Declaration of Intent to Homeschool form

If you are going to homeschool in the state of Washington, you must fill out the Declaration of Intent to Provide Home-Based Instruction form if your child is anywhere from 8 to 18 years old. Just head on down to your local district's registration office and tell them you want to fill it out. If your local district's form is in compliance with state law, it is really simple to fill out. All you need to fill out is your child's name, birthdate, your signature, address and IF you are qualifying to homeschool by being supervised by a person who is certified in Washington State (according to RCW 28A.410) then you need to check that spot on the form. That's it. No more information is required by state law.

What some of you may need to know is that not all school districts in the state have their forms in compliance with the law. Some forms require a ridiculous amount of information, some even requesting your "education plan". Well, H E L L O! According to Washington State Law, homeschoolers are not required to submit anything like that. It doesn't matter what is on the form other than what is required by law because you don't have to fill the other parts out. I always like to be a bit bold and circle the out of compliant parts (usually ten times or so to make it obvious) and then write "Out of compliance with WA State Law. See RCW 28A.200.010." in big bold letters. It makes me feel proactive. I also like the district to know that even if they don't, I know the law regarding homeschooling. Knowledge is power, right? If you are okay with giving the district all kinds of information, then that is up to you. Personally, I only give what the law requires. Men and women fought hard to get the wonderful homeschool law that we have and I get rather irritated at the fact that some districts think they are "giving us permission" to homeschool when we fill out the Intent form. The district isn't giving us anything. We have the right to educate our own children by law. The Intent form simply does two things.

• 1. It protects the district by letting them know they are off the hook for educating your child and
• 2. It protects the parent because your child can not be considered truant.

When you walk in to fill out the Intent form, hold your head high and be proud of what you are doing. Don't allow the district employees to make you feel like pond scum. Also, just so you know, not all districts make you feel like pond scum and some of the ones that used to, are getting better. Even so, there is one more little thing I should tell you about some local school districts...

When you go in to fill out the Intent to Provide Home-Based Instruction form, some districts might ask if you want to look at their "homeschool program". They may even entice you with promises of free books, supplies and even computers. Okay, first of all, you don't have to look at their program. Second of all, if you choose to participate in their program, you are no longer under homeschool law. Technically those programs are Alternative Education Programs. They don't like to call them that because that brings up icky feelings. The first Alt Ed programs were for those kids that dropped out of school for drugs, pregnancy or because they "didn't fit in". With the rise of Virtual Schools, more and more local districts are creating their own "homeschool programs" to draw homeschoolers back into the system. Don't be deceived folks. Those programs are paid with tax payers' dollars. The school district gets thousands of dollars when your child is enrolled in the program. Now, if you think that is the best choice for your child, I'm not going to stomp on your toes or anything. I just want you to know that the district can call it what it wants but don't think you are covered by homeschool law. You can still be considered a homeschooler if you are participating in a virtual school part time. So if you think you want to go with the district's program, the key question to ask is, "Will my student be enrolled full time or part time?" If they say full time, your child will be a public school student and will be required to fulfill all the same requirements as any other public school child.

Okay that was a lot of info and not all of it related to the Intent form but it all tied in together, right? The only other thing I will say regarding the Intent form for now is if you put you child into school for Kindergarten and then decided you wanted to homeschool, you must unenroll your child and fill out the Intent form even though your child is not yet 8 years old. Once a child is in the system, they will be considered truant if they should quit coming to school even though the compulsory age is 8 years old.

As Porky Pig would say, "That's all folks!"...until the next Technical Tuesday!