causing their children to receive home-based instruction shall be subject only to those minimum state laws and regulations which are necessary in ensuring that a sufficient basic educational opportunity is provided to the children receiving such instruction. Therefore, all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of books, teaching materials and curriculum, and methods, timing and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent.
The homeschool law also states that the legislature recognizes that home-based instruction is less structured and more experiential than the instruction normally provided in a classroom. Therefore, the provisions relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed.”
You are free to choose any curriculum, or to choose none.
Find what works for you and yours, don’t bother trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” and you’ll see very quickly that your kidlet will excel in some areas, and not in others. It’s okay. Play to their strengths, mitigate their weaknesses, help them develop a sense of wonder, a love of learning, and foster their innate curiosity. The rest will take care of itself.
Come to the WHO Convention. www.washhomeschool.org/convention
It’s two days of workshops and seminars, family activities, and hundreds of curriculum vendors. We’re the largest homeschool convention on the west coast – and it’s all right here in our own backyard. It’s the best way to get your hands and eyes on a bunch of different curriculum to find what will work best for your little guy.
It’s also a great place to see workshops and seminars on homeschooling, get ideas, talk to other parents of special needs kids who are homeschooling, and get energized to do this homeschooling thing.
But you have 4+ years to figure out what you want to do. It’s four years and four months before you have to begin to follow the homeschool law, or send your wee lad to school. And the great thing about planning for it now is that you have time to recognize the importance of play, and let him do a lot of it: http://washhomeschool.org/delaying-formal-instruction/
And you have time to work with him on the things he struggles with, without having to worry about academics. It’s awesome when parents are thinking about homeschooling this far in advance (and so much easier than having put him in school and withdrawing him later).
Let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Warmly,
~Jen Garrison Stuber, WHO Board Advocacy Chair