Homeschoolers – How to Notify in Ohio After the COVID-19 Pandemic

What is the Homeschool Law in Ohio?

Parents wishing to homeschool their children in the state of Ohio, do so under the Ohio Revised Code 3321.04 and must notify the superintendent of their local public school every year for children between the ages of 6 and 18, inclusive, by the first day of public school. Unfortunately for many of us, that means notifying by mid-August since schools open by then to accommodate the football schedule.

For the last four years, I opted to notify as quickly as possible, because my daughter participates in the local high school’s cross country and track teams and I don’t want there to be any disruption in her practice schedule. For the 2020/21 school year, I completed my paperwork and had it back within a week.

This year I am not notifying for my daughter because she is over 18, she is not being homeschooled any longer, and the law does not require it. When my son graduated in 2016, a school official insisted that I send in a notification and test results. I did nothing and neither did they. He has since graduated from college and is working so it worked out. I intend to go that route for my daughter as well.

I am notifying for my granddaughter however.

A quick note here for newbies – you are notifying your superintendent. You are NOT asking for their permission. You have the right to homeschool your child and in Ohio, the superintendent has the right to be notified.

Do I have to send in a notification for all of my homeschooled children?

Per the homeschool regulations of Ohio, children under the age of 6 or over the age of 18 at the time of the first day of school DO NOT have to notify the superintendent because they are outside of the compulsory school age parameters. If your child turns 6 after the start of the district’s school year, you do not have to send in a notification.

That said, I sent in a notification for Miss C. because her birthday is only about 12 weeks after the start of the school year, and she was already doing first-grade work. I wanted her parents to feel secure that all of the necessary paperwork had been turned in. But this was a personal choice, not a necessity.

What if your student is over 18 years of age, but not a graduate?

The student who has reached the age of 18 before the first day of school doesn’t need an excusal letter by law, because he/she is over the age of compulsory education. But you may want the final letter to go with the diploma. Should you notify or not?

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association says this:

HSLDA believes that a parent-issued diploma and transcript should be sufficient to demonstrate that a child has completed secondary education. However, even if your child is beyond compulsory school attendance age, there may be situations where you would want to continue to follow the requirements of a home education option recognized under Ohio law until your child graduates from high school (filing a home education notice, keeping attendance and other records, etc). These records may be requested in some situations, such as obtaining a driver’s license if your child is a minor, enlisting in the military , applying to colleges, or demonstrating eligibility for Social Security benefits . If you are a member of HSLDA and would like additional details, please contact them.

I also heard from Attorney Jill from HSLDA  July 20, 2017, on this issue.  She told me that with homeschooling high school in Ohio after the age of 18,  you do not have to send in a notification. HSLDA says that the final letter would mean the final letter under the compulsory age requirement.  However, some families will choose to send in a notification after age 18 so that they have that letter for the final year of high school, and that’s fine! If the parents are comfortable with that, they can go ahead. You are NOT being a bad homeschooler if you want to notify even if your student is over 18! It’s a personal choice.

OK, so I want to homeschool this year, now what?

Since 2014, parents are required to send paperwork to the superintendent of the local schools. Some school districts are still requiring parents to send the information to an educational service center. This makes me wonder why the law was changed in the first place since the school districts don’t seem to be on board with it!

I did speak to HSLDA about this and the lawyer there told me that if parents have a good working relationship with the ECS in their district and know that the superintendent will send the excusal letter, they could continue to do so.

In Akron, I do have a good relationship with the woman at Akron Public Schools and feel very comfortable sending my information to her. She always gets me the letter from the superintendent that I need.

I did have a debate on an Ohio homeschooling Facebook page a few years ago. A homeschooler sent her notification of intent to her homeschool (NOI) to the superintendent, who returned it to her and asked her to send it to the local ESC. I suggested making two copies, sending one to the superintendent again (certified mail or at least requiring a signature on delivery) and the other to the ESC. This is double work, and the moderator of this group was dead set against it. However, I think it meets the letter of the law and it helps get the excusal letter, which is the purpose of doing all of this in the first place!

And I guess I should mention that for decades, I have been taking my notification information down to the board of education and handing it in. I have NEVER spoken with the superintendent about this. I have always gotten my letter back in good time. For 2020 and 2021, I emailed my information again and got it back even quicker.

Since we are between superintendents this summer, it will be interesting for me to see how this all plays out.

Filling out the paperwork

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 Ohio law and that’s all the school district is entitled to. YOU ARE ONLY REQUIRED TO GIVE THE INFORMATION ON THE FORM. Do not give any additional information such as social security numbers. My district also asks for phone numbers, which I no longer give.

Due to COVID-19, my school district didn’t want to do anything face-to-face. So when I went to notify I was directed to the school district’s website and then sent to a Google Form. I went ahead and filled out the form, ignoring any questions that I knew weren’t on the mandated form, such as social security number, and then submitted it. I got my superintendent letters back the next day. Although COVID is pretty much over and they are taking the information by mail or in person, the option to do it online is still available. I did take my information down in person last year and notified my contact at Akron Public Schools that I did that. She responded with thanks and my excusal letter came via email. I’m going that route again.

The first five items on the form are pretty easy to comply with.

1. School year notification this year is for 2022/2023.

2. Name, address, and phone number.

The phone number is optional, so I just quit giving it after they called me a few years ago asking me if I had a high school diploma, and where I got it from. The law only requires that I assure them that I had the diploma, and I do. All of their communication should be in writing anyway so that there is a record. Responses to the superintendent should also be written so that there is a record. This protects the parent in case a problem arises in the future.

In the past, we put down the address of both Miss C’s parents. That seemed to be confusing for the school district and they wanted the address of the legal parent only. They’re both legal parents but that seemed confusing for the district as well, so we just picked one and put it down. As all three of us live in the district about 2 miles from each other it shouldn’t be much of an issue until high school if she wants to play high school sports. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

3. Address of a teacher other than the parent. This would be if someone else is overseeing the education of the student. Co-op teachers or other tutors do not have to be listed because the parent is overseeing the child’s education. From now on, I am that person since I am not my granddaughter’s parent or guardian.

*Note to parents of student-athletes who may be looking to participate on NCAA Teams for college. For eligibility purposes, the parents are ALWAYS the ones in charge of the courses, requirements, and grades for their students. Make sure to write up your homeschool that way.

4. Full name and birth date of children to be educated. You do not have to put their grade level.

HOWEVER, the Ohio High School Athletic Association does have some requirements for homeschoolers participating in high school sports that parents should be aware of.

Athlete’s academic performance/grades from his/her entire educational history (To determine that the student is not a graduate and is in compliance with Bylaw 4-3-6)

Ohio High School Athletic Association

So while grade level isn’t necessary for notifying, they may come up in the future when the student wants to play high school sports. I keep paperwork in files by grade for my student-athlete in case that is ever needed.

5. Check mark to assure that home education will include language, reading, spelling, 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. It does not mean that I will touch on everything in great depth every year. Even the schools do not do that.

Easy way to do an outline of subjects

6. In the past I have had trouble with #6.

 

I wasn’t sure what a “brief” outline was exactly. Wouldn’t my list of books and resources suffice as an outline of what I hoped to cover?

Apparently not.

Because when I sent in just the book list, 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, money, and paper!

 I needed something that 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 World Book Encyclopedia.

They have all of the grades through high school and are easily copied and pasted into a Word document where they can be adjusted to meet your needs. If you’re a newbie in Ohio, or if your state requires an outline, maybe this will work for you too.

The Ohio Department of Education Graduation Requirements are here, though that doesn’t really help much in creating an outline.  I found a wonderful high school program with great course descriptions and one here. These could be helpful in designing outlines for Ohio notification.

It is also helpful to look up the books you are using online. They may have list that can be cut and pasted into a document. You can then just print it off and send to the superintendent. 

7. I make a list of the books and the courses that I am going to use. Here is a sample of a past book list that I made for my students.

As I save the list on my computer, making changes to it every year is a snap. For larger families, I advise keeping a copy of what you do every year. As a new child enters a grade, you can look back and see what you have done. You won’t be starting over.

8. Assurance that the child will be provided a minimum of nine hundred hours of home education each school year.

If they’re awake, they’re learning. Check!

9. A check mark that the teacher has one of the listed qualifications. One year my district tried to require a copy of my high school diploma or the name of my high school. Neither is required by state law, so I didn’t provide them. You don’t need to either.

10. Sign the form. Because I am the teacher/grandparent, my son or Miss C’s mom will sign the form.

Year- End Assessments!

First-time homeschoolers, who did not homeschool their student the year before, do not have to provide an assessment. This is also true for families that had their student in school last year.

In 2020 and 2021 the assessment portion of the notice was waived because of COVID. But it was back this year and probably for good!

You can either do a standardized test or a portfolio review.

Make copies of everything, put it all in a big envelope, and send it by certified mail. OR hand-deliver it to the superintendent’s office requesting a receipt. In 2019 I just had a copy of my form and asked them to date it. Someone time-stamped it and that was good enough for me. I got my letter about a week later. In 2020 and 2021 I did it all online and got a letter emailed right back. This year, I hand-delivered but had them time stamp a copy of my cover page, so I have proof that I delivered it. I also e-mailed the woman in charge of homeschooling and she emailed me back that she received them.

Special note for this year’s Seniors!

Special note for student-athletes.

If you want your child to participate in extra-curricular activities or sports at the local public schools via 2013 Ohio Law it is important to notify early and to be as complete as possible.  Homeschool mothers of high school athletes should take some time now to develop some kind of a report card to fill out and return at the start of each sports season. I had to make one for Noah that reflected his grades in the spring and again in the fall when he ran track. In the spring I will need to have his winter grades before he participates in track.  Be prepared for this so you won’t be blind sighted when they ask!