We are just beginning our homeschool journey here in Alabama. One of the issues I am encountering is that the state requires we submit a Course of Study to the board of education. Our daughter is just now 7 and we are now legally required to enroll her in some sort of school (homeschool counts). So, I am attempting to put together some sort of coherent COS to submit, but am having trouble in that much of what we use is not a “textbook” but a real book or a real experience and I’m having trouble setting goals for semester by semester progress when my focus is more on the building of experiences and exposures to real life and learning. Do you have any suggestions? I have looked at your Sixteenth Century Course of Study in Teaching the Trivium, but still don’t really know how to quantify the semester/year goals for a 7-year-old. I was thinking of labeling her grade level as 2nd but am now thinking perhaps I should do 1st with regard to the board of education’s expectations. I welcome any suggestions or input. Thank you. Mary
In Alabama, I just joined a cover school. I joined the one with the least requirements. Then I had to send a one-time notice to the local school, one for each child. After that I just had to report 3 times a year to the cover school. I used CEA in Huntsville. It is inexpensive and philosophically based on less requirements. It was mostly done online.
The good news is that you are completely outside of state control after you join the cover school.
The bad news is that it skews the homeschool statistics for the state of Alabama.
I am in my 10th year of homeschooling in Alabama, and have never had to turn in a Course of Study.
We homeschool in AL under the “Church School Option”. By law we are only responsible for keeping up with academic days/attendance. Each cover school requires something different…progress reports, curriculum list, etc.
More is required under the “Private Tutor Option”.
See here for the homeschool requirements in AL:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Alabama.pdf