Home School Community

[workin4thedirt]

Hi!

Is there a group of parents in the West Seattle area who are actively home schooling their children; maybe a discussion group? My wife and I are interested in home school, but don’t know where to begin.

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[clark5080]

here is who we used to help us

http://familyacademy.org/AboutUs/MeettheBoard/tabid/116/Default.aspx

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[imanon]

You’ll want to start with “The Pink Book” – Washington State’s Laws Regulating Home-Based Instruction. You can download this PDF file here:

http://www.k12.wa.us/PrivateEd/HomeBasedEd/PinkBook/pinkbook.pdf

This is the go-to source for home-based education in our state. Other helpful resources, which also list support groups, include:

Washington Homeschol Organization-

http://washhomeschool.org/

Home Education Magazine-

http://homeedmag.com/

Some private organizations offer support to parents taking the home-based education route. The parents follow and are subject to the home-based instruction rules in our state, but may choose to receive professional support through a private group or organization. It is an option for parents to affiliate with a private group or organization, but not a state requirement.

Alternatively, you may enroll in a public school alternative learning program, such as Seattle’s Homeschool Resource Center, or with another school district’s “homeschool” program. These programs use the word “homeschool” to make sure the parents understand they will be teaching their children at home. However, this is an alternative to educating under the state’s home-based education laws. Participants are part of a public school system – and all that may mean to you, for better or for worse. Parents are supervised and accountable to certificated teachers and the school system. There are social and financial incentives to participate in public school alternative learning programs. The Seattle Homeschool Resource Center is in North Seattle.

Private organizations and schools offer all kinds of programs catering to homeschoolers. Family Academy, mentioned in another post, is one example.

By the way, parents in Washington State do not have to enroll their child in school or declare their intention to homeschool until the child is 8 years old. You may simply keep your child at home. Good luck in finding what works best for your family!

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[chefkath]

Hello! You are in the right place – West Seattle has over 100 homeschooling families and we have a terrific, supportive community here!

The Family Learning Program is the largest West Seattle homeschooling community. We are not affiliated with any religious organization or public school, and we embrace and support the entire spectrum of homeschooling philosophies and styles.

From mid Sept – early June we gather weekly (on Fridays from 9:30am-3:30pm) at the Southwest Teen Life Center. We offer a wide variety of classes and clubs for all ages, an open gym and playground, games and crafts, family swim and swim lessons.

We just wrapped up our spring session last week, but will have events throughout the summer to keep our community connected, so you can definitely get involved now!

The place to start is on our community Yahoo group – request to join by clicking here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SEAhomeschoolSWCC/. This will be a great place to make connections with other families and ask questions about getting started in homeschooling.

You can also like our facebook page at “Family Learning Program at SWCC”

Hope to see you around this summer!

Cheers,

Kathleen

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[workin4thedirt]

Wow! This is great! Thanks everyone! It looks like I’ve got a lot to read.

chefkath, is there a membership for the gatherings at the Teen Life Center?

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[chefkath]

There is no membership fee to be part of the Family Learning Program or to participate in our social events or clubs. Events are funded via fundraising events held throughout the year (such as pizza parties, curriculum swap, bake sales, etc) in which everyone is welcome to participate.

We do pay to use the open gym ($2 drop-in fee per child), and for classes (costs vary depending upon subject and supplies needed.) FLP classes are scheduled through the parks department so registration is via the online “SPARC” registration tool on the parks website. (https://class.seattle.gov/parks/Start/Start.asp).

Our fall classes aren’t posted on SPARC yet (and probably won’t be until later in the summer), but the schedule will be done soon and you’ll be able to see it on our Yahoo group if you join.

Cheers,

Kathleen

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