FAQ on Reporting

The following Question and Answer section may help you understand what you need to do in terms of reporting.

Q: My child turns 6 before September 1, what do I do?

A: Submit a letter of intent to homeschool and education plan to the local school district before September of the calendar year in which your child turns 6. Generally, in this situation, your child would be considered by the district to be in first grade in September.

Q: My child turns 6 after September 1, do I need to report and if so, when?

A: First, determine your local district's cut-off date by visiting this Department of Education website, OR by calling your local school district for updated information. The cut-off date will tell you whether your child would be considered eligible for kindergarten or first grade in September. Whether your child would be eligible for kindergarten or first grade according to local cut-off dates, you are still responsible for notifying the school district that you will be homeschooling by September of the calendar year in which your child turns 6. (Note that this refers to the "calendar" year and not the "school" year, which spans two calendar years.) According to the DOE, kindergarten is, in effect, mandatory for those children who will be 6 between September and December 31 of that calendar year, but who are not yet eligible for first grade according to local districts.

Q: My child turns 6 after the local cut-off date, and my district considers my child in kindergarten. After I send in my letter of intent to homeschool, will I have to submit an education plan for kindergarten for my child?

A:This varies by district. Local officials, at their discretion, may simply choose to approve your "otherwise educated" child without the need for any paperwork until the child reaches first grade age according to district cut-off dates. In practical experience, many districts do not consider kindergarten reporting for homeschoolers to be necessary. So you might not be asked to submit an education plan for kindergarten, but only to send in notification that you intend to homeschool. If your district tells you they want to see an education plan for kindergarten, you might be able to persuade them otherwise by letting them know that not all districts require such an education plan, and that you would prefer to wait until your child is first grade age to send in a formal plan.

To find out if your district has required kindergarten education plans in the past, you can speak with other homeschoolers in your district before contacting the school system. Get in touch with local homeschool support group,or post to the MHLA discussion on Facebook.

Q. My child turns 6 after the local cut-off date and my district says my child would be in kindergarten but we are using a first grade education plan. What do I submit?

A: After you submit your educational plan, you may find your district does not ask for an education plan for kindergarten. In that case, submit nothing. However, if your district requires an education plan for kindergarten, you have a choice of what to submit. Again, hearing the experiences of other homeschoolers may be valuable here, and you may want to gather the opinions of homeschoolers in local support groups or on the MHLA Facebook Group before deciding what to submit. You may want to consider sending the district only the minimum information required to cover a kindergarten level plan even if your child has surpassed this level, or not specifying grade level in your education plan, leaving you and your child.

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