Can you get your child enrolled for homeschol now?

Question

Can you get your child enrolled for homeschol now?

Answer 1

You can withdraw your own child from school at any point and homeschool them yourself. It is not something to undertake lightly, and it is not something other people do for you.

Answer 2

States differ in their laws.

In Arkansas, for instance, if you want to begin homeschooling in the middle of the school term, the schools may make you take a two week waiting period if they choose. This is to give parents a cool off period if there has been a conflict.

Personally, I think the two week wait can be very healthy. Some parents have researched carefully prior to making their decision to homeschool and have weighed the pros, the cons, and how much work it will be. But others jump into it in a fit of anger with the school without taking the time to really think through the decision. These parents are often the ones that we hear the horror stories from because they pulled their child out with a temper tantrum. After their kids are out they don't have the maturity and research behind them to do the job. Then they have too much pride to put them back in school when they realize they may have jumped before looking where their feet would land. It makes homeschooling look bad. The two weeks wait can be enough for the more hot-headed parents to cool off and research. Those that really did weigh the decision typically can manage to wait a few more weeks and put the wait to good use while they order and wait for homeschool materials to arrive. Usually, if the school sees a parent that is calm and firmly resolved they will not require a two week waiting period.

Check the laws in your state. The HSLDA website is a good one-stop location for homeschooling law.

Answer 3

Every state has its own laws.  In my state we must file a declaration of intent to homeschool by September 15 or within 15 days of the start of any school semester or quarter.  So if you lived in my state, you would need to wait until until 15 days before the start of the next quarter, which I think is in about 3 weeks.  Some states don't require you to file at all, so you would be able to just withdraw from public school and begin homeschooling.

You need to find out what the law says in your state.  Some general outlines of the laws can be found at http://www.hslda.org click on "In Your State", then select the appropriate state, then click on "Laws....."

If you don't find an answer to your specific question at that site, then type into Google, homeschool and the name of your state, (for example "Homeschool California").  You should find support groups and state homeschool organizations, they will be able to answer your question with respect to your locality.

Answer 4

All states have different laws on homeschooling.  Here is a good place to start.

hslda.org to find your state.