Ohio Homeschoolers are trying to get their notifications in before the start of the public school year. I wrote about this a little bit here and also here and I’m adding a bit more information.
This year it may be more important than ever to notify early and to be as complete as possible – particularly if you want your child to participate in extra-curricular activities or sports at the local public schools via the new Ohio Law. I have heard of at least one superintendent trying to impose “standards” on a homeschool family so that they can participate, so I believe that homeschoolers might be under more scrutiny this year than in years past.
Every year homeschoolers are required to notify their school district of their intent to homeschool. You are informing them; you are not asking for their permission. The notification form for Ohio Homeschoolers is available here. This is the standard form for the state. Some school districts (like mine) send their own form. Just ignore it. The standard form is compliant with the Ohio law and that’s all the school district is really entitled to. YOU ARE ONLY REQUIRED TO GIVE THE INFORMATION ON THE FORM. Do not give any additional information like social security numbers.
The first five items on the form are pretty easy to comply with.
1. School year notification this year is for 2011 – 2012.
2. Name, address and phone number
4. Full name and birth date of children to be educated.
5. Check mark to assure that home education will include: language, reading, spelling and writing, geography, history – national state and local, math, science, health, physical education, fine arts, including music, first aid, safety and fire prevention.
I interpret that to mean that sometime, during home education, I will have touched on all of that and hopefully more – like government and world history. It does not mean that I will touch on everything in great depth every year. Even the schools do not do that.
However, in the past I have run into a little trouble with the #6 in the list of required documents.
(6) Brief outline of the intended curriculum for the current year. Such outline is for informational purposes only
I wasn’t sure what a “brief”outline was exactly? Wouldn’t my list of books and resources pretty much suffice as an outline of what I hoped to cover? No. Because when I sent I sent in just the book list with the forms, I got a letter back that they needed an outline. For years, I took every textbook with me down to Kinkos and copied all of the tables of content. It was a lot of work, a lot of money and a lot of paper! Plus, I’m pretty sure they never even looked at them as I totally forgot to put Calvin’s math book contents in with the packet one year and no one ever questioned it!
So a few years ago I tried putting the list on line with links to each book like this. In my cover letter I mentioned that this was to be my “brief outline.” That’s the year I learned they don’t read the cover letters either. I got a form letter in the mail a few days later asking for my outline.
What to do? I wanted something I wasn’t going to slave over, something that wouldn’t require LOTS of copying and would satisfy the regulations. That’s when I found the Typical Course of Study Site by the folks at the World Book Encyclopedia!
They have all of the grades through 12th grade and they are easily copied and pasted into a word document where they can be easily adjusted and changed to meet your needs. They met the requirement of a “brief outline” for my school district! If you’re a newbie in Ohio, or if your state requires an outline, maybe this will work for you too.
There are other options too. The Ohio Department of Education Standard Guides are available through grade 8. This isn’t as easy to use for a quick cut and paste, but for parents that want to come up with a good outline, this is a useful tool.
For high school, The Ohio Department of Education Graduation Requirements are here, although that doesn’t really help much in creating an outline. I found a wonderful high school program with great course descriptions and outlines that could be helpful in designing outlines for Ohio notification. Also see these Course Outlines
A few years ago, I also purchased Cindy Down’s Check list. Here’s a summary:
The Checklist contains 194 pages and includes:
step-by-step directions
a checklist (scope and sequence) of topics that students study from K – 12th grade. Unlike other scope and sequences, The Checklist is not organized by grade level. Instead, the topics are listed sequentially or by subject matter so that you can teach the subjects you want, when you want. For example, the history topics are listed by time period from creation through modern times; the math topics are listed by skill development; and the science topics are listed within subtopics such as oceanography, astronomy and meteorology.
lists of major events, important people, important places, discoveries and accomplishments, and/or terms to know for each history topic.
lists of important people related to each topic along with their country of birth, date of birth and death, and a brief description of their contribution.
lists of explorers of the world, countries of the world, U.S. symbols, U.S. States and capitols with their abbreviations and the dates they entered the Union.
lists of well-known authors, artists, musicians, and missionaries
recommended books for primary and secondary students (both American and world literature)
lists of reading, math skills, writing skills, grammar skills, art skills, and MUCH MUCH MORE!
There is no need to purchase more than one copy. There is room on The Checklist to keep records for two or three children. Purchaser is granted permission to make copies of The Checklist for additional children, if needed. (This permission is restricted to purchaser’s immediate family.)
I have this on my computer and can print out any pages we are working on at the time. This too is a good resource for coming up with the required Ohio outline.
Speaking of lists – The Homeschooler’s Book of Lists 
For #7 I make a list of the books and courses that I am going to use. Last year’s book list is here. As I save the list on my computer making changes to it every year is a snap – but for large famlies I advise keeping a copy of what you do every year so that as a new child enters a grade you have covered with an older child, you can look back and see what you ahve done and you won’t be starting over!
Make sure if you are re-notifying to include your composite test results. You do NOT have to send in the entire test, just a copy that shows the name of the child and the composite score. If you did not test, then the written narrative signed by your portfolio reviewer needs to be included.
When all that is done then, the following will be sent in to the superintendent
___Notification Form – completed and signed.
___Curriculum Outline for each child.
___Book list for each child.
___Standardized Test results for each child or
___Narrative Assessment for each child.
Put it all in a big envelope and send it in certified mail or hand deliver it to the superintendent’s office requesting a receipt.
Have a great homeschooling year Ohio!
Here are two parts of a speech I gave back in June of 2012. The part about notification starts at 7:35 on the first video and continues on the second.
Elena, you should send a link to this post to ARCHE!
Mary W.