Homeschooling in New Jersey

The laws regarding in homeschooling in the state of New Jersey are far more lenient than other states. The main requirement is that you provide an equivalent academic education as the local public school system.

It is not required to notify the school board. However, it is recommended to avoid dealing with truant officers and the issue of truancy. Save yourself headache; write a letter.

The state has no right to evaluate your curriculum; if asked, the public school is required by law to provide you with a copy of their curriculum. Be prepared to pay for copying costs.

The state has no right to administer any tests to any homeschooled students.

And of course, the big thing in New Jersey, dates back over a year in the case of DYFS (Division of Youth & Family Services) where kids under the DYFS supervision where homeschooled and starved. Unfortunately, homeschooling is being blamed, not the failure of DYFS to keep check on those under the office's care.

If DYFS shows up on your doorstep demanding to come in and inspect, you have the right under the fourth amendment to refuse. DYFS needs to show probably cause; an anonymous tip does not count.

To help fight any allegations, there is the Home School Legal Defense Association. The HSLDA was formed by two lawyers to defend the rights of homeschoolers.

Also, to facilitate ease of teaching, many curriculums are available on the market. Abeka is one such company, along with Alpha Omega Publications. Options include workbook programs, CDRom programs, online courses, and more. The students progress at their own pace.

It is recommended that you track your children's hours. You will probably find, with most children, that not as many hours are required. For one thing, you don't need to change classes, no locker time, no bussing time, no time for attendance, morning announcements, group potty breaks, etc. And the class doesn't stop for the slowest student. You have limited students and can proceed at the pace they need, concentrating on aspects that are difficult for them and picking up the pace for those that acquire easily. Not to mention, you don't need to spend time concentrating on teaching what will be on the state assessment tests or reviewing after a long break or the summer.

In order to avoid the lengthy time spent reviewing in the fall after a three month break, a 6 week on, 1 week off program can be used. Teaching will progress quicker because of the continuity of teaching. The 1 week off still allows the kids to be kids and play.

Please note, that any services, such as speech therapy, physical or occupational therapy, are not mandated to be continued. The school system, if your children are enrolled and receiving services, is not required to provide services for homeschooled or private school students, only for those in the public school system.

Alternative therapy solutions will differ with the extent of therapy required. For those only receiving therapy once a week the follow suggestion can be explore. For physical therapy, do activites involving the body areas with issues. (I.e. arm coordination could include ball tosses) Occupational therapy works on fine motor skills, like cutting, drawing shapes, tying shoe laces. Picking small items out of a container with rice grains is good fine motor practice for the "pincher" grasp with thumb and forefinger. As for speech, there are a numerous phonics programs. A phonics workbook practiced with other family members is another option. Some of these can be mixed with other activities such as a nature walk and sounding out different plants. A good way to combine science and therapy. Cutting can be part of art. Clipping coupons is also good cutting practice and can be an introduction to home economics or even used for math by adding up the savings.

Save work, workbooks, and any projects. To conserve space, they can be scanned into a computer and burned onto a CD.

Many of the purchased curriculums also offer diagnostic tests in the different subjects. If your student is currently in a public school, use the test and save the results. This gives you a base line of their learning. Now you just need to keep improving.