VA educational policy

[Janelle Hertzler]

I'm new to unschooling and homeschooling in general.

When I filed my notice of intent to provide home education, I learned that by August each year proof of my son's academic progress. This can be through providing my son's results on a national standardized test or written verification from someone who has a M.Ed. and is certified to teach in VA that my son has made adequate progress for the school year (this person is also supposed to be "working" with my son).

Since my son is deschooling he has very little interest right now in either reading (or language arts in general) or math, so I really doubt his doing the tests would show much "academic progress" according to the public school standards. Also I am new to VA and finding someone certified with an M.Ed. who would be supportive of radical unschooling seems like a tall challenge.

So I was wondering what other VA unschoolers do to meet the requirements. Any thoughts or comments would be helpful.

[Christy]

Janelle, I'm not sure where you are in VA, but we are in Bristol (near the TN state line). We use a CAT5 test that we order from Bayside, but you can also use Seton (that seems to be the one I hear people using most frequently). I have never had to worry about my son showing academic progress no matter what he is learning throughout the year. It is the simplest and less invasive into our privacy.  Others may have a different story to tell, but I honestly have been able to relax and watch the learning happen :)

[Janelle Hertzler]

Thanks Christy! This is reassuring and helpful>