How is home schooling in Cedar Rapids- Iowa city area?

[LPerkins33]

Originally Posted by fenix

Do you know why they transferred and what the major advantages were?

Hated Regina with a passion. Plus better education, more things to do, more people to meet, less school code restrictions (regina has a dress code). They also teach creationism and hardly touched on evolution which to me is beyond messed up.

[GreenMama]

Thanks WoodwardGirl!
The Cedar Rapids Homeschool Assistance Program looks very promising. I actually like the organized sound of it and they offer fieldtrips for the kids. If I do decide to continue homeschooling I think this group would be a great source of socialization for my children and support for me as a teacher. Thanks!

[neanerbean]

Re: Regina
I sent my daughter to Regina for 1 year and then they decided that they couldn't deal with her needs. They were considering telling us that she needed that resources of the public school system (nothing to sneeze at). However they decided to let her go after I was given a large sum of money to help pay her tutu ion from a family member that died. I think that they were thinking they would get all at once, but they didn't. IT tool the Public School 1 1/2 years to undo what Regina did in 1. My husband also worked a Regina. He will never go back. the kids are snotty, the buildings are lame and the more money you have or how good you are in sports gets you what you want.
sucks.

[NoMoreHeat]

Green Mama,

Greetings fellow homeschooler! ;-)

We, too, are transferring to Iowa from out of state (our current state does not require reporting) and have had to do our research on the more regulated requirements of HSing in Iowa. Have you talked with anyone from HSLDA? We did and they were of tremendous help! http://www.hslda.org.

There is also the Iowa HS organization NICHE Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators' Website - Welcome. Their annual conference is coming up June 6th and 7th so that will give you a true compass by meeting those in our shoes ;-) Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators - 2003 Home Educators' Conference (http://www.the-niche.org/Pages/2005%20conference.html - broken link)

We have found the climate of HSing in Iowa to be very friendly and have met many homeschoolers offering us everything from getting connected within the HS community to moving help, paino teachers, and animals for our farm - such a very loyal bunch here, it's awesome and we haven't even relocated yet!

Imo, Iowa HSers are very tightly knit to help them stick together to protect their freedoms to homeschool (ask HSLDA the state's HS history).

Here is more info on the HSAP program mentioned in another post. It isn't traditional HSing if that's what you are looking to do. Iowa Homeschooling Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.the-niche.org/Pages/faq.html#anchor - broken link) It's more of a govt program you follow at home where the district sends teachers to meet with you and such. If you aren't looking for that you can choose the other options. We are not going the HSAP route ourselves ;-)

We have heard rumblings about there being a 3-day course one can take to become their own cert. teacher, which would save us tons of what I consider unnecesssary 'teaching to the test' reporting.

HTH and Happy Homeschooling!

[JustAnotherIowan]

My friends that live in Cedar Rapids are currently homeschooling their child and they love it. The website WoodwardGirl offered will help greatly. The faculty in the program (I've met a few) are very friendly and I think they would be thrilled to answer any questions you had if you just call or email them. I do know that they just developed the high school homeschool program a couple years ago but it's gone smoothly so far. The high school students took a trip to Mexico this past spring and I believe the program is now encouraging high school students to learn/become fluent in Spanish. The Theatre Cedar Rapids and Cedar Rapids Symphony are very kind to homeschool students. My friend's kid has been in quite a few plays and has helped design sets for the Theatre Cedar Rapids. As for support groups, I suggested you contact the homeschool program through their website, the one WoodwardGirl posted.

[CathieS]

Hi GreenMama
We have been homeschooling in the Cedar Rapids area for 7 years now, and loving it. We joined the Cedar Rapids Homeschool Assisitance Program as newbies, and stayed because we enjoy the program so much. My boys attend art/music/PE classes through the program one morning a week. As far as the comments that a HSAP isn't "real" homeschooling, we've heard this before - usually from people who have never tried it. The CR-HSAP thinks of itself as a resource, and nothing more. They are not there to 'spy' on us, but to give us support in any way they can. We've had nothing but positive reinforcement from them.

In Iowa you basically have four options to meet the law: 1) Maintain a portfolio showing the progress your child has made through the year. 2.) Hire a supervising teacher that you meet with several times a year, 3.) Have your child tested to show adequate progress, or 4) Join a homeschool assistance program, such as the CR program. They provide your with the supervising teacher, and file the necessary paperwork, as well. You can check out the code here (see 299.4, specifically) :
[url=http://www.homeschoolinginiowa.com/gettingstarted/legal/statelaws.aspx]State Laws - Homeschooling In Iowa[/url]

You might also be interested in a local internet group - the Iowa City Home Education Network. You'll find a variety of people in the CR/IC area, and they often meet for social outings and field trips (I've haven't had the pleasure yet, though I keep up with the group on the net). Email at: [EMAIL="ichen_list@yahoogroups.com"]ichen_list@yahoogroups.com[/EMAIL]; or the [EMAIL="IDEA-2@yahoogroups.com"]IDEA-2@yahoogroups.com[/EMAIL], a local unschooling group.

Welcome to Iowa!