Remove Your Children From Government Schools and Take Control of Their Educational Journey

The start of the school year has already resulted in school shootings, assaults, educators charged with sex crimes, and outlandish attendance policies. Every year I watch, read and listen to parents grappling with educational decisions for their children. Parents are fed up but don’t know what to do.

It is never too late to home school. The hardest step is always the first one. You can do it. Arm yourself with the information you need and take the leap.

One concern that I have is that many families have removed their children from the brick-and-mortar school building and are under the assumption that they are home schooling, but are they really? I have read multiple posts from parents giving advice on how to home school in Tennessee, but unfortunately what I have seen circulating more often than not is a great deal of misinformation.

I hope this article will clear up any confusion regarding home-school laws in Tennessee and give a clear synopsis of what home schooling is and what it is not. No matter your area code, this article also provides you with some tips to make navigating your new home-school journey less stressful. If you haven’t already, embrace the freedom that home schooling provides.

In Tennessee home-school parents can choose to register their child as an independent home-school student. This is the most regulated home-school option and one I never recommend.

“To independently home school in Tennessee, parents or legal guardians must possess a high school diploma or a high school equivalency credential approved by the state board of education and must submit an Intent to Home School form to the school district where the family resides. Parents may withdraw their child to independent home school at any point during the school year. To continue operating as an independent home school, a new Intent to Home School form must be submitted before the start of each school year,” according to information from the Tennessee Department of Education. “Students graduating from an independent home school receive their diplomas and transcripts from their parent-teacher. Independent home school students must take the TCAP assessment in grades five, seven and nine. Each Tennessee school district has a home school coordinator whose responsibilities include assisting families with compliance for independent home school.”

Category IV (the Umbrella School Option) is the option that the majority of home-school families utilize in Tennessee, and the least restrictive. There are hundreds of umbrella schools to choose from and they all vary greatly. Many do not require testing and allow parents the freedom and flexibility to choose the method of home schooling that works best for their child. Parents registering with an umbrella school are not required to submit an intent to home school to their local board of education. Once enrolled with an umbrella school, the school will handle all communication with any public school employees.

If you are enrolled with an umbrella option and are being harassed by a government school agent, promptly tell them that they are to never contact you again and to contact the umbrella in which your child is enrolled or they will face legal action. Once enrolled with an umbrella, all communication should go through your umbrella school. A list of non-public umbrella schools can be found at tn.gov/education.

Some parents have confused Category III as a home schooling option. This is the accredited online school option. The tn.gov website is very clear that these are online private schools and not homeschools.

Home schooling is not a virtual private online school at home. That simply put, is still a private school, but at home. The virtual private school where your child is enrolled determines the online curriculum your child utilizes and that same private school determines the rules and policies your child will follow while enrolled in their private school, at home. Parents are not in control of their child’s education with this method. The private school is.

So what is home schooling? Home schooling is parent-led and parent-directed. That means the parent chooses the method and curriculum (if any), is directly in charge, and participates in the education of their child.

This brings me to another common misconception. Virtual public schools are not home schooling. This is literally a public school in the location of your home.

“A Tennessee public virtual school is a public school that uses technology to deliver a significant portion of instruction to its students via the internet in a virtual or remote setting. Public virtual schools are held to the same rigorous standards as all other public schools in Tennessee,” as defined by the state.

Some examples of these virtual public schools are Connections Academy, Tennessee Online Public School, Virtual Academy of Maury County and many more. You can find a complete list here:

I cannot express enough that this IS NOT home schooling.

With the passage of the Education Freedom Scholarship Act in Tennessee, the face of home schooling has been hijacked by entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize by applying to be a vendor and provide services at the expense of the taxpayers. They are private/public partnerships whose goal is to make a buck off of state-controlled and funded private education. They have labeled themselves microschools, hybrid schools, learning pods and multiple other names, all of which are a direct threat to true home-school freedom.

Home schooling is not a hybrid school or a microschool where your child is under the supervision, tutelage and care of paid employees for the majority of their education. That is not home schooling; just as the name implies, it is a school.

It is not a learning pod with a paid teacher instructing a group of students for the majority of their educational hours without the parents present. Again, that is private school. Co-ops and tutorials are also not “learning pods” even though legislation in Tennessee was rammed through last session to legally define it as such for the sole purpose of protecting those entrepreneurs who want to capitalize on the school choice scam.

Our home school laws in Tennessee are cumbersome and unconstitutional. During the last legislative session we had hoped to change that with the FREE Act. Home school laws in Tennessee need to change, and soon, but for now a parent’s best legal option for home schooling in Tennessee is to use a Category IV umbrella school. Do your research and choose one that is best for your family.

The following recommendations apply to families considering home schooling no matter their geographical location:

1. Make sure you are familiar with the home-school laws in your state before you begin your journey.

2. Define your why. Why do you want to home school your children? Defining your why will help to solidify your resolve.

3. Hold off on purchasing that curriculum. Take the time to de-school your children and yourself. During the de-schooling process, take the time to research home-school models. Find the model that works best for each of your children and for your family. This will save you a vast amount of time, frustration and money.

4. Consider hiring a home-school consultant or finding a mentor who has graduated home-schooled children and can answer your questions.

5. If you have extenuating circumstances that you feel may serve as roadblocks in your home-school journey, tap into available resources. There are thousands of working home-school parents, single parents and parents of children with special needs that have home schooled or are home schooling their children successfully. Don’t forget to utilize the free resources on freeyourchildren.com to help you navigate your new journey to educational freedom.

Home schooling puts parents directly in the driver’s seat of their children’s education. Enjoy the journey!

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Photo, top, courtesy of Artem Podrez / Pexels