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Packets Sent Out By Local School Districts

By DBolin


Every summer, we see more school districts send out packets, many times encouraging you to fill out the forms included in place of your letter of notification.  CHEK advises all parents to send your letter of notification within the first two weeks of school in your district, as outlined in the law and Best Practice Document.  Here are two concerns we have with many of these packets.

 Request for information is overreaching.            
                 
            The Letter of Notification requires: 
  •   Parent’s names
  •   Address of location of school 
  •   Name of school, child’s name and age

             Recent packets sent by districts have asked for one or more of the following: 
                           
  •    Grade
  •    Date of birth
  •    Specific needs of child
  •    Race

  •    Email
  •    Phone number 
  •    Type of calendar being used 
  •    Curriculum
  •    Start date of your private school


        Many of the packets are not up to date on Kentucky law, particularly on two topics.
  •            The minimum instructional days are now 170.
  •            The compulsory school age is 6 by August 1 to 18 years old. This does not apply to graduates.

      Pertaining to graduation, the homeschool packets sometime state graduates may find it quite difficult to enroll in college or find employment with an unaccredited homeschool diploma. Therefore, they may need to take the GED. This is the furthest from the truth, there are very few cases where this is requested.  If an employer or college is requesting your child take the GED, call CHEK or HSLDA.
6.    
     Some packets give online resources as an option for your homeschool.  Please, be aware that if you
     use these services your child remains under the authority of the local school and that they are not
     participating as a private homeschool student. 

     If you receive a packet from your district, please send a copy to CHEK at our email: info@chek.org
     with '(District) Homeschool Packet' in the subject line. 

               




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