Homeschooling 101: Rules and Regulations

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Covi-19 has turned the world upside down. As a homeschooling family we felt the changes, not  quite as drastically as other families, but it’s still been a big change for us...
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-We missed a three day field trip to the Grand Canyon.
-We had to postpone a belt test to an unknown date.
-We had to postpone our entire Maine study as 90% of it involved field trips and hands on activities.
- We missed a Court of Honor to celebrate our Scout’s hard earned rank achievement.
- Gym class was canceled.
-Piano lessons canceled.
- We grieved just like everybody else. It seemed to really sink in for the boy’s about three weeks in.
BUT…
-We also quickly changed our schedules and focus because we realized we were living out history, someday they will all be telling their kids about the Pandemic of 2020.
- We took our standardized tests early.
- We started our summer break early. (Actually they are still learning, but they don’t realize it.)
- We have watched the life of a seed as we’ve planted and planned out our garden. Nothing like a little botany study.
- As life has slowed they have both spent more time learning life skills such as cooking, and basic home repairs. 
- Our Boy Scout has been working hard on earning merit badges. (So far all of them are going on his records as a unit study in either history or science.)

Over the weeks I’ve watched friends and loved ones not only feel the burden of the social distancing but also be thrown into a new thing called remote learning. I think hands down it’s been hard all around. As this school year comes to a close there are still a lot of unknowns about what next year’s school system will look like. So after talking to some dear friends I’ve decided to share some of my homeschooling journey, some resources, techniques, laws, and my love/hate relationship to it.

Let’s start with the laws and regulations.

On a federal level there really are no rules, each state sets their own standard. Personally I think Maine is currently a great state to homeschool in.  Basically it requires only this:
- That all kids be enrolled in school between the ages of 6 And 17.
- That each student completes 175 days of school.
- That a letter of intent be sent to your school district annually.
- That you either have a certified teacher go over your child’s school portfolio and then they would write a letter of completion for the district. OR Each child takes a standardized test at the end of the year with copies of the scores sent to your local school district. (More on this in another blog post.)

There are a few other things such as between 6 and 12 grade the kids need to do a Maine study in some way. 

Here are some helpful resources to look into:

Compulsory Attendance Maine Statues 

Homeschoolers of Maine (HOME)

Homeschool Legal defense (HSLDA) - These guys are nation wide and on their website have links to each states laws and statues involving homeschooling.

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