1) Are the parent(s)/guardian(s) or persons teaching the child elsewhere than at school required to have a teaching license?

No. The parent(s)/guardian(s) or persons teaching a child elsewhere than at school are not required by law to have a teaching license.

2) What information should parents/guardians of a child educated elsewhere than at school submit to the local board of education when removing a child from school for homeschooling?

Parent(s)/guardian(s) are not required by law to notify their public school district of their intention to educate the child elsewhere than at school. However, they are encouraged to do so in order that questions need not arise with respect to their compliance with the compulsory education law.

3) Is it the responsibility of the local board of education to review and approve the curriculum for a child educated elsewhere than at school?

No. The law does not require or authorize the local board of education to review and approve the curriculum or program of a child educated elsewhere than at school. When parent(s)/guardian(s) educate a child elsewhere than at school, they are responsible for the educational outcomes of the child. The local board of education is not required or authorized to monitor the outcomes of the child.

4) May the parent(s)/guardian(s) of a child educated elsewhere than at school request information regarding a curriculum from the local board of education?

Yes. Parents may seek information about the school curriculum from the local board of education. If the parent(s)/guardian(s) request such information, the board must provide it since a district’s curriculum is a matter of public record. The parent(s)/guardian(s) may be charged for the cost of copying documents in accordance with the rates established by law.

5) How will grade placement be determined for a child educated elsewhere than at school who returns to school?

When a child returns to school following a period of homeschooling, the local board of education treats the child as any other new or returning child (i.e. assessed as to the acceptance of credits and the appropriate grade level for purposes of placement). There are no special provisions made for the child who was educated at home. Placement should be based on an objective assessment that is given to all students for that subject or grade. In assessing the child educated elsewhere than at school, the child may not be held to a higher standard than similarly situated students within the district or transferring from other public or nonpublic schools. Also, if a child educated elsewhere than at school re-enrolls in public school in order to obtain a high school diploma, an assessment is made as to the child’s compliance with state and local requirements, as the board of education would with any new or returning student, since no diploma can be issued when such requirements are not met. Their assessment may include one of the following applicable to grade of entry: the fourth grade Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA), the Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) and High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) or the Special Review Assessment (SRA).

6) Does a child educated elsewhere than at school receive a high school diploma from the local board of education?

No. A child educated elsewhere than at school does not receive a state-endorsed high school diploma from the board of education. If a child educated elsewhere than at school re-enrolls in public school in order to obtain a high school diploma, an assessment is made as to the child’s compliance with state and local requirements and eligibility for a diploma.

You don’t have to fill out paperwork, or get certification, or have the state evaluate or approve anything – you just plain do it. Here’s a place that has TONS of curriculum, mostly at a discount: http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php

And for record keeping, here’s some companies that sell easy-to-use, quality software (though you can keep your records on anything from a notebook, to a gradebook, to an Excel spreadsheet):

http://www.tghomesoft.com/default.aspx

http://www.contechsolutions.net/products/eths_pc/index.htm

The benefit of these is that they will help you/your mom lesson plan, keep attendance, hours, scope and sequence, grades, transcripts, report cards, resource lists, lists of books read, and tons more stuff. These will come in handy during jr. high/high school.

Other than that, you just plain do it. There are homeschool support groups all over the place that offer support, training for your mom, clubs, field trips, co op classes, volunteer opportunities, social stuff like game nights and proms, etc. Here are some in NJ: http://www.hslda.org/orgs/default.asp?State=NJ You can also just google the name of your city or county and “homeschool group” to come up with more.

If you contact the school district, they will most likely give you a huge run-around…they often aren’t “up” on homeschooling laws, and honestly, they don’t want to lose your money. Only go this route if you know you’re going back to public school somewhere along the line (and even then, you don’t have to go through the state).

Hope that helps!

this is the homeschool legal defense association. If you start here you will find exactly what you need to do. Sometimes school districts and state education agencies will try to ask homeshoolers to do things they are not legally required to do.

So, if your parents are interested in homeschooling, make sure they get accurate information on how to begin the process by checking with a site like hslda, so they are not doing things and filling out forms and all kinds of other things they may not have to do.

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp

For more details on NJ in particular try:

http://www.state.nj.us/education/genfo/overview/faq_homeschool.htm

It looks NJ is one of the easiest state to homeschool in!

Next you have to decide on curricula, which can be anything from online correspondence courses to entirely self made. You can develop an idea of what course/subjects you’d like to explore throught the year then check the library and bookstores for materials. You can run a search by grade lvl to come up with complete curricula. The sky is the limit – play to your strengths and don’t be afraid to try all sorts of different things!

Also, you’d probably find it super-helpful to locate a local homeschool group. There are lots out there, and they can provide support, notify you of local events, plan activities together, etc. An online search of ‘your state homeschooling will pull up a lot of groups. I found these with just a quick search of yahoogroups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NE-NJ-Homeschooling/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CHNJ/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NJLoop/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolersCentralNJ/

There were many more listed just in Yahoo groups as well.

Best of luck in your new adventure!