Homeschooling questions regarding vaccine exemptions?

Question

I live in California. I will be homeschooling my children and since my son is nearly school age, begining to explore each homeschooling option.

Enrolling in a private school satellite program, taking "independent study": Can they make requirements of us regarding vaccinations? Will I have to provide them with an exemption? Since they are a private school, can they refuse to accept my exemption?

Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

As far as I know private schools can discriminate on any basis they wish including religion and gender, so if they can discriminate on those they certainly can on vaccines.

However they probably are used to non-vax'd kids given the area and the kind of school.

Answer 2

Only public schools are legally required to honor vaccine exemptions in California.  Private schools are allowed to have their own rules, and each private school may have a different policy.

Contact the private schools you're looking at.  Because you're looking at essentially "distance learning", it seems absurd that the school would really care.  The reasons that private schools deny exemptions are usually over concerns that your child could get sick and spread it to the other children.

Be firm with the school, too.  Some may try to bully you out of an exemption, or they may make claims that private schools are required to vaccinate (when in reality, they do have the option of accepting exemptions).  You may prefer not to work with a school that acts like this anyway, though.

Answer 3

Private schools really make their own rules on that.  However since it sounds like he'd basically be doing his classes at home I doubt they'll even bring it up.  You have two options here:  you can call and ask, or you can cross your fingers they don't ask about his vaccinations in the first place.  I think if they did require vaccinations you'd have good grounds for an exemption from the school's policy if they do require vaccines if he isn't going to be doing classes on their campus with other kids.  Technically they can refuse to accept your state exemption but I think that's rather unlikely in this situation.

Good luck!

Answer 4

You can give me a thumbs down for this if you want, but let me tell you:  Anti-Vax parents make me really, really angry.  It's one thing if you "have trouble affording it", but it's another thing to contribute to the rebirth of contagions that were minimized decades ago with valuable vaccination invention.

Had one of those lovely anti-vax parents had just gotten their kid a varicella vaccine, I probably would not have contracted chicken pox from that coughing child at the age of 33, causing me to almost DIE because of my already weakened immune system (and also causing me to be bedridden and unable to travel to see my grandmother on her deathbed) .

Vaccines do not cause anything but SAFETY for others.  It's entirely selfish for you to impose your potential health hazards onto the rest of us because you didn't take the time to read anything from the medical profession re: vaccines.

And if you're anti-vax and believe all of the conspiracy hype against vaccines, then you probably shouldn't be homeschooling anyone.