Learning how to deal with your child’s school when you decide to homeschool is one of the first steps you’ll need to take. This may be the most nerve-racking part of homeschooling your child, but it doesn’t have to be.
If you’re concerned, stressed or just lost in regards to dealing with your child’s school it may be because you have grown up seeing the school as an authority.
However, at the end of the day, they have no power over you or your child when you are ready to pull your child from school.
How to Deal with Your Child’s School When You Decide to Homeschool
How your child’s school may put up a fight
Many schools will try to talk you out of the decision you’ve made to pull your child out. This is because they get funding for each student that attends the school and when you pull your child you are pulling that funding.
It is common for schools to try and make homeschooling sound difficult. They may even attempt to make you feel guilty for pulling your child from the school they attend with all of their friends.
Do not let this get to you as it is simply a mind game to try and talk parents out of taking a stand in their child’s education.
Please remember, that the people in the school system that will try to talk you out of homeschooling are not homeschooling experts. Most of them do not even know what the local homeschooling laws are.
The school may try to give you a list of requirements for homeschooling and/or ask you to fill out paperwork that is not required by state law to pull your child out of school.
It is essential that you arrive prepared and aware of what your rights and responsibilities are and do not let your child’s school push you into anything.
Know your state’s laws
Each state has its own homeschool laws. Before you pull your child from school you need to arm yourself with knowledge of these laws. Knowledge is power.
Ensure that you understand what is required and what steps you must take to pull your child from school. This will allow you to walk in with confidence and get the job done no matter what your child’s school tries to throw at you.
It can help to keep a printed copy of your state’s homeschool laws in hand when you go into your child’s school. If you’re communicating via email you can attach a link to the local homeschool laws.
Be prepared to stick up for your rights
While some parents have an easy time and experience pulling their child from school. It can go smoothly and the parent and school staff walk away in good standing. However, this is not always the case.
Before you go in you need to be prepared to stand your ground. This is why knowing your state’s laws and convictions on why you are pulling your child from the school is essential.
You may need to be firm when you speak and stand up for your child and the decision you’ve made for them.
If you are pulling your child due to a problem with the school, it can help to have documentation of these problems to point out to the staff along with your rights for homeschooling.
Do not do more work than is required of you in your state.
In most states, you are only required to give the school or the local district notice through a letter of intent to homeschool. If the school tries to make you do more than the laws of the state require simply walk away and reach out to HSLDA.
It is essential for the future of homeschooling, that parents do not provide more information or documentation to the schools and/or government than is required by law.
We need to protect our right to homeschool the children that God has given us, in our home, in our way. We don’t need a teacher, principal or government official’s permission to do so.
