Tips for Writing Your Education Plan from "The Parent's Guide to Successful Homeschooling" As I mentioned in the above section, part of the main aspects of getting approved to homeschool your children is in the creation of your education plan or proposal. In it, you need to prove that you are ready, willing, and capable of teaching your own children. This section is going teach you how to create your education plan. Here are some of the statutes regarding these plans: Compulsory Attendance Statute In many states, there is no statute that specifically governs homeschooling. However, many of them have upheld the compulsory attendance statute which states that every child between the minimum and maximum ages that have been established for school attendance by the board of education is obligated to attend a public day school in their town, or some other day school that is approved by the school committee.  However, it also states that such attendance shall not be required of a child who is being otherwise taught in a manner that is approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee. Ages for School Attendance The minimum age that has been established for compulsory school attendance is six, whereas the maximum age is 16. Each child must attend school beginning in September of the calendar year once he or she reaches the age of six. Approval of homeschooling plans The court has decided that while parents have a basic right in directing the education of their children, however; this kind of right is not really absolute but has to be reconciled with the substantial State interest in the education of its smallest citizens.  It is therefore necessary that the school committee seek to enforce, through the approval process under, certain reasonable educational requirements be similar to those required for public and private schools.  The court systems have recognized that certain factors may be considered by the superintendent or school committee in helping to decide whether or not to approve a home school proposal. The factors that are considered are as follows: 1. The proposed curriculum that you decide to show, the length of the homeschool year and the number of hours of instruction in each of the proposed subjects 2. The competency of the parents who are to teach the children 3. Parental and student access to the textbooks, workbooks, and other instructional aids that are to be used by the children and to the lesson plans and teaching manuals to be used by the parents 4. A form of assessment of the children so that the system can be sure that the educational progress and the attainment of minimum standards are up to par Practical Application of Guidelines Before you begin submitting anything to your school district, it is a good idea to talk to other local homeschoolers in your area. You can probably find someone by contacting a support group near you. While the statutes for homeschooling do not specify that a homeschooling plan needs to be submitted annually in every area, most towns expect annual plans. Guideline 1: School officials may consider the subjects the child will study, the length of the homeschool year, and the hours that these kids will be taught. While some school officials may consider hours of instruction in each subject, they may not dictate the exact way in which the subjects will be taught. Subjects the child will study: First of all, you will have to consider the lists of the core subjects such as mathematics, science and technology, history and social science, English, foreign languages and the arts. Other subjects that may be included in your child’s area of study may include orthography, reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, religion, drawing, music, the history and constitution of the United States, the duties of citizenship, health education, gym  and good behavior. To follow these guidelines parents can list the subjects that they plan to cover when drawing up their proposal. A simple list of them should be good enough, since the school is not allowed to dictate the manner in which you teach anyway.  You may want to use key phrases or paragraphs that will be of help to convey the flexible nature of homeschooling: Topics that will be placed in the education proposal may include, but do not have to be limited to, the following: [Child's name here] will use a developmentally-appropriate and integrated curriculum. We will plan her learning process together, based on her interests, sothat while it is impossible to state in advance which specific topical areas we will cover, we expect to cover the following subjects during this school year: We will be practicing learner-directed educational skills; [child's name]'s course of study is based upon his/her specific interests. His/her range of interests is quite broad and his/her learning will be created accordingly. [Child’s name]'s education is to be holistic as well since learning often occurs in the context of normal life experiences. His/her school year will extend 365 days a year for this reason. The curriculum is a statement of things [child's name] has learned and, based on that, of things s/he will continue learning throughout the year. Topics have a tendency to mix together and activities and discussions during the year will reflect a wider picture than what can be expressed in a list of isolated subjects previously mentioned. Of course, if you are following a boxed or self-made curriculum for your child, you can simply outline what you plan to cover for the year, while still allowing for some level of flexibility in your plan. If you do not want to write an outline, you can create a photocopy of the table of contents from the curriculum instead. Length of the homeschool year: Cities and towns are obligated to operate the public schools for a minimum of 180 days. However, it does not go so far as to state that the length of a homeschool's year MUST be the same as a public school year. However, you must ensure that your homeschool year will meet or beat 180 days. Many homeschool families choose to write that their homeschool year extends 365 days a year, which means that it easily exceeds the minimum 180 days of a public school because of the life lessons that are often taught. In any case, you should make a note that the length of your homeschool year will be somewhere between 180 days and 365 days a year. Hours of instruction per subject: Parents may want to calculate the hours of instruction based on the way in which they homeschool, which does not have to be an exact replicate of what the public school's offering, however it should equal it in how thorough and effective it is.  You should keep in mind that the definition of instruction is a loose one and includes such activities as independent study, field trips, computer-aided learning, and presentations by people that are not teachers. Also, it helps for you to know that following a schedule is not an important consideration in a home school where the use of time is different. Some parents choose to write that they will meet or exceed the 900 (elementary) or 990 (secondary) minimum hours of teaching. If your local school officials insist on your adding more detail than this, you will want to submit an estimate of hours per subject per year. But when you do this you will want to preface it by including a statement such as “Because of the flexible nature of homeschooling, the following is just an estimate of the hours of instruction spent per subject” If you are interested in knowing how the public schools allocate their time, schools have curriculum guides that define how much time will be spent on each subject per week. These guides should be made available to you upon request. Schools are not authorized to go so far as to ask for an hourly or daily schedule. If the school official is insisting on an hourly daily or weekly schedule, you will want to accompany the above with this quote, which was taken from Brunelle: “While following a schedule may be an important consideration in a public school where preexisting schedules need to be maintained and coordinated, the perception and use of time in a home school are different. The plaintiffs can observe and accommodate variations (from child to child, subject to subject, day to day) in the learning process and teach through a process that paces each student.” Guideline 2: School officials may ask you for information that pertains to the academic credentials or qualifications of the parents who will be teaching the children. Certification would not necessarily be required for parents under a home school proposal.  Let me just tell you that parents do not need to have college or advanced academic degrees. All the laws state clearly that what is needed for homeschooling is that teachers shall be 'of competent ability and good morals. For example, if you have a criminal history on record, you would not be deemed worthy to teach a child. In order for parents to comply with this standard they can include one of the  following in their education plan: · I am of competent ability and good morals for teaching my child. · Summarize your educational credentials, certifications etc. · Schools are not authorized to ask for the qualifications of everyone who will be teaching your child such as speakers etc. Guideline 3: School officials may consider teaching materials, but only if it is to determine subject and grade levels of the children being taught. School officials may not use this access as a means to dictate the manner in which the subjects will be taught. There are actually some lessons that are considered intangible to school systems. For example, travel, community service, visits to educationally enriching facilities like museums and places like this, and meeting with various resource people, can provide important learning experiences apart from the four corners of a text or workbook that can make homeschooling more rewarding for parent and child.  In order for you to be able to follow this guideline properly: You can write in your educational plan, that you will be using a variety of materials and resources, whereas you will be providing a list to be made available to the school department upon request. Or, you can list the books and other resources that you will ensure that they will have available to them. If you are using a pre-set curriculum, then you can list the books and resources you will be following from that. If your school insists on getting more detail, photocopying the table of contents of a couple of key books will probably be good enough.