Our Family

Our Family

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Arkansas Homeschoolers Reminder to Register

If you plan on homeschooling for the 2014/2015 school year, you must file your paperwork by August 15th.  There are two forms that need to be filled out, The Notice of Intent and the Homeschool Waiver.  The Notice of Intent is a form informing the superintendent of your district that you will be homeschooling.  It asks your name and address on page one, plus the names of the children you are planning on homeschooling, their date of birth, whether they are male or female, last grade completed, grade they are entering, and what type of school they attended last year.  The second page asks your subjects being studied, and your planned school schedule. It also asks the educational qualifications of parents (what grade you completed in high school/college) and there is a spot at the bottom that has to be notarized if your child is planning on getting a driver's permit that year.  On the spaces that ask your curriculum and schedule, you do not have to be incredibly specific and it is ok if your plans change during the year.  My schedule says: 4 hours per day, 4 days per week, 36 week school year.  My subjects and curriculum lists the basic subjects and curriculum companies such as : Math-Math U See, History: Mystery Of History, Science: Apologia etc...The second form is a waiver basically stating that the state of Arkansas is not responsible for the education of your children and you just need to list the children's names and birth dates, your address and phone number, and sign the form.

You can either register by paper form or online.  Next year they will only be allowing the online option option.  If you are a first time homeschooler, you must submit your paperwork in person according to Arkansas Homeschool Law.  Anyone else who chooses the paper option can mail in your form.  If you are using the paper option, I recommend you keep a copy of your paperwork for your records and they have to be received not postmarked by the 15th.

You can find the forms here.  The site does seem to have trouble at times so if you cannot get it to load, try again later on.  Last year those that chose to file online did not get their responses for several months saying they were now legal to homeschool but I have heard that this year they are getting them much faster.  There are a few issues with the wording on the electronic forms(telling you are not legal until your form is approved), but hopefully those will be ironed out before it becomes mandatory to file online.

However you decide to file, make sure you get it in before August 15th!

If you have any questions about filling out the forms, please let me know and I will help in any way I can.

Happy Homeschooling!

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