This is not legal advice. As someone who lives in a state that is highly regulated, I cannot emphasize enough the need for you to advocate for yourself and make a point to know your state laws. While the school district will most likely provide you with a printed copy of the laws and regulations for home schooling, a local home schooling group can be a valuable asset when it comes to navigating your way through the system.
I mentioned in my first blog on West Virginia that there are two options, the “approval” option, where a parent seeks approval from the state board of education and the “notice” option where a parent notifies the board of education of their decision to homeschool. I should note that you can also form a group of parents and form a “private school” as an option for homeschooling–but this private school is then subject to the state education laws. This blog will cover the rest of the legalities of homeschooling in West Virginia under the “notice” option and then in a final blog, we’ll talk about assessment options under the “notice” option.
Compulsary Attendance: A child is of compulsory attendance age the year his 6th birthday is reached before September 1st OR upon enrolling in a publicly supported kindergarten program. (Note then that if your child attends kindergarten at a public school, he is of compulsory age if you pull him out–even if he’s younger than 6 years old or if his 6th birthday is after September 1st.) Compulsory attendance age continues until the student turns 16 or while he is enrolled in a public school.
Required Attendance: There are no specified required number of days of attendance.
Required Subjects: While there are no specified subjects that are required, standardized testing in certain subjects is required.
In order to homeschool legally in West Virginia a parent must file a notice with the board of education. If a child is already in public school and is being pulled out, the notice must be filed within two weeks.
The notice should state the following:
The parent intends to provide instruction at home to the named child. The notice of intent should also include: the child’s name, address, age, and grade level. It should also include an outline of a plan of instruction for the year, and evidence of the “teacher’s” high school diploma or equivalent.
Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.