Florida home school environments are governed by the Home Education Act of 1985. This act was written to allow Florida home school families the freedom to teach their children at home, while still complying with the compulsory education law already on the books in the state. The act included home education as one of the options for children to attend when complying with compulsory school attendance legislation. It also defines a legal home schooling environment.
According to the law, home education is “sequentially progressive instruction of a student in his or her home by his or her parent or guardian.” This means that the Florida home school has to work in a sequential manner. Children learn are educated in an orderly manner, and progress through a natural series of educational components. The law goes on to encourage, but not mandate, that Florida parents who are educating their children at home use community resources in their children’s education. This includes enrolling children in sports or fine arts groups, taking field trips into the community, and utilizing co-ops and other groups.
Under Florida home school legislation, home schooling families can only teach their own children at home, and not the children of friends or family members. Some families do choose to educate other people’s children in their homes, but in order to do so in Florida, the teaching parent must be a certified teacher and follow the private tutor regulations of the state. This regulation does not apply to most home schooling families in Florida, however, because they limit their home school to their own children.
Setting up a Florida home school is as simple as filing a few pieces of paperwork and maintaining records. First, you must file a notice with the school district superintendent’s office of your intention to home school. This notice is required within thirty days of implementing your home school. The sooner you file, the better, so you are not accused of having truant children. This notice should be sent via certified mail, so that you know it was received. Many Florida counties require you to submit this notice annual, so if you are unsure of your county’s specific regulations, then you should send it each year. This notice needs to include the names and birth dates of each child you are teaching at home, as well as your address and signature.
Your Florida home school needs to keep records in a portfolio. This portfolio should include documents of the books and curriculum you used, as well as samples of the work your children have done. As you teach and complete material, put some samples in the portfolio, because the law requires that it be kept “contemporaneously (at the same time) with the instruction.” The superintendent of the school district is allowed to review this portfolio at any time, provided the office gives you written notice fifteen days ahead. The portfolio needs to be kept for two years as proof of the progress you are making in your home school.
Under Florida home school legislation you are required to send in an evaluation of your children’s progress each year, and have it filed with the school board. A certified teacher who comes to your home and evaluates your children can do this evaluation. Another option is to have your children take the state standardized test, the SAT test, or a similar standardized test. If you wish, you can have your children undergo psychological evaluations instead. Most often, Florida parents choose to have their children take the standardized tests. They can be taken at the public schools in the area, or administered by a certified teacher at another location.
Finally, if for any reason you choose to stop homeschooling, you are required to send the superintendent a letter of termination. Even if you move out of the county and are going to home school in a different county or state, you still need to submit this letter. This way, the superintendent can take your children out of their home schooling record keeping system. Send this notice in the same way that you sent the notice that you were going to home school your children.
Florida home school law is designed to allow freedom to home schooling families, while maintaining a level of accountability. The state wants to know that the children are being educated, while allowing parents the choice to educate them at home. Because of the freedom that home schooling families have under this law, many parents in Florida are choosing to home school their children!
