How American Homeschoolers Measure Up

Have you seen this?
http://www.topmastersineducation.com/homeschooled/

(Not that we ever doubted!)

Crystal Lake Park District Classes now open!

My Math & Science Club for ages 8-11 is back on Thursday afternoons and my
Biology Pt 1 (Microscopic Life and Biochemistry) will be on Monday afternoons starting the first week of September. You can register for these two and more at  
You can register by clicking HERE.

Classes to be offered:
Karate (2 levels!),
Phonics, Read, Write, & Fun
Art/Paint/Clay
Pen and Mouse Club House Artist
Art - MultiMedia
Cooking
Math & Science Club
Biology Pt. 1: Microscopic Life

Looking for some decent, educational apps?

Check out Common Sense Media's wonderful list of apps!


Common Sense Media's back-to-school-guide

Response from the Dept. of Education Regarding College Admissions

I am not the originator of this information. I am forwarding it with permission though and encourage you share it as well! 


From: StudentAid@ed.gov
Subject: 81 RE: Form submission from: Contact Us
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 15:09:11 +0000

Thank you for your inquiry about federal student aid.

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that a school award federal student aid only to students who are sufficiently prepared. Effective July 1, 2012, a student is considered sufficiently prepared if he or she has

     * has a high school diploma,

     * the recognized equivalent of a high school diploma (such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate), or

     * has completed a home-schooling program approved by the student's state.

Though homeschooled students are not considered to have a high school diploma or equivalent, they are eligible to receive federal student aid funds if their secondary school education was in a homeschool that state law treats as a home or private school. Some states issue a secondary school completion credential
to homeschoolers. If this is the case in the state where the student was homeschooled, the student must obtain this credential in order to be eligible for federal student aid.

For homeschooled students in states where secondary school completion credentials are not provided, the student submits to the postsecondary school a transcript or the equivalent signed by the parent or guardian that lists the secondary school courses completed by the applicant and documents the successful completion of a secondary school education.

The U.S. Department of Education is responsible for administering federal laws that apply to education. The Department does not determine what provisions are included in the law or how language is used in the law. Changes to the current provisions or language used in the law would require Congress to pass additional legislation. However, the Department is prohibited from lobbying Congress, and it does not recommend or provide lists of lobbying groups.

We hope this information is helpful.


E-Mail Unit
StudentAid.gov
Federal Student Aid

Let us know how we are doing. Please take a moment to respond to a survey regarding the response you received in this e-mail. Your answers will help us to improve our service. You may either click on the following link or copy the Web address into your browser:

https://fafsalivehelp01.ed.gov/FSAICWebAPI-EN/ESSurvey/ed_survey.jsp?rs=e&rt=w

-----Original Message-----
From: studentaid@ed.gov [mailto:studentaid@ed.gov]
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 2:59 PM
To: StudentAid
Subject: Form submission from: Contact Us

Submitted on Mon, 07/22/2013 - 15:58
Submitted by anonymous user: [131.103.137.124] Submitted values are:


Email Address:
    --Question Type--
    Question Type: General Question


Message:
The language regarding the eligibility of home schoolers for financial aid is rather odd and is creating some unusual (and impossible to fulfill) requests by colleges and universities for documentation from home schoolers. Home schooling law is different in every state and what might be done in one state is not necessarily done in 49 others.  For example, states do not "approve"
home schooling -- they may, or may not, require notification that a student will be home schooled, but they do not "approve" that notification; they may, or may not, require some sort of occasional review, testing, or demonstration of compliance, but the states are all over the board on that issue and many require nothing at all, even notification.  States certainly do not approve "a homeschool setting."  Taken together, this makes the phrase "completing a high school education in a homeschool setting approved under state law"
curious and confusing.

How could the language be amended to strike "setting approved under" and replaced with "in compliance with"?