Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy is it true that NJ is the wild west of homeschool?

I contacted the NJDOE today to ask about partial homeschooling. The response that I got pretty much said that anything seems to go in NJ. There is no rule for or against partial homeschooling. There is no curriculum, no proof needed, nothing really.

I have been thinking about partially homeschooling for some time. It seems like such a perfect fit for us. Does anyone have any feedback? Is it as free and easy as it sounds?

As a homeschooler on the other side of the river in Pennsylvania, that does match with what I understand. New Jersey is one of the least regulated states in terms of homeschooling. Don't know more details.

I'm not in NJ, so my advice is most likely worth nothing :), but fwiw, the folks I've known who've partial homeschooled in my state (part-day homeschool, part-day enrolled in neighborhood public school) had no issues on the homeschooling side of things, but had issues from the school their children were enrolled in and eventually were pushed into giving up the partial situation. I am guessing the issue originated primarily with state funding (that's just a guess)... but the way it was presented to the parents was as a socialization issue - supposedly "too difficult" for their children to miss out on what all the other kids were doing for half the day, that type of argument.

polarbear

eta - I should have mentioned that I was referring to elementary school above.

I partial homeschooled for half a year. I just said what is the class he would be put in doing after lunch (he had eating issues so I wanted him to eat at home).

So I homeschooled him before lunch and then dropped him off and he attended for the last part of the day.

The only glitch we came across is that in elementary sometimes the classes aren't held to a specific time period. Even though they might have social studies in the afternoon, she might give the kids time to work on the social studies essay in the morning during language arts. Or they have science class in the afternoon BUT the science lab times are assigned by the science lab assistant and their class gets their time in the morning so then they move math on science lab day to the afternoon (and he was doing math at home with me and not on the same skill as them).

Eh, it worked as everyone was flexible and we were happy with the arrangement but eventually he went back full time to school.

I do see my younger son homeschooling in middle school and then partial homeschooling, partial virtual schooling and partial brick and mortar public schooling in high school. It will probably be the only way to meet his needs until he is 16 and can dual enroll in college.