Fall, or at least “false fall” where it is a lil cooler and we rejoice that it is ‘only’ 94* is upon us! You have likely started school or are pondering starting soon – ish. As we get back into the activity of the school year, I wanted to take a moment to reach out and encourage you to get involved in the Campaign Season!

Louisiana Statewide Elections for office are held every four years. This is an excellent time to add state government to your homeschool plans. Getting to know candidates and volunteering on campaigns is a great way to introduce your children to the process in a hands-on way they will never forget.

The short answer, they do not, as currently written and amended, apply to homeschoolers. Our legislature is attempting to create another educational option for Louisiana families. School Choice has been a hot topic across the nation and states have been adopting and expanding ESAs.

As the topic became a reality for Louisiana, we consulted with authors of the bills and HSLDA to ensure homeschool freedoms in our state would not be jeopardized. We also realize that the more options for education a parent has, the better.

While we firmly believe, as we always have, that homeschooling MUST remain parent directed and parent funded; we also know that not all families in our great state have the means to homeschool. 

Homeschool Louisiana is neutral on the ESA topic – we are not advocating for this funding nor are we opposing it. The way the bills in LA have been written clearly lay out the fact that any student eligible for the ESA program will be considered enrolled in a day school and thus satisfy the compulsory education laws of our state which mandate that all students ages 5-18 (or graduated)  must be enrolled in school. (LA Revised Statute 17:236).

Concerning the ESA bills (HBs 33, 194, 227, 452, 824, 838) on April 6, 2022, the following bills were considered and amended – HBs 33, 194, 452, 824.

Amendment 3 states: “Solely for purposes of compulsory attendance in a nonpublic school, a child shall be 28 considered in attendance at a day school if the child is eligible to participate in the 29 Education Savings Account Program pursuant to R.S. 17:4037.4 and the child’s 30 parent has signed an agreement pursuant to R.S. 17:4037.4(A)(3).”

When reading legislation, any underlined text is an ADDITION to current law, any text that is struck through is removed from current law. 

The text prior to the underlined portion of Amendment 3 is the current law of LARS 17:236 as listed above, which details what is considered a day school. 

Parents who apply for the ESA Program, have an eligible student, sign the application and agree to the terms laid out by the program will satisfy compulsory education law. 

If these bills become law parents will have many options when it comes to ensuring their children are educated.

Public School
Private School
Parochial School
Charter School
Hybrid School
Online Public School
ESA Program
NonPublic Not Seeking State Approval
HomeStudy

A parent choosing the ESA Program would NOT notify the state as NonPublic Not Seeking State Approval nor would they fill out a HomeStudy application. Though a parent may choose to use ESA Program funds to purchase supplies and curriculum rather than enroll in a private school, and thus schooling in their home, they are not homeschoolers any more than a parent choosing to use UVA or another public online charter school are homeschoolers. 

I hope that parents utilizing ESAs are welcomed by homeschoolers and that we are clear to outline the freedoms we have as homeschoolers and hopefully, they will want to enjoy the same freedoms we enjoy!

Let’s face it, things have changed drastically due to the Covid-19 pandemic! In the past, few families homeschooled, but today, it seems like everyone is homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling. With this mass exodus from public schools (government schools), school employees are fighting tooth and nail to prevent families from withdrawing their children so they don’t lose funding.

The number one lie about homeschooling in Louisiana is not about socialization or the quality of education, it is the withdrawal process. We consistently hear from our members that school employees tell parents that they need to sign paperwork from the public school, provide proof of a curriculum, register only as a Home Study student, or some other unlawful reason before they can officially withdraw.

Well, that’s not true! As per the Louisiana Department of Education – Guidance on Student Withdrawal letter, you do not have to provide any paperwork to the public school to withdraw your child. Below is the actual text.

Now that you have the facts, share this email, or better yet, post it on your social media page so we can finally end this lie. Finally, as a quick refresher, click this link or check out the simple guide below on the two ways to homeschool in Louisiana.

Soli Deo Gloria
Christopher Chin
President, Homeschool Louisiana

It is a common notion that attendance at the “right school” is the surest way to get a quality education and find opportunities for college and career.  Much data and trends are debunking this ideology, causing many to consider the more reliable ways to a successful education for their children.

Education reform has become a buzz word in this age when test scores are falling, graduation rates are atrociously low, and satisfaction of both student and teacher is plummeting.  Legislators, who find themselves responsible for efficiently allocating public funds, struggle to know where a dollar is “well spent” in education.  All institutions want and need more funds to achieve higher standards for student achievement, yet there is no clear evidence that spending more money in a school system improves the performance of its students.

Over the last 2o years, there has been a meteoric rise in the success of students in a group that on average spends less than 7% of the amount public schools spend on student education.  The cost attributed to the education of one public school student  is $15,000 -$29,000 annually, yet students from the group that spends a mere $600 per year on its students are repeatedly winning national honors in competitions, landing many large academic scholarships, and scoring more than 30 percentile points higher on national standardized tests.  Therefore, money spent on education cannot be the determining factor of performance.

The education of the teacher could be a determining factor of the performance, and logic would agree that the better the teacher, the better the student.  Even an old proverb says “The student shall not be greater than his master.”  Yet in the group of high achievers, the teacher’s level of education had little apparent effect on the performance of the student on the SAT exam.  Students whose teachers had only a high school diploma, or less, on average still out performed the average public school student; and showed no significant difference from the student in the same system whose teacher had college or graduate degrees.

The high achieving students are being educated by their parents at home.  The vast majority of the parents has no formal training in education, and simply are self-taught teachers who operate on a shoe-string budget.  The puzzling question is why are these students appearing on national stages to be crowned spelling champions or geography champions?  Why are they finding success in the college classroom or in business, more than their public, or even privately educated counterparts?

In a study by Dr. M. Evans of the University of Nevada, using data from 27 countries and no fewer than 58,944 people, the researchers focused on how many books were in the homes of the participants when they were 14.  The team also collected data on other biographical aspects of the participant’s background such as their parent’s education and occupation as well as how long the participant had spent in formal education and what work they themselves performed.

There was a strong relationship between the number of books in the house where they grew up and their later educational and career success.  The relationship between the number of books in the home was a better predictor than the parent’s own level of education or occupational status.  This was found to be true across rich and poor countries, communist and capitalist, and in North America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

So what are the implications of this for parents?  The good news is that regardless of their own level of education or nature of their work, parents can create an environment which fosters academic achievement and career success for their children.  Parents can help their children succeed in school beyond their own level of attainment.

It is precisely the environment of learning that has been suggested to be the reason for the success of the homeschooled student.  Parents, who are highly engaged with their children, and communicate a value of the process of learning and growing, have seen the greatest degree of academic and professional success in their students.

Those in the homeschool movement tout numerous benefits to the home education process.  Reaching far beyond academics, the home education families note that communication is better, sense of overall happiness is increased and family relationships experience less tension and stress. And it may be saving the state of Louisiana thousands of dollars per student as well.

Because of the apparent differences between home education and public or private education, thousands annually choose to begin educating their children at home.  History has proven its success both in recent and distant past.  Most of the founding fathers, and several of our first presidents were educated at home—homes rich in books and a learning environment.

I have been homeschooling for years and have graduated students from my homeschool. Best advice for anyone who is new: Do not plan to do anything until at least a month after you decide to homeschool.  Use this time to:

• read about learning styles
• meet other homeschoolers
• join a homeschool support group
• learn about different styles of homeschooling
• read about curriculum online
• get into a routine for cooking and cleaning
• take your children to the library or pick up library books curbside
• find some fun, educational documentaries on Netflix or Amazon Prime
• play educational games
• look up virtual field trips online

In a few weeks, you will realize:

• your children can learn in a variety of ways
• you can really do this. If you can teach numbers, letters, and colors to your toddler/preschooler, you can teach them anything with the right resources
• the world is filled with resources. There are books, movies, online classes and so much more. Picking the “one perfect curriculum” is impossible and most children can learn with whatever you have.
• you can choose subjects that you want your children to learn about and then find resources to help them learn.

Homeschool Louisiana is here to help you get started.  Please contact us with questions.
contact@homeschoollouisiana.org

Employed parents can homeschool. Many homeschooling parents are employed outside the home.

Some parents pick curriculum that their children do while they are at work. They go over the work with their child when they get home.

Some parents make the homeschooling plan and have the person who stays with their children help their child with their schoolwork.

Some parents do an hour or two a day of learning activities with their children when they are home and then catch up on Saturday or their day off.

There are many curriculums that are made to be used independently by the students.

If the person who stays with your child does not want to help your child complete schoolwork, you can send educational games or some educational DVD’s.

You can homeschool. We would love to help.

https://halfwayhomesteaders.com/homeschool-full-time-job/?fbclid=IwAR3mOkONOdM6zo1ZiDgY8GY2KCDnM0RAFGo8RuPFiMaAO6FDdtImIJ16iAQ