>To anyone homeschooling in New Jersey:
Yes...?
SG>My husband & I plan on starting hs with our son this coming September
  >(grade 7), and the most info I had gotten from anyone on what is
  >required is : "equivalency" to what's being taught in the public
  >schools.
SG>A message I recently read on Prodigy laid out some specifics, like NJ
  >history, civics, geography, phys ed, minimum 180 day school year, etc.
  >I've asked this person to tell me where she received this info and will
  >check back later today to see if it's been answered.
Whoever gave you that information knows nothing.
"Equivalency" just means that the major subject areas have to be
covered. Math, English, Social Studies, etc. There's nothing more
particular than that.
There are *no* requirements for schedules. Period.
SG>When I was investigating hs'ing, I went to the library and read through
  >those books outlining the state laws (NJSA 18A:38-25) and was under the
  >impression that the specifics mentioned in later chapters pertained to
  >the public schools only, such as curriculum standards (like the history
  >requirements and sexuality courses), pledge to the flag, dates of school
  >year (begin July 1st, end on June 30th), etc.
You're right -- those regs apply *only* to public schools. All other
forms of education are off-limits to the State, which has no say in
determining what is taught how, when, and by whom.
SG>If anyone knows specifics of what rules we have to follow, could they
  >please let me know? I'm sure the curriculum we plan on using
  >(Calvert)
To cpmply with NJ laws, all you need do is notify your local school
district that you will be homeschooling your son for that school year.
You need to send a nother letter of notification every year. Some
schools demand to have it by such-and-such a date, but the law doesn't
uphold that (I believe that this is one way that certain hostile schools
attempt to intimidate parents into not removing their kids from school
in mid-year.) (Which I did. Gleefully.)
There are two separate ideas on the next step. The law says that we must
"demonstrate equivalency", which the courts decided (back in the '60's)
was met by sending a copy of a curriculum outline to the school. At that
point, the school has the option of either accepting the situation, or
fussing about it. If they choose to fuss, they have to actually *prove*
that your curriculum is missing something crucial. The burden of proof
is on the parent until they send in their curriculum outline, at which
point the burden of proof shifts heavily to the school. That means that
they have an uphill battle to "disapprove" any homeschooling curriculym.
Most won't even try, since the 60's court case involved a parents who
made up a Social Studies curriculum from old pages of National
Geographic magazine. The court approved of *that*, so what could you
possibly do that the court would disapprove?
The difference in meeting this next step is simply that some of us send
the curriculum outline in with the notification, and others of us wait
until the school specifically requests it. There are various good
reasons for both options. I live in a freidnly district, so both get
sent in together. When we first started (in a very hostile district), I
took the advice of Nancy Plent (Director of the Unschoolers Network),
and waited until they requested the curriculum. That gave the school a
chance to respond to my notification letter and get it out of their
system, letting them feel as if, by demanding to see our curriculum,
they were maintaining some measure of control. A silly mind-game, but it
works.
 >Phys ed
  is no problem - we >already have planned *documentable* participation
  in bowling leagues for >2 or more hours a week, even longer than the
  40 minutes gym class he now >has, and if "health" is a requirement
Here's what our curriculum said about those two subjects:
        Physical Education
          A. Health and Safety
          B. Recreation and Fitness
That's it! No need to document a thing.
If you run into any problems, the best advice and assistance comes from
the Unschooler's Network (which assists all sorts of homeschoolers),
which can be reached at 2 Smith Street, Farmingdale, NJ 07727. Nancy
Plent's number is (908) 938-2473.
(Tell that Prodigy person to stop spreading misinformation, OK? Also, be
careful of rumors -- there are certain people rumor-mongering here in NJ
and spreading paranoia for reasons I won't go into right now. Some of
them are on Prodigy.)
 * SLMR 2.1a * You can't scare me... I have children!
--- I killed my WildCAT!
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