Tennessee Homeschooling & relocation (Knoxville: to live in, prices, activities)

[jimlee]

Cool, that's a pretty handy area too.

I've sold a bunch of houses just over the hill from there in Sterchi Hills and a couple of other new neighborhoods.

BTW, what's a 1/4th bath?

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by jimlee

Cool, that's a pretty handy area too.

I've sold a bunch of houses just over the hill from there in Sterchi Hills and a couple of other new neighborhoods.

BTW, what's a 1/4th bath?

Toilet and sink. I call it a 1/4 bath. I think it's disingenuous to call it a one-half bath. It does have a washer and dryer in there, too.

[mbarber]

Knoxville has a large homeschooling community. Go to www.tennkidsclub.org to find out more about co-ops, enrichment classes, yahoo groups and just learning the rules of homeschooling in TN. I homeschooled 2 of my four children and would do it again.

Cost of living is pretty low in comparsion to other states. You will of course get more house for your money if you try one of the surounding areas- but then you will be driving alot more.
The Knoxville housing market is not as depressed as other areas- we have always had a slow growth, no big housing bubble- but there is alot on the market - much like the rest of the country.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

I am going to homeschool my teenager once we get there so I looked up the law already.

Teacher Qualifications:
Option I: The parent-teacher must have a high school diploma or a GED to teach grades K-8 and have a baccalaureate degree to teach grades 9-12 or request an exemption from the Commissioner of Education. § 49-6-3050(b)(4), (7). The Commissioner of Education arbitrarily rejects most exemption requests. This practice was upheld by the Court of Appeals in HSLDA’s case, Crites v. Smith, 826 S.W.2d 459 (1991).

Option II: If parents conducting a home school are associated with a church-related school, there are no qualifications for teaching grades K-8, but parents must have a high school diploma or GED to teach grades 9-12. § 49-6-3050(a)(2)(B).

HSLDA | Home School Laws

I would also sign up with HSLDA because TN school officials have been known to try and push homeschool parents around, almost to the point of harassment, requiring them to provide documents not required by the state. Here are a few of the articles I found.

Tennessee: HSLDA Steps In to Clear Up Confusion
Tennessee law offers several different options for parents who wish to teach their children at home. While this gives parents flexibility, sometimes school districts misunderstand which option families are choosing to use. Recently, the Cheatham County Board of Education wrote a letter to one of our member families, requesting that they submit a notice of intent. In response, HSLDA explained to the board that home schoolers who are enrolled in and attending a satellite of a church-related school are not required to provide "registration" of any sort to their local school district. According to the Tennessee State Department of Education, these home schoolers are in compliance with state compulsory attendance law.

Giles County Family Faces Unwarranted Truancy Charges
In August, a member family residing in Giles County received a threatening telephone call from a truant officer regarding their 11-year-old son. The officer insisted that the family complete some type of notice or registration form in connection with their decision to provide home schooling for their son who is in the sixth grade. The parents were conducting a home school in association with a church-related school, so Home School Legal Defense Association faxed a letter to the truant officer pointing out that the Board of Education’s insistence that the parents complete any form was without any legal authority. Parents conducting a home school which is not associated with a church-related school must notify the local school district of their intent by August 1 of each school year. However, if the notice is not given by August 1, but is given by September 1, it may be submitted upon payment by the parent of a penalty of $20.00 for each week or portion thereof by which the notice is late. This penalty payment shall not exceed $80.00 and shall be charged per family regardless of the number of children attending the home school. The superintendent has the discretionary authority to waive the September 1 deadline for good and sufficient reasons. But for the family in this case, home schools which are associated with church-related schools are not required by the home school statute to give any notice to the local school district. Thus, the August 1 deadline does not apply to these students. However, ninth through twelfth graders in a home school associated with a church-related school must be registered by their parents with the local school district. There is no deadline for this registration, although HSLDA believes that this registration should take place on or about the time the parent begins to conduct the home school each year.
After receiving the faxed communication from HSLDA, the truant officer has made no further contact with the home schooling family.

There are MANY others. Look up the HSLDA website.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by HengyMama

I am going to homeschool my teenager once we get there so I looked up the law already.

Teacher Qualifications:
Option I: The parent-teacher must have a high school diploma or a GED to teach grades K-8 and have a baccalaureate degree to teach grades 9-12 or request an exemption from the Commissioner of Education. § 49-6-3050(b)(4), (7). The Commissioner of Education arbitrarily rejects most exemption requests. This practice was upheld by the Court of Appeals in HSLDA’s case, Crites v. Smith, 826 S.W.2d 459 (1991).

Option II: If parents conducting a home school are associated with a church-related school, there are no qualifications for teaching grades K-8, but parents must have a high school diploma or GED to teach grades 9-12. § 49-6-3050(a)(2)(B).

HSLDA | Home School Laws

I would also sign up with HSLDA because TN school officials have been known to try and push homeschool parents around, almost to the point of harassment, requiring them to provide documents not required by the state. Here are a few of the articles I found.

Tennessee: HSLDA Steps In to Clear Up Confusion
Tennessee law offers several different options for parents who wish to teach their children at home. While this gives parents flexibility, sometimes school districts misunderstand which option families are choosing to use. Recently, the Cheatham County Board of Education wrote a letter to one of our member families, requesting that they submit a notice of intent. In response, HSLDA explained to the board that home schoolers who are enrolled in and attending a satellite of a church-related school are not required to provide "registration" of any sort to their local school district. According to the Tennessee State Department of Education, these home schoolers are in compliance with state compulsory attendance law.

Giles County Family Faces Unwarranted Truancy Charges
In August, a member family residing in Giles County received a threatening telephone call from a truant officer regarding their 11-year-old son. The officer insisted that the family complete some type of notice or registration form in connection with their decision to provide home schooling for their son who is in the sixth grade. The parents were conducting a home school in association with a church-related school, so Home School Legal Defense Association faxed a letter to the truant officer pointing out that the Board of Education’s insistence that the parents complete any form was without any legal authority. Parents conducting a home school which is not associated with a church-related school must notify the local school district of their intent by August 1 of each school year. However, if the notice is not given by August 1, but is given by September 1, it may be submitted upon payment by the parent of a penalty of $20.00 for each week or portion thereof by which the notice is late. This penalty payment shall not exceed $80.00 and shall be charged per family regardless of the number of children attending the home school. The superintendent has the discretionary authority to waive the September 1 deadline for good and sufficient reasons. But for the family in this case, home schools which are associated with church-related schools are not required by the home school statute to give any notice to the local school district. Thus, the August 1 deadline does not apply to these students. However, ninth through twelfth graders in a home school associated with a church-related school must be registered by their parents with the local school district. There is no deadline for this registration, although HSLDA believes that this registration should take place on or about the time the parent begins to conduct the home school each year.
After receiving the faxed communication from HSLDA, the truant officer has made no further contact with the home schooling family.

There are MANY others. Look up the HSLDA website.

I'm pretty sure that those counties aren't anywhere near Knoxville.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I'm pretty sure that those counties aren't anywhere near Knoxville.

Actually, I think Knoxville was in one of the articles on the HSLDA website. The point was though that TN in general has a tighter choke hold on homeschoolers, which is evident in their by-laws.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

Here's something interesting as well.

State Rep. Beth Harwell has proposed a Tim Tebow law: Her proposal would allow homeschoolers to participate in high school extra-curricular activities. Currently homeschooling families, who pay taxes like the rest of us, are not permitted to play sports or be in plays at their zoned high school. The TSSAA - the sports folks - are the obstacle. Tim Tebow is the Heisman winning quarterback at Florida. He was homeschooled through high school.

In Florida, kids can take part in sports at any local school. I hope the law goes into effect before we get there.

[mbarber]

As far as the TSSAA is concerned- this fight starts up every few years. Both sides have good points and as of right now, I don't see any changes happing anytime soon.
The problem is that the minute the homeschooling community joins team sports at the local high school, they also have to follow the rules and curriculum the public school sets including testing. Most homeschooler's don't want to do that. The TSSAA fears that a good football player will decide to home school if he can't keep up the grade point average in public school required to play sports.
As far as taking other classes at your local high school - it much depends on your local high school and middle school. Most of us want to stay under their radar though-
There are plenty of sports for our kids- the only one I see a major problem with is football and basketball. Since soccer and baseball offer traveling teams that often are a better jumping point to college sports than high school teams. Tennis, rugby, crew, skating, gymnastics, golf, karate, hockey, ice curling are all available in the Knoxville area.
I highly suggest that anyone moving to this state who is planning to home school, to go directly to a jeter memo umbrella school. Such as Homelife Academy, Aaron Academy, Family Christian Academy, Gateway- legally it is the same as registering with your local private school. Don't bother with alerting the local school system.
The state has nothing to do with you and your children- your child is a private school student under the jeter memo status. As a support group leader for years, I heard all the miss-information the school system spewed out to new home schoolers. Many people working there, just don't know the law.
Two of my kids have graduated with high school diplomas from www.homelifeacademy.com.
One attending a private college right now, the other graduated from a private college and is now in graduate school. No problems with college applications at all.

Overall TN is not a hard place to homeschool. We are moderately regulated, and therefor we also have a possibility for a high school diploma. I have found our community colleges- well Pellissippi to be very homeschool friendly and my son started taking classes online in 11th grade.

[MrsMtnsOnTheMind]

Good tips.....thanks for your response.

[ArcticPhoenix]

Hrmm... how have home prices done in the Knoxville area recently? Are they going up, or (hopefully) going down?