Prior thoughts, found on this echo from Donna Ransdell 
to Lucy Galindo on 08-29-96  05:37:
 DR> California does NOT recognize "homeschooling" per se. To homeschool in
 DR> California, you must do one of three things:
 DR> 1, If you are a credentialed teacher, certified to teach the subjects
 DR> and grade level/s that reside in your family, you needn't worry too
 DR> much. Or, in leiu of this, you may hire a tutor to provide complete
 DR> instruction for so many hours a week (28 I believe is the number).
 DR> OR
 DR> 2. You may register with your local school district as a homeschooler.
 DR> This means they will provide everything you need to homeschool, the
 DR> state considers your child a public school child (right down to paying
 DR> your district a fee for your child), and you provide the direct, but
 DR> extremely overly supervised teaching. If you want to be independent and
 DR> guide your child's learning, or if you are homeschooling for religious
 DR> reasons, you may not want to go this route. OR
 DR> 3. You may register with your county department of education as a
 DR> private school. This must be done on October 1 of each school year.
 DR> Come up with a school name (can be simple like Galindo Family School or
 DR> more complicated like Dayspring Elementary) and the registration is
 DR> free. The toughest part is finding the right phone number at the county
 DR> office. Call the section that deals with private schools - DON'T
 DR> mention the word "homeschool". 
Well, Donna, I nearly enrolled my son in public school anyway, now that
the class sizes here in California are dropped to 20 per class for his age...
but the day I was going to do it he protested greatly and made it really
clear that he wanted homeschool instead.  So... I decided to go ahead and
register through the school district.  I hope I won't regret this, but I
want the community involvement and guidance.  I have worked as a preschool
teacher, but never as an elementary age teacher and I'm hoping that the
guidance they give will be helpful and not too invasive.  I also didn't
want to register just as a private school thinking that some day they might
find out and object because it is a homeschool rather than a business.
Anyhow, I was given a nice packet of information.  They require that a
weekly journal be kept; I was doing that anyhow so it shouldn't be too
much more work.  They did give me a "survey" to fill out which I thought
was too invasive but I'll do the best I can with it.  My friend, Valery
Frosty, homeschooled through a school district program and was very happy
with it.  I'll let you know what happens!!
BTW, why do you think this is not a good idea for people homeschooling
for religious reasons?  The packet of information I was given contained
samples of journals that obviously were done by religious homeschoolers,
so it seemed they approved the course of study added to secular materials.
Of course, it was a different religion than mine, but I definitely intend
to include info on my religion in Aaron's school day and it will be in
the journals too.  I don't think there will be any objections.  Maybe I
just have a liberal school district, but they seem highly supportive of
homeschool families, so far.  I have a meeting to attend tomorrow morning,
though... I hope they don't discourage me... we'll see.  Aaron is adamant
about not wanting public school.
Zaynab
... The next best thing to laughing is gardening.  -- M. Prem Zareen
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
--- Renegade v10-05 Exp
---------------